NORTHSHORE DISTRICT
NORTHSHORE DISTRICT
History
Throughout the long history of Hub City, there have always been movers and shakers, pioneers in industry and art, and generally, men and women with vision. And then there has been Northshore, which (according to many people who don't live there) has always been content to watch, wait, and steal ideas from all those pioneering trailblazers or ride on their coattails. In a city whose people made names for themselves by the determination to be first and foremost, Northshore has consistently been content with a more methodical second.
First indications of that start all the way back during the Colonial era of Fort Hubbel, when seafaring naviagators thought the low tideline of the shore might cause their ships to founder, and instead followed around Habington Point to drop anchors off the coast of what is now the Warehouse District. The story seemed to be the same all throughout Hub City's history. When shipping began to boom around the St. Mary's River, and docks became far more plentiful, people began to do the same in the area around the modern Business Center. After Hub City's early pioneers found life to be bearable and even likeable in the areas that would become the Highlands and Midtown districts, a few brave souls made their way into what would become Northshore and worked on farming its land. When Midtown's population boomed and the government moved from old Hub City to the burgeoning metropolis, Northshore lobbied to build governmental archives and offices nearer the coast to bring people and jobs there. Shortly after it became en vogue to buy up coastal land and build extravagant summer cottages in Coastway, less-extravagant summer cottages began to spring up along the coast of Northshore. After the professional population began to make its way out to the urban sprawl, and business and professional industry growth began to boom in the suburbs, people seemed to remember that Northshore was a suburb, too, and its population boomed a couple short years after the spike of growth in the Highlands and Coastway.
Some places in Hub City are trailblazers of industry, of government, and of art. Northshore has a history of being just a step behind the trailblazers and perpetually winding up looking second-rate. Whether that is actually planned or just a quirk of fate is anyone's guess, but its citizens certainly don't consider themselves or their district second-rate.
Once, recently, an anonymous congressman referred to Northshore as the K-Mart of Hub City's Districts: it probably has everything that the other districts have, just not as quickly and not to the same degree. Northshore boasts a modest import profit from its docks and warehouses in the Business District, but it doesn't have the sheer number of docks as the Warehouse District. Bayview Township has a few very nice beaches, but by and large Northshore has nowhere near the number of beaches or the seaside reputation of Coastway. There are some very nice suburban neighborhoods and well-to-do school communities to be found in Briarton and Oaklawn, but they are not as large, well-heeled or plentiful as what can be found in the Highland District. There are some very tall professional buildings, offices and landmarks scattered throughout Northshore, but most of those pale compared to the immense and dominating skyline of Midtown. And while a fledgling artsy community has begun to gain popularity in Lourdes, most suggest that it is merely Northshore's half-hearted answer to Noveauburg.
One of the things Northshore can claim as its own is its business district. If Northshore is, as some of its residents suggest, all of Hub City in miniature, the Business Center is all its own. Just about any national chain-- be it retail, food or professional service-- can be found in the huge throng of strip-malls, retail, secondhand and outlet stores and shopping centers spread throughout Northshore's business center... some three or four times over. Everything from Nordstrom to Best Buy to McDonalds to thirty-two different car dealerships are all seemingly available within a generous walking distance, and that has made Northshore a shopper's mecca. During the height of the Christmas season, in fact, many residents of Northshore actively seek out other places to shop simply because of the immensity of the crowds that come from other nearby districts.
Other than those few weeks, however, most residents of Northshore are justifiably proud of their district, and take offense to it being called second-rate or second-best. It still has nice schools, nice homes, great shopping, and is overall a fairly good place to live, even if some people don't think it measures up.
The Northshore District breaks down into the following sections:
BAYVIEW (1)
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BRIARTON (2)
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OAKLAWN (3)
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LOURDES (4)
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BUSINESS CENTER (5)
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