It was not just the spectacular view that inspired Albon Man> to buy the farmland and moraine that is today's Richmond Hill and Kew Gardens. During carriage rides to and from his summer home in Lawrence, Man would certainly have noticed construction of the Southside Railroad (opened 1868) intended to link the East River ferry at Williamsburgh to the growing township of Jamaica. Man later convinced the Railroad to open a station at his new Richmond Hill development. The Southside Railroad was eventually absorbed into the Long Island Railroad and the tracks are today the non-electrified rails which pass through Forest Park and Richmond Hill.