The interior of Madison Square Garden at night, c. 1905
Madison Square Garden II, as it has come to be called in retrospect, was designed by noted architect Stanford White, who kept an apartment there. In 1906 White was murdered in the Garden's rooftop restaurant by millionaire Harry Kendall Thaw over White's affair with Thaw's wife, the well-known actress Evelyn Nesbit, who claimed White had raped her when she was 16.[1] The resulting sensational press coverage of the scandal caused Thaw's trial to be one of the first Trials of the Century.
The new building, which replaced an antiquated open-air structure that was previously a railroad passenger depot, was built by a syndicate which included J. P. Morgan, Andrew Carnegie, P. T. Barnum,[2]Darius Mills, James Stillman and W. W. Astor. White gave them a Beaux-Arts structure with a Moorish feel, including a minaret-like tower modeled after Giralda, the bell tower of the Cathedral of Seville[2] – soaring 32 stories[citation needed] – the city's second tallest building at the time [citation needed] – dominating Madison Square Park. It was 200 feet (61 m) by 485 feet (148 m), and the main hall, which was the largest in the world, measured 200 feet (61 m) by 350 feet (110 m), with permanent seating for 8,000 people and floor space for thousands more. It had a 1200-seat theatre, a concert hall with a capacity of 1500, the largest restaurant in the city and a roof garden cabaret.[3] The final cost for the building, which the New York Times called "one of the great institutions of the town, to be mentioned along with Central Park and the bridge of Brooklyn" was $3 million.[3]
Topping the Garden's tower was a statue of Diana, by noted sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens,[4] which caused Madison Square Park to become known as "Diana's little wooded park". One of the possible models for Diana was Julia Baird, a well-known artist's model.[5][4] The original gilt copper statue was 18 ft (5.5 m) tall, and weighed 1,800 lb (820 kg), and spun with the wind; Saint-Gaudens had draped the statue in cloth, but this was soon blown away.[2] The statue was put in place in 1891, but was soon thought to be too large by Saint-Gaudens and White. It was removed and placed on top of a building at The World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, but the bottom half was destroyed by a fire after the close of the Exposition, and the top half was lost. In 1893, a hollow second version of the statue, 13 ft (4.0 m) tall and made of gilded copper, replaced the original. This is now at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and a copy is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.[2][6] Saint-Gaudens made several smaller variants in bronze, one of which was on display in the entryway of both Madison Square Garden III, built in 1925, and the current Madison Square Garden.
The opening of the new arena was attended by over 17,000 people – who paid up to $50 for tickets to the event – including J.P. Morgan, the Pierponts, the Whitneys and General William Tecumseh Sherman.[3]
On January 8, 1909, Matthew Maloney finished ahead of James Crowley and Sidney Hatch in an indoor marathon before 5,000 "wildly cheering" spectators held within the Garden.[8] Maloney was reported to have set a new indoor record for the event (2:54:45.4).[8]
The Millrose Games were first held at the arena in 1914.
The Garden continued to host The Westminster Kennel Club's annual dog show. This championship is the third-longest running U.S. sporting event (behind only the Kentucky Derby and Kentucky Oaks).
Boxing has a long history at Madison Square Garden. The original Garden presented boxing matches even before they were technically legal, calling them "exhibitions" or "illustrated lectures". Among the many events which were held in the new Garden were a number of significant boxing matchups. A bout between defending heavyweight champion Jess Willard and challenger Frank Moran on March 25, 1916, which brought in $152,000, the largest Garden take to that date.[3] Also, Jack Dempsey's knockout of Bill Brennan in the 12th round on December 14, 1920.[3]
Professional wrestling was also successfully staged at the venue, as with later incarnations of the Garden. The World Heavyweight Championship derives from George Hackenschmidt's victory in two straight falls at the Garden over Tom Jenkins on May 4, 1905.[9]Joe Stecher regained the championship from Earl Caddock at the venue on January 30, 1920,[10] the earliest American professional wrestling match to survive on film.[11] The venue also hosted the next two title changes, Ed "Strangler" Lewis' victory over Stecher on December 13, 1920, and his subsequent loss of the championship to Stanislaus Zbyszko on May 6, 1921.[12][13][14][15]
Despite its importance to the New York cultural scene in the early 20th century, Madison Square Garden II was never any more of a financial success than the original Garden was,[16] and the New York Life Insurance Company, which held the mortgage on it, decided to tear it down to make way for a new headquarters building, which would become the landmark Cass Gilbert-designed New York Life Building. Construction on the new building began in 1926, and was completed in 1928.
The 1975 novel and 1981 filmRagtime both feature the second Garden as a key location. In the film, recreations of the rooftop garden shooting and tower statue are shown.
^Hinman, Suzanne (2019). The Grandest Madison Square Garden: Art, Scandal, and Architecture in Gilded Age New York. Syracuse University Press. pp. 268, 271. ...Julia Baird's claim was published, the Boston Herald reported that some seventeen women from various parts of the country each swore that it was she who had been the model
^Carroll, Bob (1980). "The First Football World Series"(PDF). Coffin Corner. 2 (Annual). Professional Football Researchers Association: 1–8. Archived from the original(PDF) on 2010-12-18.
