In the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the Hudson River islands along the west shore near Albany and Troy served as places of escape and amusement. This site was the location of Al-Tro Park, an amusement park on what was once Patroons Island, while nearby Cuyler Island held the Island Park Race Track in the nineteenth century. Al-Tro Park operated from 1906 to 1909 and offered band concerts, acrobats, performing lions, vaudeville shows, a nine hundred foot boardwalk lit with electric lights, a four thousand seat amphitheater, a dance hall, concert hall, and roller skating rink. Its name came from Albany and Troy and its location halfway between them, and the Albany and Troy Steamboat Company owned the site, bringing visitors by boat from downtown docks beginning on Memorial Day, while others arrived by streetcar on Broadway and by bridge. Records show other amusement parks here as well, including Pleasure Island in the nineteenth century, Lagoon Island in 1901, Maple Beach Park beginning in 1910, and Midway Beach Park from 1915 to 1921. Mid-City Park opened in 1921 on Broadway in Menands, a half-mile west, with attractions including a roller coaster, merry-go-round, swimming pool, and roller skating rink beside Hawkins Stadium, where the Albany Senators played and Babe Ruth appeared in exhibition games. The islands themselves no longer exist, as the tidal waters that formed several islands along the Hudson were mostly filled in during the 1960s with the construction of Interstate 787.