Chicago Stadium

Chicago Stadium was known as "The Madhouse On Madison".

The stadium was first proposed by Chicago sports promoter Paddy Harmon. Harmon wanted to bring an NHL team to Chicago, but he lost out to another person. This team would soon be known as the Chicago Black Hawks (later 'Blackhawks'). Harmon then went on to at least try and get some control over the team by building a stadium for the Blackhawks to play in. He spent $2.5 million and borrowed more funds from friends in order to build the stadium.

Completed on March 28, 1929 at a cost of $9.5 million ($2.5 million was funded by Harmon), Chicago Stadium was the largest indoor arena in the world at the time - the closest to it in terms of capacity at the time was the third incarnation of New York's Madison Square Garden, which sat almost half as many people. It was also the first arena with an air conditioning system (though the system was fairly rudimentary by modern standards, and was memorably given to filling the arena with fog during late-season games).

The Stadium sat 17,317 for hockey at the time of closure. Standees were allowed for many years, and often the official attendance figures in the published game summaries were given in round numbers, such as 18,500 or 20,000. In addition to the close-quartered, triple-tiered, boxy layout of the building, much of the loud, ringing noise of the fans could be attributed to the fabled 3,663-pipe Barton organ that was played during hockey games there, earning it the moniker of "The Madhouse on Madison (Street)". It was also the very last NHL-used facility to retain the use of an analog dial-type large four-sided clock for timekeeping in professional hockey games. That clock eventually was replaced by a four-sided scoreboard with a digital clock, and then by another, this one with a color electronic message board.

After the Blackhawks and Bulls moved to the United Center, the Chicago Stadium was demolished in 1995. The console of the Barton organ now resides in the Phil Maloof residence in Las Vegas, Nevada. Also, The Chicago Bulls floor resides in Michael Jordan's trophy room in his house.

Trivia

• Scenes from the 1962 version of the film The Manchurian Candidate depicting the nomination convention, were filmed in the stadium.

• Fans claim that the RBC Center in Raleigh, North Carolina is the loudest in the NHL. In the Stadium's day, it was hard to find any louder arena than the Madhouse on Madison. In the Stanley Cup semi-finals in 1971, when the Blackhawks scored a series-clinching empty-net goal, CBS TV announcer Dan Kelly reported, "I can feel our broadcast booth shaking! That's the kind of place Chicago Stadium is right now!"

External links

• A web page devoted to the fabled Chicago Stadium Barton organ.
• A history of Chicago Stadium from ballparks.com
• Jazz Age Chicago: Chicago Stadium

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