The city is where people lived, worked, shopped and played. The city was the center of everyone’s lives because they never had to leave. Due to this, there was no need for different modes of transportation. Railways were a heavily used way to get from one place to another. In 1910, Penn Station, the largest train station, was constructed. By 1963, after a short-lived life, Penn Station was demolished and a smaller station would exist underground. Why was it so important to demolish a historical site to build a sports complex that would be called Madison Square Garden? Plans to build Penn Station, a train station that would later take up 8 acres of land, were beginning to evolve in 1901. From 1901-1910, the construction of the building took place. A man named Alexander Johnston Cassatt led the planning effort. Alexander Cassatt did not live long enough to see the finished, Beaux-Arts style, masterpiece. Because of this, there is a statue dedicated to him located in Penn Station. Penn Station operated intercity passenger trains. They arrived and departed daily to Chicago and St. Louis on “Pennsy” rails and even beyond that on connecting railroads to Miami and the West. They had a tunneling project underway, which included opening up the city to the suburbs. The station had its heaviest during WWII. Within 10 years of the tunneling project that opened the cities up to the suburbs, two thirds of the daily passengers coming through Penn Station were commuters. By 1945, more than 100 million passengers a year traveled through Penn Station. But by the late 1950’s, intercity rail passenger volumes declined. This was due to Urbanization, the increasing number of people who live in the suburbs, the “Jet Age” which refers to the up and coming airlines, and the Interstate Highway System. This allowed for more people to become independent from public transportation. During urbanization, people moved from the cities, into the suburbs where family and privacy became main priorities. Now that the suburbs exist, the city has become less populated. Due to the decline in rail usage, Pennsylvania Railroad sold their air rights to the property and downsized the station. Plans for the new Madison Square Garden were announced in 1962. In exchange for the air rights to Penn Station, the Pennsylvani