The Boston Garden was originally built in 1928, opening on November 17, 1928 as "Boston Madison Square Garden" with a boxing card headlined by Boston Native "Honey Boy" Dick Finnegan's defeat of Andre Routis.

The 1st team sporting event was on November 20, 1928, an ice Hockey game between the Bruins vs Montreal Canadiens, won by the Canadiens 1-0 with the goal scored by Sylvio Mantha at 19:58 of 2nd period on Tiny Thompson. The game was attended by 17,000 fans, 2,000 over capacity, as fans without tickets stormed their way in. The game started 25 minutes late. Windows and doors were broken by the fans in the action.

It was above North Station, a train station which was originally a hub for the Boston and Maine Railroad.

In 1930, construction on the Hotel Manger, a 500-room hotel connected to the Boston Garden through an elevated skyway, was completed. The hotel (later known as the Hotel Madison) closed in 1976 and was demolished in 1986.

On the other side of Boston Garden was the North Station Industrial Building, which was constructed at 150 Causeway in 1928-1929. The building opened early February 1929. It was home to the Boston and Maine Railroad and also had many other tenants including New England Furniture Agents Association, Edward J. Flood & Co and others.

The Boston Garden was originally owned by the Boston and Maine Corporation and controlled by Tex Rickard and the Madison Square Garden.

In 1934, the Madison Square Garden Corporation sold its interest in the Boston Garden to the Boston Arena Corporation, led by Henry G. Lapham. This resulted in the creation of the Boston Garden-Arena Corporation. George V. Brown served as general manager of the Garden under the Boston Garden-Arena Corporation until his death in 1937, when he was succeeded by his son, Walter A. Brown.

The Ice Hockey Rink was 200 ft × 85 ft or 61 m × 26 m, 9 feet shorter and 2 feet narrower than standard arenas due to the rink being built at a time when the NHL did not have a standard size for rinks.

Originally, the players benches were across the ice from each other, to ensure that each team could have a bench connected to their dressing room.

The Boston Garden also had non-standard penalty box locations.

Towards the end of the Garden's life as an arena, the NHL required all rinks to have both benches on the same side: the Garden obliged by moving the penalty boxes (formerly adjacent to the Bruins' bench) to the side vacated by the visitor's bench, and as such visiting teams were required to skate across the ice to head back to their rooms.

The Boston Garden hosted games in the 1929, 1930, 1932, 1939, 1941, 1943, 1946, 1953, 1957, 1958, 1970, 1972, 1974, 1977, 1978, 1988, and 1990 Stanley Cup Finals where the Bruins won 2 of their championships at the Garden in 1939 and 1970. The 1929 Stanley Cup championship was won at New York's Madison Square Garden (III). The 1941 Stanley Cup championship was won at Detroit's Olympia Stadium. The 1972 Stanley Cup championship was won at New York's Madison Square Garden. The 2011 Stanley Cup championship was won at Vancouver's Rogers Arena. The Montreal Canadiens claimed the Stanley Cup at the Garden in 1958, 1977 and 1978, while the Detroit Red Wings won the Stanley Cup there in 1943. In 1990, the Edmonton Oilers claimed their 5th Stanley Cup at the Garden. The 1932 series did not involve the Bruins; Game 2 between the Toronto Maple Leafs and New York Rangers was played there due to a scheduling conflict at MSG III. The New England Whalers played playoff games at the Garden prior to moving from Boston, which included the 1973 Avco Cup Final, where the Whalers beat the Winnipeg Jets in game 5 by a score of 9-6 to win their only WHA championship.

Boston Garden was the 1st arena to host the Stanley Cup Final and NBA Finals at the same time in 1957. It occurred again in 1958 and 1974.

The last official game played at The Boston Garden took place on Sunday, May 14, 1995. It was game 5 of an NHL Eastern Conference quarterfinal series between the Boston Bruins and New Jersey Devils where the New Jersey Devils beat the Bruins, 3-2, winning the series 4 games to 1 and eliminating the Bruins from the 1995 Stanley Cup Playoffs. The final goal was scored by Bruins Adam Oates on Martin Brodeur.

The last sporting event at the Boston Garden was a preseason game between the Boston Bruins and the Montreal Canadiens on September 26, 1995. In a special post-game ceremony, which included many former Bruins greats, the banners and retired numbers were removed. The final event in the Boston Garden occurred on the evening of September 29, 1995; a farewell event was held in the old Boston Garden hosted by WBZ-TV news personality Liz Walker and CBS national news anchor Dan Rather. Attendees included Bruins legends such as Bobby Orr and Phil Esposito as well as Celtics greats Larry Bird and Red Auerbach. The ceremony concluded with the release of thousands of balloons into the rafters to the music of the Boston Pops. The Boston Globe stated that "all New England has lost a friend." The Garden sat vacant for 3 years before it was demolished in 1998. The site where the building once stood is currently a commercial development called The Hub on Causeway.