In the mid-nineteenth century, the land that would become Hamlin Park was a driving park for horse drawn carriages and a racetrack on the outskirts of Buffalo, owned by Cicero J. Hamlin.In the 1890's, it was converted into an amusement park, and in 1912, was the center of real estate development.Hamlin Park was the city's first planned subdivision. The first residents in the subdivision were German immigrants followed by Jewish immigrants.Canisius College, the largest landholder, moved to the area in 1912.African American migration to Hamlin Park began in the late 1950s, and led to the development of a stable, middle and upper class neighborhood which remains intact today because of the many amenities in or near the area: the Frederick Law Olmsted designed Delaware and Martin Luther King Parks, the North Jefferson Library, the Albright Knox Art Gallery, the Historical Society, the Zoo, and the Museum of Science; the availability of public transportation, with two rapid transit stations in or near the community, and the nearby expressway system that provides ready access to downtown, theinternational airport and to outlying communities and employment opportunities