Madison Square Garden is 146 years in the making.
The iconic home of the New York Knicks is the NBA‘s oldest stadium having been built in 1968.
GettyThe first Madison Square Garden is a far cry from its modern cousin[/caption] Improvements were made as the famous arena was rebuilt on the same siteGettyBut MSG’s history goes right back to the 19th century, as the current arena is the fourth to bear its name.
“I can’t quite understand why it’s called Square,” said New York Mayor Eric Adams in 2023. “Maybe we can rename it to Madison Round Garden.”
Looking at aerial photos, he does have a point.
Come to think of it, MSG isn’t located on Madison Avenue or much of a garden.
The answer lies in 1879 and a group of wealthy investors, including the legendary P.T. Barnum, who was portrayed by Hugh Jackman in The Greatest Showman.
They created a world-class venue on the corner of 26th Street and Madison Avenue.
Originally a passenger depot for the New York and Harlem Railroad, the site was vacated in 1871 after the creation of what became Grand Central Station.
Barnum leased it in 1874 and converted it into an open oval arena with a capacity of 10,000 called the Great Roman Hippodrome.
Band leader Patrick Gilmore took over the lease two years later and renamed the building Gilmore’s Garden.
He held flower shows, beauty contests, gigs, and religious meetings as well as boxing, which was illegal at the time.
GettyThe third building was moved to a new location[/caption] GettyThe early flair gave way to a more brutal building[/caption] GettyIt is now a towering complex of skyscrapers[/caption]Renamed Madison Square Garden in 1879, the stadia started to up its offerings with track and field meets, cycling — the Olympic Madison is named after the New York venue — horse shows and more boxing.
Exhibitions by John L. Sullivan — the first heavyweight champion who wore gloves — drew dangerously large crowds, while Barnum also showed off Jumbo the elephant, who he bought from the London Zoo for $10,000.
As glorious as it could be in the summer, MSG was not built for New York winter.
A leaky roof and deadly balcony collapses led to Harper’s Weekly branding it a “patched-up, grimy, drafty, combustible old shell.”
A new group of investors stepped in to buy the arena and demolish it, bringing in famed architect Stanford White, who was later shot dead on the roof of his creation.
Demolition began in 1889 and by 1890 a gleaming new home of entertainment had risen, featuring a 32-storey tower adorned with a statue of Diana — the Roman goddess of the hunt.
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Costing $3million, it held the World Series of Football — the first professional indoor games — in 1902 and 1903
The arena’s reputation for boxing was well established and Jess Willard‘s heavyweight title defense against Frank Moran on March 25, 1916 brought in a record $152,000 gate.
Iconic boxer Jack Boxer and wrestler Ed Lewis were among the superstars who graced the second coming.
But despite the iconic moments, MSG II wasn’t deemed a financial success and the New York Life Insurance Company, which owned the site, demolished it to make way for its headquarters in 1925.
Legendary boxing promoter Tex Rickard wasn’t about to let New York lose its status as the home of boxing without a fight.
He assembled a group of investors he dubbed his ‘600 millionaires’ to to fund MSG III at a new location on Eighth Avenue between 49th and 50th streets for $4.75m.
Opened in 1925 with a capacity of 18,496 for boxing, ‘The House That Tex Built‘ was the scene of The Fight of the Century between Joe Frazier vs. Muhammad Ali in 1971.
It also welcomed basketball with the Original Celtics beating the Washington Palace Five in the first contest, nine days before the official opening.
The Knicks moved in by 1946 but were forced to relocate to the 69th Regiment Armory due to scheduling conflicts for the NBA Finals in 1951, 1952, and 1953.
The Knicks lost all three series and MSG III never hosted a finals.
Owner Rickard lent his name to the New York Rangers, which was founded in 1926, via a play on words — Tex’s Rangers.
But the New York Americans was the first hockey franchise to play at the Garden in 1925, losing 3-1 to the Montreal Canadiens to open the new venue in front of 17,000 people.
GettyMSG remains the home of the Knicks[/caption] GettyThere are few better arenas for sport[/caption] GettyProblems with the former arenas have been fixed[/caption] GettyThe location has drawn some criticism[/caption]After taking over from the Americans, the franchise won three Stanley Cups between 1928 and 1940 before a curse struck.
The Garden’s owners encouraged the NHL to renege on a promise to allow the Americans to reform after World War II — bitter former player and coach Red Dutton supposedly vowed that the Rangers would never win the Stanley Cup during his lifetime.
He died in 1988 and New York finally triumphed again in 1994.
MSG’s third iteration was not well designed for fans, with much of the ice obstructed for the majority.
Poor ventilation meant that smoking created a haze that made for iconic photographs but a poor experience for people in the upper tiers.
The Garden’s owners had first sought a new location in 1946 and finally got their wish when Penn Station’s owners sold land between between 7th and 8th Avenues in 1960.
GettyMSG is also known for hockey[/caption] GettyWalter Frazier is among the icons to grace the venue and won two rings[/caption]MSG III was demolished and the Hell’s Kitchen site hosted low-rise residential and retail buildings until the soaring One Worldwide Plaza was developed in the 1980s.
Sports fans relocated to MSG’s current home above Penn Station in 1965.
The poor sight lines gave way to a superbly-designed dome with unmatched acoustics for a princely sum of $123 million.
Developments in 1991 and 2013 took the total cost for the arena, which can hold 20,789 boxing fans and slightly fewer for hockey and basketball, to $1.1billion.
As well as the Rangers, Knicks, and St. John’s Red Storm, MSG IV has also hosted Elvis Presley, Led Zeppelin, the Grammy Awards, the MTV Video Music Awards, and even a papal mass by Pope John Paul II.
The Knicks won the NBA Finals in 1970 and 1973 but have struggled to bring glory to the storied venue ever since, despite featuring greats like Patrick Ewing.
The Fight of the Century remains one of the most iconic bouts everGetty Images - GettyJalen Brunson, whose dad Rick played alongside Ewing, was hoping to pick up the baton but New York faces an uphill struggle against the Indiana Pacers, trailing 3-1 going into Game 5 at the Garden tonight.
Game 7 — if the Easters Conference Finals go that far — will be in the heart of the Big Apple.
Some critics have questioned the location, which prevents certain works being undertaken on Penn Station.
But the world-famous arena has generated billions of dollars and played a key role in New York’s reputation as a must-visit destination.
So there you have it, Madison Square Garden has at some points in its history been on Madison Avenue, a square, and a garden, although never at the same time.
It all forms part of the intrigue surrounding one of the most iconic venues in the world, which is already looking to the future with the owner’s ties to the $2.3bn MSG Sphere in Las Vegas.
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