Madison Square Garden (1879)

The site you are approaching was once the home of the very first Madison Square Garden, which opened its doors in eighteen seventy-nine. Before it became an entertainment venue, the property served as a lowly passenger depot for the New York and Harlem Railroad. After the railroad moved its operations uptown, the empty lot was transformed by the legendary showman P. T. Barnum into a roofless arena he dubbed his Great Roman Hippodrome. It was a rugged, open-air space where weather frequently dictated the success of the evening.