Gotham City

Origins

The origins of Gotham City are somewhat shrouded in mystery. Many millennia ago, an evil warlock was buried alive beneath what would one day become the central island of Gotham. It is alleged that while the warlock laid in a state of torpor, his evil essence seeped into the soil, poisoning the ground with his dark, corrupt touch.

The territory that is the centre of modern Gotham was also the home of an ancient Native American tribe that had existed for centuries; the Miagani, otherwise known as the "Bat People" and previously known as the "Deer People," were a tribe who based their lifestyle around bats, supposedly as a result of feats by a ‘man of bats’. The descendants of this tribe would go on to make a fortune as hunters, trading Pelts and Skins with the French.

This was also the first generation of the modern Wayne family.

In 1776, the settlement had grown into a shepherding town known as Gathome. It was home to a number of prominent families (including the Wayne’s, the Cobblepot’s, the Elliot’s, the Kane’s, the Crowne’s, the Arkham’s, and the Dumas’) but had no church, atypical for a town of this size and age.

During the latter half of the 18th century and the early half of the 19th century, Gotham was a major port city known as Gotham Town. Beginning as early as 1799, Darius Wayne began construction on a family estate that would eventually become known as Wayne Manor.

In 1840, Gotham underwent a major urban planning initiated by Judge Solomon Wayne and architect Cyrus Pinkney that laid the foundation of Gotham City. Under Wayne's commission, Pinkney's design was meant to invoke a "bulwark against the godlessness of the wilds wherein we may nurture the gifts of Christian civilization and be protected from the savagery which lurks in untamed nature." Pinkney saw his designs as an organic whole, almost a living being that would itself fight against evil. Gargoyles to frighten people onto the path of righteousness; rounded edges to confuse malevolent beings; thick walls to lock in virtue. It also had many elevated walkways, with some buildings connected to each other in such a way as they could not stand alone. Although vehemently criticized by Wayne's fellow Gothamites, the edifice pleased the judge and, in fact, was highly successful in that it attracted others to locate their ventures nearby - which in fact became the focal point for a thriving commercial center in Gotham's financial district. Together Wayne and Pinkney raised no fewer than a dozen other similar buildings. Pinkney's "Gotham Style" structure, for a time, was widely imitated, both in Gotham and elsewhere despite universal vilification in the architectural world.

In 1895, the legend of Solomon Grundy was born when Gothamite Cyrus Gold, through varying accounts, came to his death in Slaughter Swamp that led to his transformation into the undead being who would one day emerge to the public.

By the end of the century, Gotham City became a bustling hub of industry. However, it also became a haven for crime, known more for its poverty, the squalidness of its slums and the utter corruption of its government than for commercial and cultural achievements.

By the 1930s, crime and corruption had reached a significant height in Gotham in which it became immortally characterized as a dark foreboding metropolis.

During the 1950s, Gotham evolved with the changing times, particularly in light of the paranoia perpetuated by the Cold War. Various bomb shelters were erected all throughout the city.

By the 1960s, Gotham City planners began an ambitious project called the Underground Highway. Beginning at Fourth Avenue, they began building an actual subterranean thoroughfare designed to link with the subway system. They only managed to complete two-hundred yards worth of tunnel before budget cuts forced them to abandon the project. In later years, the unfinished highway became a haven for the homeless.