Madison Square Garden (1925) Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ==Closure and demolition== On November 3, 1960, [[Penn Station (1910-1963)|Penn Station]]'s owners [[Pennsylvania Railroad]] announced they had sold their air rights to the Madison Square Garden corporation, to build a new arena replacing Penn Station's original building. Previously, Madison Square Garden sought to replace the arena as early as 1946 due to poor sight lines from the upper decks and expanding attendance. Even though the Rangers played poorly during this time, they still sold out every game, added to the rising popularity of the Knicks, the demand for a new arena grew. Demolition of Penn Station commenced in 1963 with major controversy surrounding the demolition of a historic architectural landmark and the new Madison Square Garden was completed in 1968 with its first event being held on February 12, 1968. Originally the third Garden was planned to close at the end of the summer of 1967 but construction delays pushed the opening to February 1968. Their final Knicks game in Madison Square Garden was on February 10, a 115β97 win against the [[Philadelphia 76ers]], just weeks after the [[1968 NBA All-Star Game]] which was originally supposed to be held in the new Garden. The final Rangers game was held on February 11, 1968, resulting in a 3β3 tie against the [[Detroit Red Wings]]. [[Jean Ratelle]] was the last player to score a goal in the arena with 19:15 remaining in the third. After the game, former Ranger greats along with players representing other NHL teams over the previous 43 years, including New York Americans players [[Lorne Carr]] and [[Eddie Shore]] skated on the ice in a closure ceremony. Two days later, the last event in the Garden was the [[Westminster Dog Show]].{{citation needed|date=November 2021}} There were no plans to keep the old Madison Square Garden and demolition commenced in the summer of 1968, finishing in early 1969. After the third Madison Square Garden was torn down, there was a proposal to build the world's tallest building on the site, prompting a major battle in the [[Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan|Hell's Kitchen]] neighborhood where it was located. Ultimately, the debate resulted in strict height restrictions in the area. The space remained a parking lot until 1989 when [[One Worldwide Plaza|Worldwide Plaza]], designed by [[David Childs]] of [[Skidmore, Owings and Merrill]], opened on the site of the old Garden.{{citation needed|date=November 2021}} Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page