OldMadisonSquare Garden: Fond Recollections ofaTrue Landmark
From the world cup of soccer to the superbowl, people all
throughout theworld have dreams of being sport stars or even just
meeting their favoriteathlete. It is in some peoples mind, the ideal
american dream. In a time knownas the roaring twenties, people
throughout New York were working toward theamerican dream. This
dream included a more splendid lifestyle that allowed forfreedom and fun.
In the middle of the Manhattan burough of New York City wasa lively
stretch of town known as Madison Square. This community
centerincluded thousands of immagrants striving to accomplish the
American dream.Many people showcased thier talents in music, sport
and theater. This park hadall of the necessary characteristics to gain
popularity except for one integrallandmark that would bring the cultures
together. MadisonSquare Garden hadthe exact combination of
commerce and sport to bring the people together. Thefriendly confines of
Old MadisonSquare Garden was a melting pot for not onlyresidents of
the community, but for athletes all over the world. Athletes wouldcome to
New York not just for competition, but also for the experiences
anddifferent cultures (Jackson 72). Nowhere else in the world do you get
what's inNew York. How all the different lifestyles can live together in
harmony, for themost part, and make New York the greatest city in the
world. When the wreckingball took down OldMadisonSquare Garden in
1925, people from not just thecity, but from all over New York came to
pay their last respects to a place thathad more meaning than sport
(Jackson 68). It represented the hopes and dremsof thousands as well as
the stability of the community. As people hace come andgone for 35
years the Garden was always there. As it fell so did the era, so didthe
dreams. To move the Garden out of its original home to a new and
improvedlocation may have benefited the people of the time, but for
those who dontforget there past the end of the original Garden is a
tragedy because of itshistorical and cultural importance to the great city of
New York. The first MadisonSquare Garden was constructed out of
need, the needfor a cultural center in the middle ofMadison Square. A
place for conventions,sporting events and other activities that the
community can share. MadisonSquare was a lively part of New York City
in the early 1900's. Adjacent fromBroadway it was filled with theateres,
music halls, hotels and restaurants thathad people coming from the
outskirts of town just to visit them. Competing withBroadway, Madison
Square had many theateras to compete with the newtechnology of motion
pictures (Lachetta 43). Throughout the late 1800's and theearly 1900's
the MadisonSquare was a very colorful place, that lacked one thinga true
family place with many events to offer the different life styles. The
place the MadisonSquare needed was MadisonSquare Garden,
alandmark for the entire city to enjoy. The site of the first two Madison
SquareGardens was formarly the Union Depot of the New York and
Harlem Railroad(Nichols 83). In 1871 the depot was moved to the current
site of Grand CentralTerminal and the Depot was sold to P.T. Barnum.
Mr. Barnum converted thedepot into his popular hippodrome, a large
tented area. As the hippodromestood in the middle of the square people
waited for a new and improvedhippodrome which would be Madison
Square Garden. In 1890 Stanford Whitedesigned the Garden as an
imposing Spanish style Renaissance structure,which occupied most of
28th street (Burgess 46). It's central tower modeled afterthe Giralda in
Sevilla, Spain, was topped with Augustus St. Gauden's statue ofDiana.
This structure would turn out to be the dominant figure in the skyline for35
years. The first garden was completed with the largest Ampitheater in
thecountry, the Garden Theater as well as the Roof Garden, concert Hall,
cafe andeven an immense swimming pool. The new Madison Square
Garden was animmediate sensation. Some of the events held in the
Garden included prizefights, wild west shows, the first american
automobile show was held in MadisonSquare Garden. It also included a
track for biking or running and of course P.T.Barnum's circus (Whyte 14).
The Garden was considered a prize asset to thecity and was a landmark
for all visitors to enjoy. The architect of this glorius land mark,
Stanford White, was veryinstrumental in the well being and finance of the
Garden. One of the reasonsthat the Garden fell in 1925 was due to his
death. Stanford White was not just awonderful architect, but a lady's man
at that. His two homes were the frequentsites of all night parties. One of
his favorite girls was a girl by the name ofEvelyn Nesbit, a former girl who
went on to marry millionaire Harry K. Thaw. Onenight while eating dinner
at the roof Garden. Mr. Thaw and his new brideobserved Stanford White
eating at a nearby table. Evelyn whispered a fewwords to Thaw who
immediately got up and furiously stormed over to White. Hedrew a
revolver from his waist and fired three fatal shots into the chest of
thearchitect. After nine years and three long trials Thaw was
aquitted(Lachetta 49).On the evening of June 25, 1906 not only did the
city lose a great man, but theGarden lost it's founder and owner. The loss
of Stanford White was not just thedownfall of the original Madison Square
Garden, but also most of New York.Throughout Mr. White's life he
created the architectural designs for over half ofthe buildings in the
"original" New York. Many of his buildings have beenredesigned now.
