Update Three: Bertling Park
Hello Simtropolis!
After a long break, welcome back for the third update of Bienville. Computer issues and real life are making this take a lot longer to put together than I originally anticipate, but I do intend to continue this project. Right now I'm going to shoot for monthly updates as a goal. If this is your first time reading, I highly recommend taking a look a the first two updates and the cinematic video, which can be found in the Journal Index.
In this update we will continue to explore one of the oldest districts in the city, Bertling Park. We'll begin with an overview shot of Interstate I-224, which divides the Bertling Park district in two. The construction of the corridor in 1958 required the razing of several blocks in the heart of the district and devastated the local economy. Empty lots still line the freeway on both sides in spite of the recent gentrification of the area.
These empty lots and the interchanges along the highway have long been the domain the of the city's homeless population. In this next image we see the partial-cloverleaf interchange that provides access to Mississippi Avenue, under which a temporary settlement has been constructed in spite of the city's efforts to push the city's homeless far from the eyes of the city's more affluent residents. Across Mississippi Avenue is Southeast Beverage Distribution, which distributes beer from the city's blossoming craft breweries to local bar, restaurants, and stores.
On the other side of Interstate 224 lies the southern, less dense half of Bertling Park. The area along Mississippi Avenue has recently been the target of investment from the municipal government, which gave significant subsidies to a developer to encourage the development of a commercial area anchored by a grocery store. Their goal was to attempt to cut into the food desert that deprives many of the residents of the city's southern inner-city neighborhoods of fresh, healthy food. The result, Bertling Gateway, replaced several industrial buildings, 3 commercial properties, and vacant lots with a Bock Family Grocers, a McDonald's, and an IHOP restaurant. The Love's Travel Center across the street, which along with a Blue Beacon Truck Wash serves truckers heading to industrial areas further South along Mississippi Avenue, was also remodeled and modernized as part of the project.
The truck wash itself was not remodeled, but the property was beautified with new landscaping to meet the city's standards for the area. The development was generall well-received by the community, although some raised concerns about traffic along the Mississippi Avenue corridor and the inclusion of chain fast-food and fast-casual restaurants rather than local, healthier options.
Further West along I-224 lies one of the centers of the Bertling Park community, Crosno Preparatory School. Originally constructed in 1899 as the Crosno School, it was rebuilt in 1918 as Crosno High School. I served as the neighborhood high school until 2002, when the school became a magnet school in the Bienville School District, drawing high-achieving students from around the southern urban core. This transformed the school into one of the highest-rated schools in the state, but also means many students now have to attend a school much further from their homes in a less-safe area.
As part of the reclassification in 2002, the school was significantly upgraded. The interior was remodeled and central air was installed, replacing the window units that had been required before. The old stadium and gymnasium were also destroyed and replaced with modern facilities. This lead to negative outcry from some community leaders, who pointed out that school had been left in a sorry state for many years prior and that no such renovations had been undertaken at the high school most of the students in the neighborhood would now be bused to.
Just to the East of the school is a residential area characterized by apartments and townhouses, many constructed from brick produced from the abundant clay deposits in the region. At the corner of Robidoux Street and Fourth Street, directly across from the high school, a former general store has been converted by the Bertling Park Historic Society into a small history highlighting the history of the area. The area was first settled when the French settlement expanded southward into the present-day district as their fur-trading and exploitation of Southern Missouri's rich mineral resources expanded. After the French abandoned their colony to the Americans in 1804, these original French settlers were gradually replaced by American settlers coming from the East. The area, however, remained largely rural until the arrival of German immigrants in the decades preceding the Civil War. It was at this time that a settlement was established in the center of the modern-day district and the area was given its name. The name honors Johann Bertling, who divided up his land to establish a town in 1831. A relic of this Teutonic legacy can be seen farther East along Robidoux Street, where the Bertling Park Lutheran Church towers over the neighborhood. Most Germans left the area in the 1920's and were replaced by immigrants from Italy and Ireland along with African-Americans migrating from the rural areas of the American South. Today, the neighborhood is still home to many fresh immigrants, many of whom are now Vietnamese. Gentrification in recent years, however, has priced most immigrants out of the neighborhood and pushed the centers of their communities further South and West.
