Steelhill History

The history of Steelhill.

Beginnings
Steelhill (named Ferryshore at the time) was founded on September 4, 1834 on the island of Thorisk in the mid-northern Pacific Ocean and the island itself was annexed by the United States as a territory. The island was settled because of a need for a refuel depot, as it was the halfway point between the coast and larger resource-rich islands. However, soon after, in 1850, large iron reserves were discovered under the nearby mountains, and they were thus named the Ironhill Mountains. The town boomed and ore processing factories were built, along with iron and steelworking plants. The town began to be known as Steelhill, and in 1870, its name was officially changed from Ferryshore to Steelhill. The eastern shoreline near the port is still called Ferryshore. The eastern part of the island became intermingled with manufacturing buildings and patches of housing. Housing spread northward along the railways that connected the mines with the rest of the city. In 1880, David Kilrikken built the city's first coal power plant. Kilrikken went on to create a majority of the power generation and transmission infrastructure. He also helped to make the mineshafts at Ironhill safer with electric ventilation and lighting.

1903 Disaster
In 1903, an earthquake shook the island and released molten rock from the Ironhill Mountains. The ensuing fires destroyed a major section of the northwestern industrial area, as well as a good portion of the residential district. Kilrikken was quick to act and created large temporary camps for people to live in while he funded construction of a new residential district, Roston (Brownstone area). The project saved the city.

Prohibition
In 1920, just before prohibition, Kilrikken airfield was built to handle small to medium sized aircraft. It was later expanded some to support small commercial airlines to supplement the ferry service already in place on the island. Later on in the year of 1920, prohibition hit the island. Within months, bootlegging traceurs and traceuses ran alcohol from the stills in the mountains to the speakeasies in town. This was the beginning of the city's parkour delivery roots.

Depression
When the great depression hit in 1929, the city was plunged into disastrous fights and wars amongst the people. Fighting died down within a few years, as people lost their will to fight each other. Food was still semi-abundant as there was plenty of fishing areas on the island, as well as wild edible plants in the hills. However, money was impossible to get, as were jobs. Kilrikken, who was now 78 years old, made attempts to help the people, however the frailty from his age soon struck down on him. He was buried in a mausoleum in the city's cemetery.

WWII
As the United States entered the second world war, the city's factories went into production of all sorts of machinery, mainly airplanes. A few of the planes they manufactured and tested can still be found strewn about the island. A year into production, the upper management decided to build a flight school, as there was usually 10-20 crashes a month by the test pilots. There was only one fatality at least, but the pilots that crashed usually didn't fly afterwards. After the war ended, Steelhill remained a top production center of steel.

Cold War
Coming into the cold war, Steelhill was used as a base for spying on communist activities in Asia, particularly the northern portions of it. It was also used as an outpost to detect ICBM launches before they reached the mainland. When the Vietnam war started, Steelhill mainly stayed away from the conflict. Bombs and planes were built, but for the most part the city was avoidant of participation in war, both then, and in the future. SOaDoS (Strategic Operations and Defense of Steelhill) founded.

The 80's
Random dragon sightings attributed to drugs.

The 90's
Horrid gang wars.

2000's
Whiny people protesting about saving the dragons. SOaDoS units dispatched to quell the rising tensions. Further arguments over dragons resulted in immediate dispatch of units.

Today
Today, parkour is an important part of gym classes and sports.