Madison Square Garden

Madison Square Garden, often abbreviated as MSG has been the name of four arenas in New York City, United States. The first two were located at Madison Square, thus the name. Subsequently a new 20,000-seat Garden was built at 50th Street and 8th Avenue, and the current Garden is at 7th Avenue between 31st and 33rd Streets situated on top of Pennsylvania Station. The present arena is informally known to some as "The World's Most Famous Arena".

History

The site of the first Madison Square Garden was formerly the passenger depot of the New York and Harlem Railroad. When the depot was moved to the current site of Grand Central Terminal in 1871 the depot was sold to P.T. Barnum and converted into a hippodrome called "Barnum's Monster Classical and Geological Hippodrome". In 1876 it was renamed to Gilmore's Garden.

Related Topics:
Passenger depot - New York and Harlem Railroad - Grand Central Terminal - 1871 - P.T. Barnum - Hippodrome - 1876

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William Henry Vanderbilt officially renamed Gilmore's Garden to Madison Square Garden and reopened the facility to the public on May 30, 1879 at 26th Street and Madison Avenue. The first arena was originally built for the sport of track cycling, which is still remembered in the name of the Madison event.

Related Topics:
William Henry Vanderbilt - May 30 - 1879 - Madison Avenue - Track cycling - Madison

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The second Madison Square Garden, designed by Stanford White, who would later be killed there, opened at this site in 1890 and remained until the third Garden opened in 1925. It hosted the 1924 Democratic National Convention, which nominated John W. Davis after 103 ballots. It also hosted the only indoor bout in the career of Jack Dempsey. On February 11, 1968 Madison Square Garden III closed and Madison Square Garden IV opened. Madison Square Garden III has since been replaced by the large mixed-use complex World Wide Plaza, which was designed by the architecture firm Skidmore, Owings and Merrill and completed in 1989.

Related Topics:
Stanford White - 1890 - 1925 - 1924 - Democratic National Convention - John W. Davis - Jack Dempsey - February 11 - 1968 - World Wide Plaza - Skidmore, Owings and Merrill - 1989

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As of September 2005, the Garden's current owners, Cablevision, has plans to build a fifth Garden. If the project moves forward, a new Garden would be built at the western end of the James Farley Post Office. The new Garden, which would remain home to the Rangers and the Knicks, would feature wide concourses with stores and restaurants, luxury boxes with better sight lines for basketball and hockey games, a museum and a hall of fame.

Related Topics:
September 2005 - Cablevision - James Farley Post Office

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