Starting in the 1840s, residents of Brooklyn and Manhattan were drawn to the community as a summer destination. Hunters and fishermen started coming to Sheepshead Bay and various restaurants and hotels were erected. Sheepshead Bay's allure as a fishing destination was further helped by the opening of Ocean Avenue in 1876 and the extension of the Long Island Rail Road's Manhattan Beach Branch in 1877–1878, which brought visitors both to the community of Sheepshead Bay and to the Manhattan Beach resort across the bay. The first of the community's farms was split up into several lots for residential development in 1877. Three years later the Sheepshead Bay Race Track opened in the neighborhood, bringing even more visitors during the spring and fall. Near the racecourse, racing investor William Collins Whitney constructed a raining track. A "Millionaire's Row" was built on Emmons Avenue east of East 27th Street, while socialites tended to go to restaurants such as Tappan's.