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Madison Square and Madison Square Park

Madison Square is a public square formed by the intersection of Fifth Avenue and Broadway at 23rd Street in the New York City borough of Manhattan. The square was named for Founding Father James Madison, fourth President of the United States. The focus of the square is Madison Square Park, a 6.2-acre (2.5-hectare) public park, which is bounded on the east by Madison Avenue (which starts at the park's southeast corner at 23rd Street); on the south by 23rd Street; on the north by 26th Street; and on the west by Fifth Avenue and Broadway as they cross.

This article is about the square and park in New York City. For the current sports arena, see Madison Square Garden. For the square in Savannah, Georgia, see Madison Square (Savannah, Georgia).

The park and the square are at the northern (uptown) end of the Flatiron District neighborhood of Manhattan. The neighborhood to the north and west of the park is NoMad ("NOrth of MADison Square Park") and to the north and east is Rose Hill.


Madison Square is probably best known around the world for providing the name of a sports arena called Madison Square Garden. The original arena and its successor were located just northeast of the park for 47 years, until 1925. The current Madison Square Garden, the fourth such building, is not in the area. Notable buildings around Madison Square include the Flatiron Building, the Toy Center, the New York Life Building (built on the site of the first two arenas), the New York Merchandise Mart, the Appellate Division Courthouse, the Met Life Tower, and One Madison Park, a 50-story condominium tower.

20th century[edit]

Early century[edit]

The park was the site of an unusual public protest in 1901. Oscar Spate, a displaced Londoner, convinced the Parks Commissioner, George Clausen, to allow him to pay the city $500 a year to put 200 cushioned rocking chairs in Madison Square Park, Union Square, and Central Park and charge the public 5 cents for their use. Free benches were moved away from shaded areas, and Spate's chairs replaced them. When a heat wave hit the city in July, people in Madison Park refused to pay the nickel that was now required to sit in the shade. The police became involved, and newspapers like The Sun and William Randolph Hearst's Evening Journal took up the cause. People began going to the park with the intent of sitting and refusing to pay, and a riot occurred involving a thousand men and boys, who chased the chairs' attendant out of the park and overturned and broke up chairs and benches.[38][39] The police were called, but the disturbance nevertheless continued for several days. On July 11, Clausen annulled the city's 5-year contract with Spate (whose real name was Reginald Seymour), prompting a celebration with bands and fireworks in Madison Square Park attended by 10,000 people. Spate went to court and got a preliminary injunction against Clausen's breaking of the contract, but the judge refused to allow him to force the public to pay. The Evening Journal followed by asking for an injunction against pay chairs, and when this was granted Spate gave up. He sold the chairs to Wanamaker's, where they were advertised as "Historic Chairs".[39]


Two months later, in September, the Seventy-first Regiment Band played "Nearer, My God, to Thee" in the park as recognition of the death by assassination of President William McKinley. The hymn had been McKinley's favorite.[40]


On the election night of November 4, 1902, a fireworks disaster led to the deaths of 15 people (Including Patrolman Dennis Shea of the NYPD) and the wounding of 70, as a display meant to celebrate the election of William Randolph Hearst to Congress misfired.[41]

In the past

Snowstorm, Madison Square
by Childe Hassam (c.1890).
Stanford White's Madison Square Garden
is in the background.

Snowstorm, Madison Square by Childe Hassam (c.1890). Stanford White's Madison Square Garden is in the background.

Madison Square in 1893, looking north;
note the Worth Monument in the upper center

Madison Square in 1893, looking north; note the Worth Monument in the upper center

Madison Square Park After the Rain
painted by Paul Cornoyer (c.1900)

Madison Square Park After the Rain painted by Paul Cornoyer (c.1900)

In 1920, the American artist Thomas Hart Benton depicted the Seward statue, the Eternal Light flagpole, and the Worth obelisk in his painting New York, Early Twenties.

In 1920, the American artist Thomas Hart Benton depicted the Seward statue, the Eternal Light flagpole, and the Worth obelisk in his painting New York, Early Twenties.

10-minute walk

23 skidoo

Flatiron Building

Flatiron District

Madison Square North Historic District

Madison Square Park Fountain

Met Life Tower

NoMad

Park conservancy

Rose Hill, Manhattan

Alexiou, Alice Sparberg (2010). The Flatiron: The New York Landmark and the Incomparable City that Arose With It. New York: /St. Martin's. ISBN 978-0-312-38468-5.

Thomas Dunne

Berman, Mirian, Madison Square: The Park and Its Celebrated Landmarks. (2001)  1-58685-037-7

ISBN

Mendelsohn, Joyce. "Madison Square" in , ed. (1995). The Encyclopedia of New York City. New Haven: Yale University Press. ISBN 0300055366., p. 711-712

Jackson, Kenneth T.

Mendelsohn, Joyce (1998), Touring the Flatiron: Walks in Four Historic Neighborhoods, New York: , ISBN 0-964-7061-2-1, OCLC 40227695

New York Landmarks Conservancy

Moscow, Henry (1978). . New York: Hagstrom Company. ISBN 978-0-8232-1275-0.

The Street Book: An Encyclopedia of Manhattan's Street Names and Their Origins

; Dolkart, Andrew S.; Postal, Matthew A. (2009). Postal, Matthew A. (ed.). Guide to New York City Landmarks (4th ed.). New York: John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 978-0-470-28963-1.

New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission

Patterson, Jerry E. (1998)

Fifth Avenue: The Best Address

& Willensky, Elliot (2000). AIA Guide to New York City (4th ed.). New York: Three Rivers Press. ISBN 978-0-8129-3107-5.

White, Norval

Notes


Bibliography

Madison Square Park Conservancy

on the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation website

"Madison Square Park"

online newspaper

Madison Square Park News