Back then Mr. White could take a piece of paper and a pen andcreate a
masterpiece. His designs captured the hearts of thousands. His
wisdomadded to the stability of the Garden as one of the cities most
beautiful and welldesigned buildings. His presence in the late 1800's will
always be rememberedby his gorgeous work making the city not just the
state's masterpiece, but hisown (Silver 136-139). The financial and
managerial skills by the people who took over afterStanford White were
not adequate for the moving times. The Garden remainedin it's name
sake site for 19 more years until it was torn down in 1925,
financialreasons played a major part in the closing of the Garden. The
huge arena thathad brought joy to hundreds of thousands was brought
down to foreclosure bythe New York Life Insurance Co (Rosbrow 56).
The residents ofMadison Squareand fellow New Yorkers managed to
raise 6 million dollars for the new Gardenaway from Madison Square. 6
million dollars in 1925 is alot of money, peopleobviously has atrue idea of
the worth the Garden had to the city as a landmarkand a social gathering
place.The first MadisonSquare Garden was rich inmemories and tradition
as Joe Humphries won that last fight on May 6, 1925(Wolfe 27). People
cheered, but despite their cheers you could hear the echoesof tears as
the place where the Garden originated was being left a vacantparking lot
with no rememberence of the great sight that once stood there. "Asthe
crowd streamed through the gates to their seats many of them
wererecognized by Eddie Van Wart the head ticket master and by William
Stillmanthe head usher for them times will never be the same" (Garden
hears last roarof crowds NYT). Thanks to the community and
supporters of the OldMadison SquareGarden, a new one was able to be
put up at fiftieth street and Eighth avenue.This new arena mostly
sposored by Tex Ricard was opened in time for theannual 6 day bike race
in late December of 1926. This new arena was state ofthe art, including a
hockey rink and over 20,000 seats in all(Jackson 122). Whencompleted
this Garden was the most completed and advanced sructure in theworld.
It included a hockey rink that gave New York Hockey fans a chance
toenjoy the great winter sport. More great sporting events happened at
this arenathan any other such as Rocky Marciano knocking out Joe Louis.
Many otherevents that made this a worthwhile establishment until 1968.
When the need fora new location moved this building to it's present
location above Pennsylvaniastation. As of now the new Madison
Square Garden stands as the city's lonesports arena. It houses the New
York Rangers and the New York Knicks. It is asuperb arena in terms of
technological advancement. They can change the iceto a wood floor for
Basketball within 4 hours. This arena seats almost 25thousand people.
This is the home of many great events besides sports(Lachetta 42). It's
still the home of "the greatest show on earth" the name circusalong with
concerts of every artist from Kenny G to Dave Matthews. It's a
greatconvenient location from Long Island because it's easily accesible
by train. Thiswas a need due to the growing popularity of leisure and
sport in and around thecity. A more well suited location helped the
attendence and financially sent theGarden soaring with funds to make
renovations and improvements (Whyte 137).The New Madison Square
Garden should be around for years to come. Like thefirst one it is a center
of amusement and sport for thousands of people. Nomatter where the
Garden goes it will always be loved and used as a conventioncenter.
Though the new Garden is state of the art, times have changed
andpeople are no longer in search of stability in terms of landmarks. Back
when thefirst Garden arose new immagrants were looking for a place they
could call thierown. Thousands of new citizens saw time flying past them.
Now life is morecomplex and people have "more important" things to care
about like new carsand raises. Now they go to the Garden on a saturday
night and pay scalpershundred of dollars for tickets worth 20 bucks. Back
then a common man, maybenew to this country could see the greatest
show on earth, the circus for aquarter. What has happened to society.
Instead of worrying about living inharmony and having fun, everything is
about money. The first Garden wasn'tbuilt to make some man rich. It was
built to bring a community together. To givethem something they could all
share and have in common. To throw racism andinjustice in the garbage
and let the people work hard for their money and be ableto have
entertainment or meet people without wasting their entire pay check.
The OldMadisonSquare Garden was a historic landmark and
shouldnever have been torn down. The loss of this cultural center and
New York'sfabulous cultural history is a tragedy. By them tearing it down
all of the youngergeneration loses out on the historical background of
what they see as the homeof the Knicks. It was rich in sport and good
fortune and it was always the
. new Gardenaway from Madison Square. 6 million dollars in 1925 is alot of money, peopleobviously has a true idea of the worth the Garden had to the city as a landmarkand a social gathering place.The. Square. A place for conventions,sporting events and other activities that the community can share. MadisonSquare was a lively part of New York City in the early 1900's. Adjacent fromBroadway. thinga true family place with many events to offer the different life styles. The place the Madison Square needed was Madison Square Garden, alandmark for the entire city to enjoy. The site of