Historic Warsaw, Mississippi

[Nardo69 51]

Waaah!

Can't see no pics ...

Nardo ....

[rob_2616 13]

 

 

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The history of the city of Warsaw can begin nowhere else other than the Warsaw flats (aka Old Warsaw). Located at the very southernmost tip of the island, 2.5 miles from the current downtown, Old Warsaw was at the beginning of the twentieth century, the financial and cultural center of a thriving, expanding metropolis.

By the summer of 1910 Warsaw was a city of 540,000 (8th largest in the nation). Business was booming downtown, and it showed no signs of slowing down. The Sears Motor Buggy Building expected to be completed next fall, had just topped out at 430 feet - now the tallest in the city. The Warsaw Train Depot, completed just one year earlier, was already outgrowing its new building as hundreds of commuters, and immigrants poured into the city on a daily basis. On 14th Street young boys from every surrounding neighborhood, made their nightly pilgrimage to see Pearl White in

[sloppet 3]

For a pole it's funny to see something like this .. nice work, oh, and your signature pic is too big, please edit it!

[rob_2616 13]

Heh.. sorry bout that.  Assuming the appropriate dimensions are 300x50, it's fixed.

[Kwakelaar 92]

Nice beginning for Historic Warsaw.

[PhilsCafe 8]

Great city so far. I like that you use parking lots to break the row of houses. And the explanations are interesting.

- Phil

[jacqulina 162]

excellent work so far

[Nardo69 51]

Normally I would cry out something like why did you put that highrise among hese poor little lowrises? or so. You explained why it is there ... that's the difference ... there are a lot of astonishings things on this planets but if they were build b yhuman mankind there's always an explanation ...

Great work!!

Nardo

[rob_2616 13]

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I have a little free time, so I'll give a real quick progress report before the next update.

 

As you can see I've mostly been working on terraforming.  I've completed about 80% of the water outline.  The Black River (right) is nearly completed - two more city tiles still need done.  Warsaw Creek & the unnamed inlet (left) are entirely done.  I still need to spend some time working on adding a few random lakes, creating the Gulf of Mexico, and some Barrier Islands.

 

I should also point out that the region will not be as flat as it currently looks.  I'll be adding topography as I build each city.

 

I've also done a little more work on Old Warsaw, including the Misery Bay Causeway - which I will hightlight more in the next update.

[simslover 0]

Rob, why are your journals so realistic? Come spill the secrets! My cities( I dont have a journal yet)turn out really unrealistic.

Anyway great work! Keep it up. Your creations biwilder me

[jacqulina 162]

nice terraforming

[elle_driver 2]

Excellent work, I really like it

[PhilsCafe 8]

Nice terraforming so far. Keep up your great work.

- Phil

[rob_2616 13]

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When visiting Warsaw, most tourists stay in one of the many swanky, uptown hotels.  For Breakfast they may have a croissant at Union Station Plaza, or one of those famous Meatball Omlettes at Rich's downtown dinor.  During the day they may go shopping at the ritzy Galleria Mall, take a tour of the city's historic Spring Garden neighborhood, or perhaps sun themselves on the westside beaches.  Most smart tourists however, never make it south of 22nd Street, into Old Warsaw.  Infact, the majority of tourists not only avoid the Warsaw Flats, most don't even know it exists. 

 

Thats a good thing.

 

Old Warsaw, also known as the Warsaw Flats, or the Warsaw Ghetto, is by far the city's roughest neighborhood.  Crime-ridden, disease-infested, and poverty-struck, it is the seedy underbelly of Warsaw.  It is a section of the city where 5 year olds sell crack on the street, prostitutes and pimps  have loud, violent, and often deadly fights over territory, and gang killings are a nightly occurance.  We of course, will be taking our tour during the daylight, with a police escort.

 

 

 

   

 

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At the islands marshy, southernmost tip, the foot of Spruce Street, lies the most dangerous neighborhood in all of the city - Harding Homes.

 

Built in 1954, the Public Housing Development consists of 16 towers, and nearly 50,000 residents. 

