Boss Tweed Opens Up Central Avenue

William Magrear Tweed, better known as Boss Tweed, was a corrupt politician who personified the greed and corruption that existed in New York after the Civil War. 

 What did he have to do with Central Avenue ?

It was Boss Tweed who wanted to extend Central Avenue from New York City to Albany. The road was supposed to be 100 feet wide.  Tweed not only conned farmers along the path to give up part of their land, but made them pay for the privalege of having the road pass by their farms. For a company to receive contracts, it had to give kickbacks  to Tweed and his associates. Central Park Avenue was completed in 1871, but only as far as White Plains. Although the road was 100 feet wide, only 16 feet of it was a finished surface. The road eventually brought development into the Westchester area.