Madison Square Garden ( 1879 ) - wikipedia Madison Square Garden ( 1879 ) 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, New York Coordinates 40 ° 44 ′ 34 '' N 73 ° 59 ′ 08 '' W ﻿ / ﻿ 40.74278 ° N 73.98556 ° W ﻿ / 40.74278 ; - 73.98556 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 Opened May 30, 1879 Closed 1890 Demolished 1890 Madison Square Garden was an arena in New York City located on the northeast corner of East 26th Street and Madison Avenue in Manhattan. The first venue to use that name had a seating capacity of 10,000 spectators. It operated from 1879 to 1890, when it was replaced with a new building on the same site. Contents 1 Origins 2 Naming 3 See also 4 References 5 External links Origins 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 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 ). In 1876 the open - air 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, 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. '' 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 ; the arena had one of the first indoor ice rinks in the United States. Naming After the death of Commodore Vanderbilt, who owned the site, his grandson William Kissam Vanderbilt took back control and announced the renaming of the arena to `` Madison Square Garden '' on May 31, 1879. 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. 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. `` ( T ) he 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. '' 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 roofless Garden was hot in the summertime and freezing in the wintertime. 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, 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. See also Madison Square Madison Square Garden ( 1890 ) Madison Square Garden ( 1925 ) Madison Square Garden ( 1968 ) Madison Square Garden Bowl References ^ Jump up to : `` Madison Square Garden I '' on Ballpark.com Jump up ^ Gopnik, Adam ( 1 September 2014 ). `` Heaven 's Gaits ''. The New Yorker. Retrieved 29 August 2014. Jump up ^ Russell - Ausley, Melissa. `` How Ice Rinks Work ''. Jump up ^ Weyland, Jocko ( 2007 - 04 - 29 ). `` Unstoppable ''. The New York Times. Retrieved 2009 - 02 - 27. External links Wikimedia Commons has media related to Madison Square Garden. Arena information Sports venues in the New York metropolitan area Active The Bronx Draddy Gymnasium Gaelic Park Rose Hill Gymnasium Van Cortlandt Park Yankee Stadium Brooklyn Aviator Sports & Events Center Barclays Center MCU Park Generoso Pope Athletic Complex Schwartz Athletic Center Steinberg Wellness Center Manhattan Chelsea Piers Columbia 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 Metropolitan Oval USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center Arthur Ashe Stadium Louis Armstrong Stadium Louis Armstrong Gymnasium West Side Tennis Club Staten Island Richmond County Bank Ballpark Spiro Sports Center Staten Island Cricket Club Long Island Belmont Park Bethpage Ballpark Island Garden James M. Shuart Stadium Mitchel Athletic Complex Nassau County Aquatic Center Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum Riverhead Raceway New Jersey Arm & Hammer Park Asbury Park Convention Hall Bears & Eagles Riverfront Stadium Richard J. Codey Arena CURE Insurance Arena FirstEnergy Park Freehold Raceway High Point Solutions Stadium Hinchliffe Stadium Jersey City Armory Louis Brown Athletic Center Mennen Arena Meadowlands Sports Complex Meadowlands Racetrack MetLife Stadium Monmouth Park Racetrack MSU Soccer Park at Pittser Field Old Bridge Township Raceway Park Princeton University Stadium Prudential Center Red Bull Arena Roberts Stadium Rothman Center TD Bank Ballpark Wall Township Speedway Yanitelli Center Yogi Berra Stadium Yurcak Field Westchester Fleming Field Yonkers Raceway Westchester County Center Rockland Palisades Credit Union Park Rockland Lake State Park Defunct 69th Regiment Armory Bloomingdale Park Boyle 's Thirty Acres Brighton Beach Race Course Bronx Coliseum Capitoline Grounds Commercial Field Coney Island Velodrome Eastern Park Ebbets Field Elysian Fields Freeport Municipal Stadium Dexter Park Downing Stadium Giants Stadium Gravesend Race Track Harrison Park Hilltop Park Island Garden ( Original ) Meadowlands Arena Jamaica Racetrack Jerome Park Racetrack Lewisohn Stadium Long Island Arena Louis Armstrong Stadium ( 1978 ) Madison Square Garden ( 1879 ) Madison Square Garden ( 1890 ) Madison Square Garden ( 1925 ) Madison Square Garden Bowl Metropolitan Park Morris Park Racecourse Newark Schools Stadium Newark Velodrome Palmer Stadium Polo Grounds Ridgewood Park Roosevelt Raceway Roosevelt Stadium Ruppert Stadium Rutgers Stadium ( 1938 ) St. George Cricket Grounds Shea Stadium Sheepshead Bay Race Track Singer Bowl Suffolk Meadows Sunnyside Garden Arena Thompson Stadium Union Grounds Washington Park Yankee Stadium ( 1923 ) Proposed Belmont Park Arena Kingsbridge National Ice Center New York City FC Stadium In progress Port Imperial Street Circuit Never built Proposed domed Brooklyn Dodgers stadium West Side Stadium Bergen Ballpark The Lighthouse Project New York Cosmos Stadium Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Madison_Square_Garden_(1879)&oldid=828158187 '' Categories : Madison Square Garden Former music venues in New York City Former sports venues in New York City Demolished sports venues in New York ( state ) Destroyed landmarks in New York ( state ) Defunct buildings and structures in Manhattan Defunct boxing venues in the United States Boxing venues in New York City Defunct concert halls in the United States Defunct indoor arenas in New York City Defunct sports venues in Manhattan Music venues in New York City Cycle racing in the United States Velodromes in the United States Railway stations opened in 1874 Sports venues completed in 1874 1870s architecture in the United States Buildings and structures demolished in 1890 Companies established in 1879 1879 establishments in New York ( state ) 1890 disestablishments in New York ( state ) American companies established in 1879 Talk Contents About Wikipedia Español Euskara Edit links This page was last edited on 28 February 2018, at 22 : 10. 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Question: why do they call it madison square garden
Answer: located on the northeast corner of East 26th Street and Madison Avenue