Whatever was of New York, or for New York, was staged in the old Garden just as now it is staged in the “House that Tex Built” on Eighth Avenue between 49th and 50th Streets. I could write the story of our times with the Garden as my only backdrop, for so much of New York’s business, political, social, and sporting history was made between its walls. There the world’s greatest statesmen have addressed huge audiences and the rafters reverberated with the soaring, ringing phrases of orator and demagogue. The world’s greatest song birds were heard in the arena. During the First World War, it was the stamping ground of thousands of patriotic Americans who flocked there to listen to war talks and to aid in charity for the war wounded. Many noted French, Belgian, and British war heroes gathered under its roof from the hectic period of 1917 to the signing of the armistice. The Garden was one of the triumphs of its architect, Stanford White. Originally built to house the horse show, it soon became a show place for every conceivable kind of event, but particularly sports. The Arion Ball and the French Ball were fixtures there—annual festive affairs of a Bohemia that is no longer seen in New York. But the shows were the big thing in the old Garden: horse, cat, chicken, automobile, motor boat, airship and sporting goods shows; wild west rodeos; boxing and wrestling matches; walking, running and cycling races (especially the six-day bike races); and biggest of all annually—the circus. Every winter saw expositions that drew thousands to the Garden. Its history was truly the history of New York over half a century. Madison Square Garden and its neighborhood will always have a special place in American literature, for in its environs, in a park across the street, O. Henry sat and listened as the “Voice of the City” gave up its tales to him. With the old Garden gone, the memories that live the longest and most vividly are those of its great sporting events—affairs I frequently reported. It was there that William A. Brady, who managed Jim Corbett and Jim Jeffries, and later became one of the world’s leading theatrical producers, staged many thrilling events. Smiling Bill Kennedy, the rotund Pat Powers, debonair and handsome Harry Pollock, dapper and energetic Jimmy Johnston, astute Billy Gibson, and colorful Tex Rickard and his partner, John Ringling—each had a hand in making the Garden the show place of New York.