Almanac for New Oslow

New Oslow sits where the Mikombi River flows into the Lake Majestic, one of the Great Lakes.  Originally a port for river trade with Canada, it's grown over the last hundred years due to it's location.  It's a good point for ships to bring industrial made products from other rust belt towns bordering the Great Lakes and a good shipping point to the East Coast markets.

Besides acting as a trade hub, there has also been a push to consolidate most of the state's grain markets in New Oslow.  Mills for oats, sourghum, wheat, and corn have all shot up like mushrooms after a rain storm on the city's western periphery.  The college, University of New Oslow or UNO, opened a medical school fifty years ago and was able to attract some top talent.  Several medical tech and pharmaceutical businesses have grown up alongside the medical school and are quickly becoming some of the city's biggest revenue generators.

The city sits on the two banks of the Mikombi, connected by the Pearl Gate Bridge.  Pearl Gate is named after an odd relief pattern on the bridge's archway which looks like a field of oysters, all opening up simultaneously and all having a pearl inside.  There are lots of myths about where this relief came from and what it means.  But to date, no definitive explanation for it has been provided.

Pearl Gate is a bit of an issue at the moment.  The bridge is old.  And it has been damaged a few times during heavy spring flooding or powerful storms that have swept through.  The next closest bridge is Stumpson Ferry Bridge to the north, about fifteen miles north of the city limits.  So when Pearl Gate is down, traffic can halt in the city.  it has been decided to not only renovate Pearl Gate, but to add a second bridge to span the Mikombi somewhere along the river within the city limits.  The "where" of this second bridge location is being hotly debated.

One of the city's landmarks is the Ad Blimp.  A local advertising agency will past billboards on the sides of a small blimp and float it around the city.  "Addie" as it's affectionately called is sort of a beloved mascot of New Oslow.  Many of the tourist trinkets center around Addie.

There are two main drags in town.  Dunler Avenue, which is the main east-west road through town and runs up to Pearl Gate, is by far the busiest street in town.  Elm Street is the main north-south road.

The city can be divided into East Side, Midtown, West End, Surreyville, and the Rolling Oaks district.

The portion of the city sitting on the east bank of the Mikombi is unimaginatively referred to as East Side.  There is a city sprawl along the south eastern bank, but overall East Side is more suburban than urban.

Little Bay starts at the foot of Pearl Gate and runs down the southeast edge of the river bank until it ends in the marina.  Originally it was a warehouse district, but when the warehouses moved to Westport to be closer to the railroad lines, the area was left deserted.  The new inflow of medical firms associated with the college lead to a reinvention of the area.  Speculators snapped up the empty warehouses and dying port and revitalized it, turning it into chic apartment buildings and a private marina.  Little Bay now serves as not only an arts district, housing several museums and the New Oslow Ballet Company, but also has a large concentration of nightclubs and restaurants.

Past Little Bay is where the middle class and upper middle class neighborhoods start.  There's been quite a bit of talk about these areas incorporating into their own municipalities.  But for now, they still fall under the New Oslow umbrella.

From the western end of  Pearl Gate, down Dunler to Haddigan Square, north to Surreyville, and south to the lake is Midtown.

UNO sits at the western end of Pearl Gate.  The neighborhoods around make up the College District.  Residents are college students, UNO faculty and staff, or employees of the medical tech firms who can't afford to live on East Side.

Haddigan Square is more or less downtown New Oslow.  The government buildings.  The courthouse.  The jail.  New Oslow Trust, the largest bank in town has it's headquarters here.  As does Seuter Holdings, the business arm of the powerful Seuter family.

Between Haddigan Square and Westport is Tacumba Heights.  Collections of tenements house the poor of New Oslow.  The neighborhoods are divided ethnically.  Italians, Polish, and Portuguese exist more or less in harmony.  Obviously the area is very Catholic.

Past Haddigan Square to the outskirts of town is considered West End.

The Industrial District starts past Haddigan Square.  The farther west one goes, the heavier the industry.

Westport is at the southern end and is now the main port for the city.  It's constantly busy and the warehouse district is experiencing a building boom though space is running short.

Between Westport and the Industrial District is Myersville.  An old town that was incorporated years ago as the city expanded, it is now another tenement area, mostly housing the Black and Chinese populations of the city.

Surreyville is the northern most area of the city proper.  It runs from the river, west.

Another former town that got taken over as the city expanded, Surreyville is another area undergoing a bit of a boom.

First, Haddigan Stadium is being built.  The city is hoping to attract it's own sports franchise and is building the stadium to attract one.  There has been a lot of questions raised about the logic here, building a stadium before there's a team.  But everyone is too excited about a hometown baseball team to look too far into it.

There are also several other construction projects going on in Surreyville.  A couple of large office complexes are being built as are several housing projects aimed at middle class buyers.

A large flea market is held each month at the Surreyville Community Center.  It's a big deal, with people coming from across the state to participate both as sellers and buyers.

North past Surreyville, and outside the city limits, is Rolling Oaks.  It's basically the Old Money part of town.

Several of the more prominent families have large estates in the area.  Elm Street ends at the gates of the Seuter Estate.

Lucien Seuter                  Current Mayor.  Younger brother of Susan Seuter.
                               Has stated he will not run for re-election next term

Susan Seuter                   Matriarch of the Seuter family

Bixby Halloway                 Detective for the New Oslow PD

Oscar Allgood                  Sargent for the New Oslow PD

Max Cosgrove                   Owner of High Street Concepts, the advertising firm that
                               owns "Addie"

Anita Cosgrove                 Max's wife.  Former model.  Well known socialite

Trevor Dylan                   Public Defender

Judge Melvin Wyman             Prominent Judge

Victor Bernard                 Former Chief Prosecutor for New Oslow
                               Resigned over a corruption scandal.  His trial was
                               the one Caldwell Sr. was shot at.
                               Bernard was later found innocent by the jury at his trial

Sister Mary Kate               Well known nun who oversees the Little Flower of Hope
                               orphanage

Red Roses                      Name given by the local papers to a mysterious figure
                               believed to be linked to the deaths of three women over the
                               past two years.  Police claim only one of the deaths was
                               a murder and that the case is still under investigation

La Bruxa                       Rumored crime boss operating out of the Portuguese
                               neighborhoods in Midtown

Cunningham Wembley             Popular nightclub singer at the Howdy Dowdy Club in Little
                               Bay

Ezra Wilkins                   Muckraker style reporter for The Morning Tribune

Clarise O'Clair                Receptionist for your company, Van's unofficial secretary

Carlo and Ella                 Mysterious names muttered by Sock Guy in the Courthouse

Derrick Carlo                  Lawyer who works for City Hall

This message was last edited by the GM at 03:14, Wed 20 Dec 2023.