Westminster – 150 Years Of Excellence

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252 – March, 2026

By Amy Fernandez

Westminster reached another milestone this year, staging its 150th show. We’ve heard all about that fun fact. Fanfare and spectacle are well-established Westminster trademarks. So, how did the club mark its fiftieth show a century earlier?

Westminster’s February show dates were established by 1888, but the show was experiencing changes nonetheless. Most notably, 1926 was the inaugural event held at the third incarnation of Madison Square Garden. Located uptown on 49th Street, this would be the show’s home until 1968. The opening was devoid of frothy descriptions of its grandeur because there weren’t any. This place wasn’t built for aesthetic appeal; it was designed strictly to present sporting events, with a seating capacity of 24,000. For the price of a cheap seat, legions of dog-loving fans could be part of it. Suddenly, Westminster was no longer perceived as something strictly for the rich and entitled, and the importance of this fact cannot be underestimated.

Within 20 years that accessibility would translate into the greatest mass support in the sport’s history. On February 11, 1926, The Times said this about opening day, “Half a century of American dog breeding reached its culmination in the Golden Jubilee show of the Westminster Kennel Club that began in Madison Square Garden yesterday and will continue today and tomorrow. Records were shattered by the fiftieth show, that for attendance at an opening day toppling when the officials announced that 10,000 persons had viewed the dogs during the morning, afternoon and evening sessions”

Back then, the monetary value of the dogs was a major hook of Westminster press coverage. Those numbers got attention, and the prize list got even more. Along with Golden Jubilee medallions for BOB winners “The $15,000 in prize money, in addition to trophies and medals, is also a record.” Westminster had spent 50 years cultivating that posh image. And nothing spoke to that like the quantity and quality of the trophies and prizes.

Click here to read the complete article
252 – March, 2026

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Posted by AnthonyA on Mar 26 2026. Filed under Current Articles, Featured. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.