History
By Douglas C. Towne • April 03, 2025
For half a century, the city center of Phoenix had a place where the Pugilists fought, the harmonized musicians, the wrestlers attacked, the evangelists preached and the Pirouetted ice skaters. The place was so well known that a rising star named Elvis Presley offered to play in exchange for gas money and, incredibly, was refused. This story, and much more history, took place at the Phoenix Madison Square Garden, named after the older and more renowned place in New York.
The 3,000 -seat arena, built for $ 75,000 in 1929, opened its doors to the seventh avenue just north of Adams Street for wrestling and boxing matches. The opening evening presented three boxing fights between local fighters to those of California. The place labeled “the best combat arena in the West” and sold tickets for $ 1 to $ 3, although women can enter for 50 cents.
The big opening notice has printed the sentence “Everyone is welcome”. It was unusual, since segregation was common in Phoenix at the time. According to the 2005 publication “Phoenix Madison Square Garden Historic Property Documentation”, former athletes and promoters have recalled people from all sits together in the stands.
The struggle, which was as much entertainment as sport, and boxing were the main prints for most of the life of the arena. However, dance marathons, ice skating exhibitions and religious rallies also took place on the site.
In the 1950s, Madison Square Garden was at the forefront of the local music scene, which was then nicknamed the “Phoenix Sound”. With Krux Radio, the place welcomed Arizona Hayride, a country and Western musical event that took place on Saturday evening. The show helped launch the careers of Rockabilly musicians, notably Al Casey, Jimmy Dell, Duane Eddy, Lee Hazlewood and Sanford Clark.
It was then that Elvis made his now legendary request to play on the site on a Saturday evening in 1955. However, the host and promoter of the program Ray Odom had already reserved the acts and refused the invitation. “I regretted that because I could have integrated him into the show; he was a good young man, and we got on beautifully,” said the late Odom in a 2019 interview.
“I brought Elvis in 1956 for a show at the State Fairgrounds,” continued Odom. “Subsequently, when I settled financially with the guys from the exhibition center, they said that the show was incredible. They saw things that they had never seen before, including 60 pairs of girls’ panties hung at the chain connection fence.”
In the 1960s, Madison Square Garden declined as a place of music, hampered by a decrease in seats by less than 1,500 for events on stage. Instead, boxing and struggle were again the main attractions.
The place closed in 1979 and was converted into an auto parts warehouse. The city of Phoenix bought the building in 2004 and demolished it the following year for redevelopment. In a slight nod to the Conservatives, a mini-museum in the office complex of New Madison Square Phoenix presents the history of the Phoenix Madison Square Garden, the place whose Phoenicians appreciated for 50 years. The museum is open from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. on Wednesday.
Douglas C. Towne is editor -in -chief of Arizona Contractor & Community Magazine, www.arizcc.com