COASTWAY DISTRICT
COASTWAY DISTRICT
History
While the Warehouse and Northshore Districts boomed during the late 19th and early 20th century due to advances in shipping, canning and transportation, the Coastway District almost seemed designed for entertainment rather than productivity. With wide, spacious beaches and scenic cliffside overlooks, even the Dutch colonists who first arrived to the shores to create the town of Fort Hubbel considered the place more conducive to pleasure than business-- as after scouting the land as far south as modern-day Delta South, they decided to build the majority of their docks and dockside businesses in what is now considered the Warehouse and Northshore Districts, instead. In fact, it wasn't until recent times, when the economy of the Warehouse district began to falter, that Coastway was considered a less prohibitive investment and became one of the fastest-growing suburban areas of Hub City.
The area now known as Coastway did not develop alongside the rest of Hub City through the greater portion of the 18th century. Land near the coast was not as conducive to crops anywhere except along the banks of the Green River, which soon became notorious for flooding its banks during the spring rains. Most of the land near the coastline was not as densely forested, either, and thus did not offer the plentiful game of the plots of land further inland. While the seaside view was certainly beautiful and calming, colonists of the time did not consider the land a prime location for homesteading or business. With its location being somewhat far away from the relative safety of the town's center, and most wanderlusting arrivals wanting to trailblaze west, rather than east, no one much cared for the idea of hitching their fortunes to a seaside home that offered little besides a grand view.
That slowly began to change throughout the 19th century as transportation issues that made the St. Mary River less manageable upstream began to be overcome by steam power both on land and water. With the advent of steamships and locomotives and the sudden spurt of industry in most manufacturing fields, Hub City's fortunes began to change from a sleepy community to a hotbed of industry along with many of the towns throughout the Northeast. Heading up those industries were shipping and railroad magnates, and leaders of their respective industries, who began to amass fortunes from their wares. And with fortunes came grand palatial estates and summer homes.
Most people believe that Leonidas Bright, a well-off shipping entrepreneur, was the man who first changed the fortunes of the Coastway District. An English émigré from just off the Essex shore, the sea had always been in his blood, and he had come to America and-- after serving as a naval officer for the Union in the Civil War-- made a fortune in Hub City by taking advantage of advances in Robert Fulton's 'steam-driven ship' to provide merchandise and passenger transportation up and down the coast. In 1867, he became the first to requisition a summer home to be built just off the coast, "so that from my back door, I may sit and watch the tide roll in and smell the salt air." He spared no expense, and called the grand manor Bright Point. Other rich industrialists (and those who wished to rub elbows with them) soon followed suit. For a good portion of the early 20th century, Coastway (as it became named) life was synonymous with extravagance.
By the beginning of World War II, that reputation had pretty well fallen by the wayside. Many of the extravagant families who made their summer homes there had lost money through various means: bank frauds, the Stock Market plunge, or the plain and simple downslide of their money-making enterprises. The upkeep of summer homes were a waste of money that could be used for far better things. And as Coastway lost its elitist reputation, a few 'common' houses began to crop up alongside the once-palatial estates. But by and large, the population of Coastway was still fairly sparse, despite several attempts to create a Coney Island Boardwalk atmosphere that met with varying degrees of success during the 1940's and 50's.
Much of Hub City borders the Atlantic Ocean, but by and large the Coastway District is one of the few areas in the city that actively takes advantage of it for reasons other than simple import and export. Oceanic and seismic research, offshore drilling, coastal atmosphere-enhanced casinos, beachgoing businesses and various other forms of entertainment are all part and parcel to Hub City's fastest-growing oceanside community.
To say that the Coastway District has regained the elite status of the years when it provided vacation homes for the tycoons is inaccurate, but it is true that the nearness to the ocean and the growth of businesses and suburban living in Coastway makes it one of the more upscale communities to live in. Gas and food prices (a good benchmark for cost of living) tend to average about forty-five cents higher in the Coastway District than in the Highland or Midtown Districts. Seaside houses naturally rent and sell at a premium, as do business spaces-- even those not so near the ocean. The district seems to know its worth, and the way its populace is expanding... and it tends to charge accordingly.
That likely won't change anytime soon. As the professional working family has drifted away from the City Center and toward the suburbs in recent years, Coastway's once-sparse population has blossomed and grown accordingly. Businesses that once steadfastly set roots nearer to downtown now have begun moving their headquarters toward the suburbs, which includes Coastway, and some are happy to pay substantially more for prime real estate there. Coastway also naturally boasts the largest number of public and private beaches in Hub City (two of the more famous and notable being South Beach and White Sands Beach, the latter of which is a Spring Break destination for many colleges, including some of Hub City's own), and therefore ordinarily brings in close to a third of Hub City's yearly tourist income. In other words, it's a cash cow, and the meat's not running out yet.
Shopping is easily found in Coastway. Strip malls and franchise shopping outlets line quite a few of the busier streets. So do professional buildings, modernesque churches, and schools-- including two campuses of Hub City Community College. In fact, much of what could be called progressive Hub City either exists in Coastway, or is on the way... because even the most progressive of minds needs a day at the beach.
Coastway District breaks down into the following sections:
WHITE SANDS (25)
.
EASTPOINT (26)
.
BRIGHTPOINT (27)
.
LAWRENCEBURG (28)
.
SOUTH BEACH (29)
.
DELTA SOUTH (30)
.
