msgii

Presumably this is the second Madison Square Garden, which opened in 1890. The colonnade looks similar to the one in the Wikipedia illustration. Unlike the current building with that name, this one was actually close to Madison Square.

Those appear to be political posters, stuck onto the columns with adhesive tape. But had adhesive tape been invented by 1913? And can anyone make out the words -- or recognize the candidate's photo?

Dendroica cerulea: thank you for the information about Madison Square Garden. We will add some of it to the image description.

The posters say "FOR CONTROLLER WM. A. PRENDERGAST". William A. Prendergast was controller of the city of New York. See u.o. New-York tribune., October 17, 1909, Image 17 New-York tribune., October 27, 1913, Page 3

More than two dozen homing pigeons were released in New York City on February 13, 1915, as part of the Poultry and Pigeon Show being held in Madison Square Garden. Officials of the show, pictured above, sent a message of peace, via homing pigeon, to President Wilson, in Washington, DC. On each pigeon's leg was a narrow strip of tissue paper bearing the message: "Universal peace soon will be a god-send". The message was signed by Colonel Lee Crandall. After their arrival in Washington, the pigeons were released the following day at 9:15AM, and almost all of them had arrived in New York City later that day. Three of the pigeons, which belonged to Fred C. Schmidt (pictured above) arrived simultaneously at their loft in Brooklyn at 3:20PM. That six-hour flight was considered to be a "fast flight". — The New York Times                       ( To see the next photo in this series, click here.)

based on the two top photos, I hope the ASPCA attended that event