The demographic changes in the neighborhood did, for many years, shutter the Bertling Park Lutheran Church. The building became a Baptist church in 1928, and was home to various congregations throughout the 20th century. The church was returned to its original denomination in 2011 to serve the growing population in the downtown area. The cemetery adjacent to the church is home to the resting places of many prominent people in the neighborhood's history. Across from the church is the Robidoux Dog Park, opened in 2015 as part of the city's efforts to replace vacant lots in the area. The off-leash park has become a popular attraction for dog-owners in the area, as it has the distinction of being the closest off-leash dog park to downtown Bienville.
The other centerpiece of Bertling Park South of the interstate is Truman Green Park. A large expanse of open grass dotted by trees featuring a playground, event space, and a public swimming pool. The hall in the center of the park was built in 1922 as a monument to the local soldiers who fought and died in the Great War. In the past the park was home to crime and was a frequent location for illegal dumping, but recently the city has stepped up its maintenance efforts and a fundraising campaign paid for restoration of the memorial hall.
In the area around the park and continuing to the South, a transition can be observed from apartment buildings into detached homes, some of which are quite large. Osage Avenue, which starts in Betling Park at the junction of Chouteau Boulevard and Third Street and continues in to the adjacent Colline Royale neighborhood to the South, is dotted with large estates built by the city's merchants and business men as growth pushed them further and further from the city center. Although few of the original stately homes remain, long after the leaders of the city moved on the most successful members of the upstart immigrant communities that made the district their home. In recent years they have become the center of the gentrification of the community.
To the West, Fifth Street and Truman Trafficway form the western perimeter of Bertling Park. In the image below we see the junction between these two streets. As it moves southward, 5th Street turns to the Southeast to match the grid in Bertling Park. In its place, Truman Trafficway continues to the South at the angle of the grid of the other adjacent districts. The city has made efforts to increase the safety of drivers and pedestrians at their meeting by directing traffic to avoid sharp turns with slip lanes and restricted turning directions. Along the two arteries there are a number of small businesses and a few fast-food restaurants. In recent years some of the ethnic restaurants and shops that previously prevailed have been edged out by art galleries and coffee shops as the area has become a center of the arts scene in Bienville.
Following Fifth Street to the North brings us back to the northern half of Bertling Park, where the district is closest to downtown Bienville. In 2012 several small retail buildings and vacant lots along I-224 were replaced with a new office building known as De la Salle Plaza. The shining new offices tower above the interstate and show people entering the city entering from the East the progress of urban Bienville, which had seen little new construction since a building boom in the 1980's.
The area around the new De la Salle Plaza building is known as Bratcher's Lot, a historic working-class neighborhood that has served as the home to many generations of people working in the nearby industrial areas of the city. Today the neighborhood is popular with young people moving into the city, and is filled with restored apartments with skyrocketing rents that have forever transformed the face of this area.
One sign of this transformation can be found at Fourth Street and Duchesne Street. The former home of the Boothell Stationery Company, founded in 1911, has been converted into loft apartments with the help of municipal tax abatement. Several adjacent buildings were leveled to make room for the parking lot for residents, which includes private garages that can be used by tenants who pay an additional monthly fee.
One defining feature of this neighborhood is its close proximity to the Government Disctrict and City Hall which towers over the low-rise buildings in the neighborhoods closer to the river. Completed in 1931, the twin-spire building stands contains 35 stories and stands at 471 feet. Around the base of the tower and throughout the Government district there are several plazas and open spaces. Along Duchesne Street there are several pull-off locations reserved for food trucks that the city encourages to park in the area to provide lunch options for the many city and federal employees that fill the district's buildings. We will return to the Government District for a more thorough tour in a future update.
At the corner of Illinois Avenue and Fifth Street lies the City Hall transit hub. This area features a large bus stop on Fifth Street, the City Hall streetcar station on Illinois Avenue, and a park and ride lot serving both stations and providing a way for people exiting I-224 to access the transit options serving the greater downtown area. A large fountain, predating the park and ride facility, serves as the centerpiece for the area. Another part of the city's efforts to improve public transit and access in the urban areas of the city can be seen along Fifth Street, which features one of the city's first protected bike lanes.
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Thank you everyone for reading! I hope you enjoyed this exploration of what I created and the stories surrounding it. If you did like what you saw and want to help grow the journal, please take the time follow this journal. As I mentioned I am going to try to make this a monthly journal, but some uncertainty in my life makes it impossible for me to guarantee this. I may also try to make some more video content featuring Bienville in the future or a behind-the-scenes update more focused on building, so I'd love to hear your feedback on those ideas. I'm also thinking about adding some interactive things like having polls to decided what is built in certain areas, so let me know what you think about that as well.
Thanks again!
Until next time.
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