The southern part of the Upper West Side developed quickly in the 1880s along Columbus Avenue. The area was never fashionable and except along Central Park. By late 1940s the part west of Broadway was a slum fostered by its proximity to the open New York Central railroad yards lying between West End Avenue and the river. This latter area was the subject first of low-rent subsidized apartments and then of a 12-block urban renewal project that cleared the tenements and is now the site of the Lincoln Center, Fordham University`s in-town campus, many luxury apartments, and public and institutional buildings.
