Few arenas have earned as much mystique as the Boston Garden. It was almost as if it was created specifically to play mind games with opponents while giving their beloved Bruins and Celtics a boost of energy. It worked. From the day it opened in 1928 until the day its iconic parquet floor was taken apart and sold for souvenirs, the Boston Garden held the heart of Beantown in the palm of its hand.
The Concept
After enjoying the fruits of the roaring '20's, America was more than ready for an explosion in sports, having welcomed the iconic Yankee Stadium and Notre Dame Stadium into its growing lexicon of primo events and big time bucks at the box office. Noting the boom, celebrated boxing promoter Tex Rickard noticed an opportunity in Boston.
He had already funded numerous major boxing matches in both Nevada and New York and was even responsible for the construction of the second itineration of Madison Square Garden, but despite his wild success, the owner of the New York Rangers was always looking for the next big opportunity and the home of the world's oldest indoor arena looked to be the perfect place.
With developers looking to replace Union Station with something more modern, that site looked good to Rickard. Originally, the plan was the replace Union Station with a new rail terminal, corporate headquarters and offices, but Rickard talked the Boston & Maine Corporation to look into a more athletic approach at 150 Causeway Street.
After architect George C. Funk turned in his renderings, B&M ran into a hurdle: they didn't technically have the authority to build arenas. To make matters worse, one of their shareholders, Edmund D. Codmen, sued. However, the Massachusetts General Court ruled in B&M's favor and expanded their corporate powers.
Ground was broken in December 1927 and by November 17, 1928, the Boston Madison Square Garden and adjoining hotel opened for the price of $4 million. With a North Station nestled at its feet, the new arena was primed to host many more fans than the elder Boston Arena's 5,000 seats could ever fill. Its name was shortened to simple "the Boston Garden" soon after and thus began one of America's great love affairs between an arena and its city.
Tex Rickard had the building built specifically with boxing in mind and purposely had the seats positioned closer and the rows steeper so that home and aways teams could both feel the vibrancy of sports fans in Boston. Local favorites Arthur "Hy" Diamond and George Flate were the first to experience this as they fought in the first event ever held at the Garden on November 17, 1928.
Three days later, the Bruins lost to the Montreal Canadiens 1-0 to open up their stay at the Boston Garden. However, their first season in the new venue would end much better as they beat Tex Rickard's Rangers 2-0 to claim their first Stanley Cup. It was the first Stanley Cup final to feature two American teams.
The Garden
It was the start of something special in the West End. In the years to come, opposing teams would consistently grow wary of the catcalls that they could hear clear as day from the very last row of the arena. But that was the least of their worries. With the seats so close, the hockey rink was among the smallest in the NHL, thus causing much more disruption than usual. Since the Garden didn't have any air conditioning, the warm air and cold ice often collided in the later months, creating fog in the middle of games. It was truly a unique experience.
In later years, the Boston Garden encountered some electrical issues, twice experiencing power outages in the middle of Stanley Cup Finals games. In 1988, the game ended in a 3-3 tie and in 1990 it ended in a triple overtime victory for the Edmonton Oilers.
In total, the Bruins won three Stanley Cups during their stay at the Boston Garden and turned Boston into one of the ultimate hockey towns. Even when they struggled, their games were often sold out, or at the very least, outsold the dynastic Celtics during the 1960s.
The Garden was also well known for holding concerts led by some of the biggest names of the era. Names such as Alan Freed, the Beatles, James Brown and Elvis graced its court over the years.
A Curious Pattern
But of course, no tale of the Boston Garden would be complete without its iconic parquet floor. When the Celtics were being formed, their owner, Walter Brown, found it hard to find lumber due to the shortage after World War II. So he and his employees searched lumber yards all over Boston, scrounging up whatever they could with size mattering little.
With a smorgasborg of lumber in hand, Brown decided to make five-foot square panels which were then bolted together. Further inspired, the Celtics elected to alternate every other panel, making the distinct and iconic parquet pattern. In total, 247 individual oak panels covered the Boston Garden's court for Celtics games.
It quickly became apart of the arena's mystique in more ways than one. While no other arena featured such a unique pattern, very few arena's had courts in worse shape than the Boston Garden's. Stories often floated around of gaps between the panels that were big enough to fit quarter in and there were dead spots everywhere.
Issues such as these only exasperated the lack of air conditioning as opposing teams tried in vain to beat the Celtics in the sweltering summer heat during the NBA Finals. In many ways, this was part of the reason why the Celtics won 16 championships during their stay.
The Last Days
Nothing lasts forever. Not even the storied Boston Garden. After years of enduring tight seating, lack of luxury suits, no air conditioning and view-obstructing pillars that were popular when it was constructed but was out of vogue by the turn of the century, The Celtics, the Bruins and the city of Boston bid adieu to their hallowed ground when the Bruins fell to the New Jersey Devils in the 1995 Stanley Cup quarterfinals. With that, the parquet floor was cut up and sold for souvenirs while the teams moved into the arena next store, the FleetCenter.
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