Madison Square Garden (1879)

Former arena in Manhattan, New York

This article is about the former New York arena. For other uses, see Madison Square Garden (disambiguation).

Madison Square Garden I

Full name| Madison Square Garden
Location| New York City, New York
Coordinates| 40°44′34″N 73°59′08″W﻿ / ﻿40.74278°N 73.98556°W﻿ / 40.74278; -73.98556
Owner| William Kissam Vanderbilt
Operator| William Kissam Vanderbilt
Capacity| 10,000
Construction
Built| 1874[1]
Opened| May 31, 1879
Closed| 1890
Demolished| 1890

Madison Square Garden (1879–1890) was an arena in New York City at the northeast corner of East 26th Street and Madison Avenue in Manhattan. The first venue to use that name, it seated 10,000 spectators. It was replaced with a new building on the same site.

## Origins

[edit]

P. T. Barnum's Roman Hippodrome, a predecessor to Madison Square Garden

The site upon which Madison Square Garden was eventually established was originally occupied by a small passenger depot of the New York and Harlem Railroad. The site was vacated by the railroad in 1871 when it moved operations uptown to Grand Central Depot at 42nd Street. The site was vacant until 1874 when it was leased to P. T. Barnum who converted it into an open oval arena 270 feet (82 m) long, with seats and benches in banks, which he named the Great Roman Hippodrome where he presented circuses and other performances. The roofless building was also called Barnum's Monster Classical and Geological Hippodrome and measured 420 feet (130 m) by 200 feet (61 m).[1]

In 1876, the arena was leased to band leader Patrick Gilmore, who renamed it Gilmore's Garden and presented flower shows, beauty contests, music concerts, temperance and revival meetings, walking marathons,[2] and the first Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show, called at the time (1877) the "First Annual N.Y. Bench Show." Gilmore also presented boxing, but since competitive boxing matches were technically illegal at the time, he called them "exhibitions" or "illustrated lectures."[1]

The next to lease the space was W. M. Tileston, who was an official of the dog show. He attempted to attract a more genteel crowd with tennis, a riding school and an ice carnival;[1] the arena had one of the first indoor ice rinks in the United States.[3]

## Naming

[edit]

After the death of Cornelius Vanderbilt, who owned the site, his grandson William Kissam Vanderbilt took back control and announced on May 31, 1879, that the arena was to be renamed "Madison Square Garden." Vanderbilt presented sporting events such as indoor track and field meets, a convention of Elks, the National Horse Show and more boxing, including some bouts featuring John L. Sullivan, who began a four-year series of exhibitions in July 1882, drawing over-capacity crowds. P.T. Barnum also used the Garden to exhibit Jumbo, the elephant he had bought from the London Zoo; he drew sufficient business to recover the $10,000 pricetag.[1]

Another notable use of the first Garden was as a velodrome, an oval bicycle racing track with banked curves. At the time, bicycle racing was one of the biggest sports in the country. "[The] top riders [were] among the sports stars of their day. The bike races at Madison Square Garden were all the rage around the turn of the last century."[4] Madison Square Garden was the most important bicycle racing track in the United States and the Olympic discipline known as the Madison is named after the original Garden.[citation needed]

However, the Garden was hot in the summertime and freezing in the wintertime. It had a leaky roof and dangerous balconies that had collapsed resulting in deaths. Vanderbilt eventually sold what Harper's Weekly called his "patched-up, grimy, drafty, combustible old shell" to a syndicate that included J. P. Morgan, Andrew Carnegie, James Stillman and W. W. Astor, who closed it to build a new arena designed by noted architect Stanford White. Demolition began in July 1889,[1] and the second Madison Square Garden, which cost more than a half-million dollars to build, opened on June 6, 1890. It was demolished in 1926, and the New York Life Building, designed by Cass Gilbert and completed in 1928, replaced it on the site.[citation needed]

## See also

[edit]

* Madison Square
* Madison Square Garden (1890)
* Madison Square Garden (1925)
* Madison Square Garden (1968)
* Madison Square Garden Bowl

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b c d e f "Madison Square Garden I" on Ballparks.
2. ^ Gopnik, Adam (September 1, 2014). "Heaven's Gaits". The New Yorker. Archived from the original on September 1, 2015. Retrieved August 29, 2014.
3. ^ Russell-Ausley, Melissa (April 2000). "How Ice Rinks Work". HowStuffWorks. Archived from the original on June 7, 2011.
4. ^ Weyland, Jocko (April 29, 2007). "Unstoppable". The New York Times. Archived from the original on June 4, 2024. Retrieved February 27, 2009.

## External links

[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Madison Square Garden (1879).

