[4th Avenue and 26th Street: IRT East Side Line]

Showing the Beaux-Arts Madison Square Garden building at 26th Street. This site was originally the open-air passenger depot of the New York and Boston Railroad (until 1871). The second Madison Square Garden building was built here, designed by Stanford White in 1890. This building was torn down in 1925. Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show is playing on the date of the photograph, April 2, 1901. This April 2 show at Madison Square Garden followed the lauded April 1 parade of Buffalo Bill's show on Fifth Avenue. The April 2 show was a sensational hit. The show included Annie Oakley and the grand finale was the capture of Tien-Tsin. Mark Twain was in the audience, among other well-known men of the time. This photograph shows people in line in front of Madison Square Garden waiting to get into the show, as well as a large poster on the corner of the building advertising the show. Camera is at star. 134+27, south of 26th Street, and 18 feet west of the east line of 4th Avenue. View of the cut-and-cover subway construction for the first IRT line as well as trolley tracks.