Nyhaven: Views From Within (Nuclear City - 5/8)

[woodb3kmaster]

Nyhaven - a member of the Alliance of Independent Nations

Hi again, Devotees! After a 6-month-or-so absence, I decided to return and give you all a proper introduction to my old MD, Nyhaven: an Engineer's View, by copying over my original posts from Simtropolis. This way, everyone can experience Nyhaven as I meant it to be experienced. I wanted to revive the version of this MD I started back in January, but since it has found its way into the MD Archives, I can't do that

So, to start off, I'm going to repost the first post from the current incarnation of Nyhaven. (For those who haven't seen Nyhaven from its very beginnings, let me tell you that this isn't the very first update from my original CJ, as that was from the first version of Nyhaven that I built, way back in 2006. It was lost in a tragic accident when I reformatted my hard drive.) Coming to you from January 12, 2007, here's Episode 1: Humble Beginnings!

Here's an overview of Hunters Island along the Columbia River:

In 1880, a group of persecuted Christians who had arrived from abroad (mostly Europe) found their way to this island and saw it as the perfect place to start their lives afresh. These few dozen settlers are known to us today as the founders of Nyhaven.


The founders chose to build their first homes and shops on this hill at the northern end of the island, centered on two intersecting avenues and a large square. The young city looked thus after about ten years' time:


The settlers wasted no time in establishing their own churches; after all, religious freedom was the very reason they and others came to the Columbia River Valley. As you can see, they built three churches across town in Nyhaven's early years, symbols of their gratitude to God for leading them to this place; today, these churches are historic landmarks, serving as a testament to the city's devout history.


Within 50 years, the city was home to almost 20,000 people. By then, many of the leading founders had passed away, so the citizens thought it fitting to erect statues in their honor on the central square. In so doing, what we now know as Founders' Square took on most of its modern form. This was also the time when the first City Hall was built in order to make the growing municipal government more efficient.


As the city grew, enterprising businessmen saw the growing need for better  transportation and filled it. Isaiah Rittenberg is credited with building what he called the "Nyhaven Public Railway", now known as the Hill Line, from Tenth Street in the south to Broadway in the north, a distance of fifteen blocks. Later, as Nyhaven expanded eastward on the mainland, he added today's Eastern Line (seen here branching off from the Hill Line) to serve the new suburbs. The Eastern Line was remarkable in its day for including an underground section in the urban center.

Not to be outdone, however, rival entrepreneur Markus Chevalier built an all-underground line of his own, first running from the young University of Nyhaven northwest to the northern suburbs, passing through ten stations. Ironically, however, his Green Line's central station was on the same block as Rittenberg's junction, setting the stage for the modern City Hall Station, where most of the city's rail lines intersect.


The railroads came to Nyhaven some seven decades after its founding, stopping at the city's majestic Central Station before continuing east and west. The station was a catalyst in the city's northward growth, with Isaiah Rittenberg extending his Hill Line to it soon after its opening. Nyhaven's first zoo was built next door, and thousands of immigrants built their homes north of the railroad tracks.


Remember that university I mentioned? It is Nyhaven's oldest institution of higher learning, having been established when the city was still small. While it was originally just a cluster of buildings a couple hundred yards from Herron's Creek, it grew with the city; it is shown above when Nyhaven was home to about 90,000 people.


With growth came the challenge of making room for all the new arrivals. Many people wanted to live near the emerging business district, but the nearby neighborhoods were arleady rather crowded. Not only that, but more businesses wanted a view of the river. The city council had no other option but to fill in part of the river, thus extending Hunters Island one block further west. Fishermen found the new waterfront a useful place to tie up their boats, while more entrepreneurs opened shop to cater to the shore's new visitors.


All this growth put a lot of strain on the existing municipal facilities. More and more people needed to be served, which meant adding more staff to City Hall. Before long, the old building wasn't big enough anymore; it was consequently replaced with an even bigger structure that still houses the mayor and city council today. The Water Board, however, found it necessary to move into a nearby building.


Downtown in the early 21st century was not much to behold, unless you were a Nyhavener. Citizens took as much pride in their city as they do today, and they were proud of how far the city had come in just over a century.


This is how Nyhaven looked as the century progressed, with over 90,000 inhabitants. While the past century was certainly momentous, greater days are just around the corner...

[GreekMan]

hey! was wondering what happened to you.. RL right?
I like the way you started again. remindes me of the ST days when you had this CJ....
Well i know how it turns out to be, and you can't forget GreekTown

[CasperVg]

Looks okay to me 
One suggestion is to turn your graphics' settings all the way up when you are taking pictures. It's fun to see the city actually live when cars are driving around and such.

[Simpson]

Nice région
Your city is looking fine, great work 

[Sheep49]

Not really bad... at all! I really like it.

But I think it would look better with some diagonal streets and lots... But of course it's my humble opinion

Can't wait for more.
Piotr

[bat]

Fantastic new start there of your MD, woodb3kmaster!
And the pictures of this great first update are looking fantastic!
Your city looks nice!

Looking forward to more...

[art128]

nice start here    really good pictures 

[threestooges]

Great to see you're given Nyhaven another go. I remember following this over at ST, and it'll be great to follow it over again here.

[woodb3kmaster]

Wow, so many replies to start off!

@GreekMan: Yeah, I had another battle with RLS. College can be so distracting. Nevertheless, now I can give more people an opportunity to get to know Nyhaven from its beginnings. I hope the next several reposted updates don't bore you!

@caspervg: Thanks for stopping by! The reason you don't see any cars on the roads is mainly because I took all my early pictures with the game paused - something I will correct in future updates.

@Simpson: Thanks for the compliments! If you like Nyhaven now, just wait until it gets bigger!

@Piotr/Sheep49: I'm glad you like what you see! There will be some diagonal streets in future updates.

