Riverside Park

Before this stretch of land became a public park, it was a rugged industrial zone often referred to as the Wild West Side. Freight trains chugging along the New York Central Railroad tracks made the riverfront exceptionally dangerous for pedestrians. The area was so hazardous that a group of men known as the West Side Cowboys patrolled the tracks on horseback. They rode ahead of the heavy locomotives, waving red flags to warn people and horse-drawn carriages of the approaching trains.