Madison Avenue
is named for and arises from Madison Square, which is itself named for James Madison, the fourth President of the United States. Madison Square Garden takes its name from the former location on the north east corner of Madison Square at 26th Street and Madison Avenue. (The New York Life Insurance Building now occupies that entire city block.) It was designed by Stanford White and had a bronze statue of the Roman goddess Diana on the tower of the sports arena. When it moved to a new building at 50th Street and Eighth Avenue in 1925 it kept its old name. (Madison Square Garden is now located at Eighth Avenue between 31st Street and 33rd Street). Madison Avenue was not part of the original New York City street grid established in the Commissioners' Plan of 1811, and was carved between Park and Fifth Avenues in 1836, due to the effort of lawyer and real estate developer Samuel B. Ruggles, a graduate of Yale University who had previously purchased and developed New York's Gramercy Park in 1831, who was in part responsible for the development of Union Square, and who also named Lexington Avenue. The term "Madison Avenue" serves as a symbol or metaphor for advertising, and Madison Avenue became identified with the advertising industry after the explosive growth in this area in the 1920s.