Say Toyboat – ten times, fast!
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Before The Boats Were There

The train tracks for the Hudson River Railroad that linked New York City to Albany ran along the edge of the Hudson River at the northwest edge of Manhattan when Cornelius Vanderbilt, famed industrialist, took over the line in 1864. By 1867, Vanderbilt merged the Hudson River line with the New York Central line, which provided the city’s commuters with local transportation. The section of railroad in the upper west corner of Manhattan became known as ‘New York Central’s West Side Line’ – one could imagine that it wasn’t the most profound moment for Vanderbilt’s internal marketing crew;

‘Well where does it fall on the map?’
‘Up on the left hand side – maybe call it the Upper Left Line?’
‘Nonsense, Donnie – we’ll go the extra mile and call it the New York Central’s West Side Line.’
‘Perfect! That should eliminate any confusion across the board – and across the seaboard for that matter!’
‘Good one Donnie,…good one.’

While it was a convenient way for New Yorkers to travel, it was also making the Hudson River shoreline a bit of an eyesore. So in 1865, one of New York City’s parks commissioners, William R. Martin submitted a proposal to lighten the seashore up a bit, and build a park next to the West Side Line between West 72nd and 125th Streets.

By 1872, the city had acquired the land and hired Frederick Law Olmstead, the landscape architect who had designed Central Park, to conceptualize the new Riverside Park; completed and opened in 1910.

The Riverside Gets a Makeover

By the 1930s, the park had fallen into decline. Robert Moses, the city planner who had begun to transform Gotham with mega-projects like the Triborough Bridge, saw an opportunity. With a focus on improving, ...