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Watchwater
Up until a decade ago, Watchwater
was the centre of industry and commerce in New London.
Oil shipped up the Mississippi from the Gulf of Mexico
was processed at a plant on the outskirts of the city,
and Watchwater was awash with manufacturing industries
and big businesses.
However, since the oil in the Gulf
coast began to dry up, more and more businesses have
left New London and moved north to Baton Rouge. Because
of this, these days the district of Watchwater is
a patchwork of abandoned warehouses and factories
interspersed with small businesses still trying to
survive. Some commercial industry still survives,
among them the drugs company Orpheus Pharmaceuticals
which runs out of Watchwater Park at the centre of
the district, and which, along with the ICM Chemical
Processing Plant, adapted to run on the oil refinery
just outside town, provides much of the city’s
employment.
Watchwater is carved up northwest
to southeast by several major roads, including Fountain
Street, Havre Street and Watchwater Street, which
runs along the waterfront of the old, abandoned docklands
where the disused Mal Gardé bridge shakily
spans the Mississippi. The docklands are among the
most dangerous area of New London, with an incredibly
high population of homeless, a defined gang culture
and very little police presence among the deserted
warehouses.
In fact, these days, much of the area
outside of Watchwater Commercial Park is abandoned
and falling into disrepair. Most people who visit
the city avoid the district as it has little to offer
in the way of culture or entertainment and is not
a safe place to go out on your own.
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