* P.T. Barnum – Ultrarunning Promoter (1874)

* v
* t
* e

Sports venues in the New York metropolitan area

Active|

| The Bronx|

* Coffey Field
* Draddy Gymnasium
* Gaelic Park
* Ohio Field
* Reinhart Field
* Rose Hill Gymnasium
* Van Cortlandt Park
* Yankee Stadium

|

Brooklyn|

* Aviator Sports and Events Center
* Barclays Center
* Brooklyn Street Circuit
* Maimonides Park
* Generoso Pope Athletic Complex
* Steinberg Wellness Center

Manhattan|

* Chelsea Piers
* Commisso Soccer Stadium
* Icahn Stadium
* John McEnroe Tennis Academy
* Levien Gymnasium
* Madison Square Garden
* Wien Stadium
* Rucker Park
* Sportime Stadium
* Fort Washington Avenue Armory

Queens|

* Aqueduct Racetrack
* Belson Stadium
* Carnesecca Arena
* Citi Field
* Flushing Meadows Natatorium
* Jack Kaiser Stadium
* Metropolitan Oval
* USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center
* Arthur Ashe Stadium
* Louis Armstrong Stadium
* West Side Tennis Club

Staten Island|

* SIUH Community Park
* Spiro Sports Center
* Staten Island Cricket Club
* Wagner College Stadium

Nassau|

* Belmont Park
* Bethpage Federal Credit Union Stadium
* Eisenhower Park
* Hofstra Arena
* Island Garden
* James M. Shuart Stadium
* Mitchel Athletic Complex
* Nassau County Aquatic Center
* Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum
* UBS Arena

Suffolk|

* Baseball Heaven
* Fairfield Properties Ballpark
* Kenneth P. LaValle Stadium
* Island Federal Credit Union Arena
* Joe Nathan Field
* Pritchard Gymnasium
* Riverhead Raceway

New Jersey|

* Arm & Hammer Park
* Asbury Park Convention Hall
* Bogota Savings Bank Center
* CURE Insurance Arena
* Freehold Raceway
* Hinchliffe Stadium
* Jadwin Gymnasium
* Jersey City Armory
* Jersey Mike's Arena
* Mennen Arena
* Meadowlands Sports Complex
* Meadowlands Racetrack
* MetLife Stadium
* Monmouth Park Racetrack
* MSU Soccer Park at Pittser Field
* Old Bridge Township Raceway Park
* Princeton Stadium
* Prudential Center
* Richard J. Codey Arena
* Roberts Stadium
* SHI Stadium
* ShoreTown Ballpark
* Sports Illustrated Stadium
* TD Bank Ballpark
* Wall Township Speedway
* Wellness and Events Center
* Yanitelli Center
* Yogi Berra Stadium
* Yurcak Field

Hudson Valley|

* Clover Stadium
* Fleming Field
* Joseph F. Fosina Stadium
* Rockland Lake State Park
* Westchester County Center
* Yonkers Raceway

Defunct|

| The Bronx|

* Bronx Coliseum
* Fleetwood Park Racetrack
* Jerome Park Racetrack
* Morris Park Racecourse
* New York Velodrome
* Yankee Stadium (1923)

|

Brooklyn|

* Brighton Beach Race Course
* Capitoline Grounds
* Commercial Field
* Coney Island Velodrome
* Eastern Park
* Ebbets Field
* Gravesend Race Track
* Sheepshead Bay Race Track
* Union Grounds
* Washington Park

Manhattan|

* 69th Regiment Armory
* 181st Street Ice Palace
* Downing Stadium
* Coles Sports and Recreation Center
* Governors Island Golf Course
* Hilltop Park
* Lewisohn Stadium
* Madison Square Garden (1879)
* Madison Square Garden (1890)
* Madison Square Garden (1925)
* Metropolitan Park
* Polo Grounds
* St. Nicholas Rink

Queens|

* Dexter Park
* Jamaica Racetrack
* Louis Armstrong Stadium (1978–2016)
* Madison Square Garden Bowl
* Ridgewood Park
* Shea Stadium
* Singer Bowl
* Sunnyside Garden Arena
* Union Course

Staten Island|

* Bloomingdale Park
* St. George Cricket Grounds
* Thompson Stadium

Long Island|

* Freeport Municipal Stadium
* Island Garden (Original)
* Islip Speedway
* Long Island Arena
* Roosevelt Raceway
* Suffolk Meadows

New Jersey|

* Bears & Eagles Riverfront Stadium
* Boyle's Thirty Acres
* Elysian Fields
* Giants Stadium
* Harrison Park
* Meadowlands Arena
* Newark Schools Stadium
* Newark Velodrome
* Palmer Stadium
* Roosevelt Stadium
* Ruppert Stadium
* Rutgers Stadium (1938)

Under construction|

* Etihad Park

Never built|

* Bergen Ballpark
* Proposed domed Brooklyn Dodgers stadium
* Kingsbridge National Ice Center
* The Lighthouse Project
* New York Cosmos Stadium
* Port Imperial Street Circuit
* West Side Stadium

*[v]: View this template
*[t]: Discuss this template
*[e]: Edit this template