 

 

 

 

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Moving southeast, at the foot of Exchange Street, is the second phase of Harding Homes, built in 1956.

 

 

 

 

 

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Warsaw is a horribly dense city, especially on the island's southertier.  Because of this few large retail chains are able to find enough land to construct their stores.  Warsaw's city council is also fiercely protective of the city's road grid, often refusing to close streets in order to accomadate the large footprint of most suburban retailers.

 

The Sears on 10th & State Street is one of the few exceptions, infact, the only exception in Old Warsaw.  As I mentioned earlier, in the early twentieth century Warsaw was the headquarters of the Sears Motor Buggy division.  The company bought the lot on 10th & State, and constructed a massive factory on the property well before any land was developed in that area.  Although the factory closed only a few years after its doors first opened, Sears kept the land, eventually building the Sears retail store in 1962.

 

 

 

 

 

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With the exception of the hills to the north, most of Warsaw island is flat, at most only a few feet above sea level.  At it's southernmost tip, the land is extremely swampy, and unbuildable.  Residents in this neighborhood often have serious flooding and water damage problems.

 

Jefferson High School is shown above.

 

We will continue with Old Warsaw tomorrow!

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Nardo69 51]

There are enough CJs on the ST that show fancy and rich neighbourhoods. And most of the $%&^!'s questions are how to get a lot of R$$$ in their towns. Me I have a bit the other problem, that too much R$ turn to R$$ resp. went out to make place for the R$$ and R$$$.

Some CJers really build nice R$$$ but most are boring me a bit. Rarely you see some dirty industry or R$ quarters, or slums.

This is an excellent one! I really like how you them, presenting them. Pls do me a favour and backup often becaouse this is really extraordinairy!!!

Nardo

[rob_2616 13]

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Old Warsaw, it seems, has become the city's warehouse of the poor.  Thousands of public housing units have been built south of 22nd Street, since the early 1950's.  Mandrin Arms (center) is just one of the many subsidized, vertical neighborhoods, that plague the island's southerntier. 

 

In addition to Public Housing, Rent Control has also conspired against Old Warsaw.  80% of the island's rent controlled buildings lie below 22nd Street.  Most developers avoid Old Warsaw for fear that Warsaw's Rent Control Board (the RCB) will commandeer any new development, and real estate investors see no reason to invest money into buildings that will likely bring no profit.

 

 

 

 

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The Warsaw Train Depot was at one time the central hub in the city's rail and subway traffic system.  Although still a major subway station, its job of handling commuter trains coming from outside the city has now been outsourced to the larger Union Station (built in 1943) on 48th Street.  Built in 1909, the Warsaw Train Depot has been badly beaten, but is still standing.  During World War 2, most of the building's decorative ironwork was scrapped as a patriotic gesture, and the two massive domes were tarred over in compliance with the government's black out regulations.  The depot had also been gutted by fire in the 1974 race riots, and consequently closed for over a decade, from 1974 to 1986.

 

With the help of the Warsaw Society of History and Architecture, the city began restoring the historic depot in the early 90's. 

 

 

 

On our next update we will explore Old Warsaw's transit system.

[RadioheadFan 1]

     Awesome work as always. Much like Old Warsaw, it seems my hometown is endlessly filled with ugly non-profit housing corporations...oh well. Can't wait for the next update!

Jamie

[ginchael 1]

Wow...I saw this, but wish I posted earlier.  Very, very nice, and very realistic of a major American city.  Good work.

[PhilsCafe 8]

Great updates. It's nice to see the bad parts for once. I love the realism of your city layout and I also like the explanations.

- Phil

[meinhosen 11]

Very nice job. 

Great work on the stories behind not only the city but the south side of the city.  You don't see low-income housing a poor areas too much in CJs, and you're doing a fantastic job.  My compliments also on the underlying theme of the historic buildings in Warsaw.  So very realistic with the fight(s) to preserve and renovate history instead of tearing it down.

[rob_2616 13]

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Every American city has its suburbs, and Warsaw is no exception.  With time, as we progress out of the inner city, the dense, urban jungle will slowly give way to a lush, well-manicured, suburban oasis. 

