Overview

After returning from living for a month in San Francisco I've decided to change my usual city style from British and European realism to American realism and as such I've come up with Oakwood. It's a medium sized city which takes the place of Fairfield in NorCal. Right on the capital corridor Amtrak line between San Jose and Sacramento and within easy driving distance of the Bay Area I figured it was the perfect place to locate my CJ.

History

Oakwood was founded in 1859 by Arnold O'Clare and it quickly grew up as a trading post for people on their way to San Francisco. In 1903 it was incorporated as a city and the first bridge across the Clare River was built. By the 1920s the city was undergoing huge amounts of construction as it became one of the new towns being built on the riches of the banking industry. Wells Fargo built it's ornate office building in the center of the city's downtown in 1922. By 1929 plans for a subway were in the pipeline with the first line being completed by 1944. As the century moved on so did Oakwood as it grew larger and larger. Trollycars rattled down the city's main throughfare of Market Street connecting the downtown area with newly built southern areas. In 1959 a poll was held across the city on what to name the streets running E-W, it was decided that the names of states was most appropriate and so from Alabama to Idaho the city's streets were named. North of the river development came slightly later but by the 60s it was a well established area and so it was decided to name the streets after Pulitzer prize winners instead of the A St and B St that had gone before.

Oakwood Today

As it stands Oakwood has become an integral part of the Northern Californian 'belt' of major cities. It's downtown boasts the headquaters of a number of major financial and retail businesses. The city boasts a large subway system funded, in part, by private investment. As far as transport is concerned the city is well ahead of most other urban area's it's size with 8 subway lines, a reliable network of buses and 4 Amtrak stations on the Capital Corridor line. As well as this Interstate 80 cuts right through the city tunneling underground at 8th St providing fast links with the Bay Area.

Location