<P> Much of the riverfront of the Upper West Side was a shipping , transportation , and manufacturing corridor . The Hudson River Railroad line right - of - way was granted in the late 1830s to connect New York City to Albany , and soon ran along the riverbank . One major non-industrial development , the creation of Central Park in the 1850s and ' 60s , caused many squatters to move their shacks into the Upper West Side . Parts of the neighborhood became a ragtag collection of squatters ' housing , boarding houses , and rowdy taverns . </P>
<P> Much of the riverfront of the Upper West Side was a shipping , transportation , and manufacturing corridor . The Hudson River Railroad line right - of - way was granted in the late 1830s to connect New York City to Albany , and soon ran along the riverbank . One major non-industrial development , the creation of Central Park in the 1850s and ' 60s , caused many squatters to move their shacks into the Upper West Side . Parts of the neighborhood became a ragtag collection of squatters ' housing , boarding houses , and rowdy taverns . </P>
is central park on the east or west side
is central park on the east or west side
West
West