 

Above is a sneak peak of the retail side of Warsaw's suburbs.

 

 

 

 

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Shown above is your average inner city neighborhood, built anywhere between the late 1800's to the 1930's.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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As we progress through time we'll eventually move into mid-twentieth century housing.  The most noticeable difference is of course, the larger lot, and the addition of garages.  The houses though, are still fairly close to the street.

 

You may see a few of these lots in the upcoming weeks.

 

 

 

 

 

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And far out into the Warsaw suburb's is the late twentieth century housing.  It may take a few months before we start seeing these neighborhoods.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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However, as we've seen earlier, residential neighborhoods won't be the only thing changing - the commercial districts will be getting a face lift as well.  Though office parks such as the ones shown above are typically found in the suburbs, you may see one or two of these lots clinging along side a highway in urban Warsaw.

 

 

 

[Kwakelaar 92]

Nice updates, interesting reading.

[jacqulina 162]

interesting work,great update,very nice pics

[PhilsCafe 8]

A look into the future? Shouldn't it say a look into the past? However, nice look back... I like the layout of your suburbs very much. Especially the commercial strip, very realistic.

- Phil

[Nardo69 51]

I like the story about the old train depot, and your suburbs look great!

Nardo

[GingerBlokey 30]

I adore the accuracy and realism of this CJ. Fantastic keep up the good work, this goes in my CJ folder

[rob_2616 13]

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Our tour of Old Warsaw ends with its transit system.  The junction of US Route 90 & the Lowlands Highway is one of the most confusing intersections in the city, and also, one of the most congested.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Listed in order of highest traffic counts, Old Warsaw's busiest roads are: US Route 90, Lowlands Highway, State Street, and 18th Street.

 

US Route 90, the most heavily traveled road in Old Warsaw, skirts along the southern shore of the island.  90 connects Warsaw to its eastern suburbs with the Misery Bay Bridge/Causeway, and connects the western suburbs with the Horizon Bridge.

 

The Lowlands Highway (the southernmost remnants of I-59) travels along the eastern shore of the island.  To the south it connects Warsaw to the barrier Islands.

 

State Street (N-S), and 18th Street (E-W) are both heavily traveled local roads.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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The Lowlands Highway (traveling North/South) is the southernmost extension of I-59.  Despite being directly connected to I-59, the Lowlands Highway is not considered part of the US Interstate system because it has several at grade intersections.

 

 

 

 

 

   

 

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Moving just south of the previous picture, we come to the intersection/merging of the Lowlands Highway & US Route 90.  For a short time the Lowlands Highway and Route 90 merge together, and share the same road.

 

The bridge on the lower right is Route 90 and the Misery Bay Bridge/Causeway.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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After US Route 90 & the Lowlands Highway split (the Lowlands Highway turns south, eventually connecting the barrier islands, while 90 continues west), Route 90 picks up the southern terminus of State Street.

 

 

 

 

 

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I will post a more detailed (and larger) road map later, but for now this one gives you the first glimpse of Warsaw's well planned grid.

 

Like my previous cj, Warsaw's inner city road layout will be simple:  Named streets travel north and south, numbered streets will travel east and west.  1st Street, the city's southernmost street can be found, obviously, at the southernmost tip of the island.

 

 I'm sure this is all pretty confusing, any questions so far?

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Kwakelaar 92]

You manage to make this CJ interesting enough so I have to take a look everytime I am here.
I like the way you have made the intersections for the highways, but I don't understand why there is a large U turn in your highwaysystem on the most southern tip of Old Warsaw?

[meinhosen 11]

Nice update.  Those highways are sure confusing; I'm glad this is all fictional, because junctions like that would probably kill me.

Great work!

[rob_2616 13]

Kwakelaar:  I put the little U-turn thing in there mostly just because I thought it looked good, but there is aslo a small pond and a neighborhood that the highway had to avoid.

 

On a seperate note, I think we are done with Old Warsaw (At least for now.  We will probably have small Old Warsaw updates later on).  I think we are going to head north and check out the Strip next.

 

 

 

 

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...just a closing shot of how the regions transit map is coming together.