Madison Square Garden (1879)
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 |
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
Origins
The site upon which Madison Square Garden was eventually established was originally occupied by a small passenger depot of the
In 1876, the arena was leased to band leader
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
After the death of
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 20th 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.
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
See also
- Madison Square
- Madison Square Garden (1890)
- Madison Square Garden (1925)
- Madison Square Garden (1968)
- Madison Square Garden Bowl
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k "Madison Square Garden I" on Ballpark.com
- ^ Gopnik, Adam (1 September 2014). "Heaven's Gaits". The New Yorker. Retrieved 29 August 2014.
- ^ Russell-Ausley, Melissa (April 2000). "How Ice Rinks Work".
- ^ Weyland, Jocko (2007-04-29). "Unstoppable". The New York Times. Retrieved 2009-02-27.