@bat: Thank you for the welcome! I hope you like the next few updates too!

@art128: I'm glad you like the pictures! There are plenty more where those came from.

@threestooges: It's good to have the support of readers like you, who have been with Nyhaven for so long!

Just so you all know, I'm planning on updating this MD every Thursday, except for holidays. In the meanwhile, here's a transit map from the time of this first update, along with a little explanation:



What's with that extra line, you may wonder? Well, following the success of Isaiah Rittenberg's rail lines, Markus Chevalier decided he needed a second line to keep his "Crosstown Rail Company" competitive, so he built the Grey Line from Eighth Street northeast to the industrial district around March Boulevard and the railroad tracks leading to Central Station. He could think of no better place to have it intersect with his existing Green Line than at City Hall - as I said earlier, in the same block as Rittenberg's junction of the Hill and Eastern Lines (respectively colored yellow and blue here).

See you all on Thursday!

Zack/woodb3kmaster

[Pat]

Zack your back woooooooohoooooo!!! I missed Nyhaven and I am soo happy to see it again, I cant wait till the next update....

[art128]

very nice map there woodb3kmaster 

[bat]

Great looking map there! And looking forward to the first Thursday after update 1 (= Update 2).

[Sheep49]

Nice map! Looks kinda like London's Underground one

[woodb3kmaster]

REPLIES

Pat: Thanks for the welcome back! I'm glad you like Nyhaven so much. I'm  sure you'll like today's update!

bat, Piotr: Thanks for the compliments on that map! I've always been a fan of the London Underground map style, so I consciously imitate it in all my transit maps. I've posted a more recent map in the "Show us your..." forum if you haven't seen it.

Well, it's Thursday here in Los Angeles, so it's time for Update 2: Birthplace of a Nation!

By now, industry was a popular topic among Nyhaveners, although not in a positive light. Many citizens were unhappy with its effect on their fine city, and wanted to get rid of it. However, recognizing its necessity, they agreed to simply move it across the river. A port was subsequently built to simplify the logistics of getting all those goods where they needed to go; and what a busy port it soon became!



After two centuries, Nyhaven had grown pretty big, but even more people had arrived in the general area in the same time. Oppressed Christians the world over had come to recognize that there was no better place to start their lives afresh than the lands near the mouth of the Columbia River. For a while, they were content to live without any common government; but as time progressed, more and more of them wanted some greater order between them.

Eventually, they decided to place their hopes in a young man and Nyhaven native son known today solely as Edward, whom they named their king. Edward did not want to hold absolute power - not only because the concept unsettled him, but also because he recognized that he as one man could not do a sufficient job of governing millions of people.



After Edward was crowned in Olympia, Washington, he sought out several dozen influential and politically-minded citizens and called them to a series of meetings here, in Nyhaven City Hall, where they worked through the spring and summer of 2065 on a constitution for their developing nation. They agreed that no existing city should become the new national capital, annd after a few days of searching, they chose a low plain west of Nyhaven as the site of the new capital, which they named Kendall. The following image shows just how near - or far - the site was from the existing city:



People needed a way to get to this new site for construction, among other needs, so a highway was built from Nyhaven, using the existing 20th Street bridge over the Columbia that provided access to the city's new seaport. From there, workers built the new road over another channel of the river...


...over the hills to the west...



...and ultimately to the expansive construction site. That, however, won't be seen for several more updates. Meanwhile, King Edward and the parliament provided for in the new constitution would rule from Nyhaven. Shortly after the first Parliament was elected on September 30, 2065, Edward used some of his available resources to build a temporary royal palace southeast of downtown Nyhaven:



This new palace, along with the government of the new Federal Kingdom of Lower Columbia, was a boon to Nyhaven's growth. Thousands more people moved to the city, which obliged them by building new neighborhoods - neighborhoods like this one surrounding Spring Square, north of Central Station:



It was during these first few years of Lower Columbia's sovereignty that Samuel Buechner established his first automotive factory near the city port; the company he founded is today the country's premier automobile manufacturer. Here's that factory, soon after a mirrored expansion was opened; in the bottom-left corner, you can also see the beginnings of the Royal Navy along the waterfront:



The lakes east of the city were also a popular spot for developers, although their first plans were less than friendly to the surroundings of those lakes. Here's what I mean; in some cases, those houses are backed up quite close to Lake Adams:



The city council recognized that this was a bad idea, and so decided to set aside some room around the nearby Rossmore Lake, which would soon play host to even more development.

All this growth was good for the city's university, too. It added several new buildings, some in a radical new style. It also landscaped the open areas between these buildings, giving students and faculty a bright respite from their academic drudgery.



The transportation barons prospered from the city's newfound growth as well, but I'll save that for next week. Just to let you know, though, rail service in Nyhaven isn't a two-man show anymore... Stay tuned to find out how it goes.

[art128]

nice update my friend 

[kj3400]

This looks really good. I read some of this over at ST, so I'm looking forward to seeing it again.

[Sheep49]

I've always been a fan of the London Underground map

I'm not a fan of the map. I'm the fan of everything connected with LU!

Anyway, Great job! I prefer this update to the previous one

[Zaphod]

haha neat map. When does this CJ take place, present day?

Actually seems about right for how long transit construction takes these days

[bat]

All these 10 pictures from update 2 are looking fantastic! Wonderful work on them!
Looking forward to update 3...

[GreekMan]

Me?!? Getting bored with Nyhaven.I think not(Well a little since it's a repeat)
I have always wanted to know what happened after (I think it was Paul) built that tower on ST......
Looking forward to more Zack
BTW:I want to know how you copied the updates from St to SC4 dev?Did you highlight and hit control + c?
I was thinking of moving my CJ to SC4D to see the reaction here and how it's different there....