Churchill

Churchill is the largest municipality in and capitol of the Alban province of Muskegon. With a population of 166,240 people (2019-20), it is the largest municipality east of the Prairie Great Lakes and the largest Atlantic-facing port in Albion.

Churchill is a traditional port of entry to Albion. Initially developed as a quick-access port between Albion and the United Kingdom, it developed into a shipping hub and a centre for major immigration into the eastern provinces. The City has one of the coldest climates of any major municipality in Albion and features development restrictions due to its tundra and permafrost surroundings.

History
In the pre-Columbian period, the Churchill region was largely inhabited by nomadic Arctic peoples.

The first arrivals on record were likely Dene people in the year 500, but they were largely superseded by 1000 AD by the Thule people, the ancestors of modern Inuit. In turn they were followed by Chipweyan and Cree people, who largely predominate the region.

European activity in the Churchill area prior to the establishment of Albion as a Dominion was largely a byproduct of the fur trade.

Initial exploration was conducted by the Danish in a disastrous 1619 expedition which killed 61 of 64 members, leaving behind the wreck of the frigate Unicorn. The Hudson's Bay company would try and fail to establish a trading post in 1688.

In 1717, a second attempt to establish a trading post succeeded when the Hudson's Bay Company finally established the so-called Churchill River Post, a log fort a short ways upstream. This fort largely conducted fur trading with Chipweyan natives north of the boreal forest line. The fort was upgraded over ten years beginning in 1731, replaced with the stone Prince of Wales Fort. This fort was captured by the French in 1782.

A new fort was established in 1783, but the steady decline of the fur trade saw Churchill gradually slide into obsolescence, overshadowed by the key trade centre at York Factory.

Eastern port
Churchill re-entered the national conversation in 1878, when it was selected by the government of John Townshend as Albion's preferred east-coast port. The decision, affirmed by the Hudson Ports Act, was based on Churchill's favourable harbour conditions as compared to York Factory or the Nelson River, both of which would have required extensive dredging. Churchill was to be the terminus of the Dominion Pacific Railway's route between Puget Sound and Hudson Bay, earmarked for development as Albion's main Atlantic port of consequence.

The development of the railroad and the need to establish quick sea links to the United Kingdom and Europe saw Churchill rapidly develop. The construction of the Port of Churchill through the latter half of the 19th and into the 20th century equipped the region to accept large freighters and passenger ships during the warm season. An icebreaker would be stationed at the port to assist during the navigable parts of the cold season, though Hudson Bay's tendency to freeze in the winter would create seasonal trends in the economy. Much of the early economic activity in Churchill was based on warehousing and logistics. Goods could be stored in-city during the winter and shipped in bulk in the summer, leading to the development of a significant neighbourhood of large bulk storage facilities close to the port. Grain handling formed a similar pillar of the economy, with Alban farmers required to ship grain overseas through Churchill. Grain silos dominate much of the port skyline to this day.

Churchill experienced a major population boom in the early years of the 20th century, associated with mass European immigration to Albion. While most new immigrants flowed to the lower prairie regions or to Puget Sound, some chose to stay in Churchill, finding work at the docks. Many of these immigrant communities came from northerly countries where cold winters were more expected. Churchill continues to have the highest per-capita share of Albans of Russian and Norwegian backgrounds of any municipality in the country.

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Landmarks
Many older heritage buildings in central Churchill display distinctive masonry work in a mix of honey-yellow brick and irregular sandstone. While these materials outcrop rarely in the rugged Hudson Plain, some local quarrying took place early in the city's history, and deposits were uncovered by draining nearby marshes like Isabelle Lake. The clay exposed was largely iron-free glacial clay, giving local masonry a distinct pale yellow appearance. These masonry buildings largely replaced an early generation of log cabins and clapboard buildings, none of which survive.

It is typical for homes, especially in the postwar era, to be clad in wood or metal siding, often in distinct colours ranging from yellow to red to blue to white to brown and beyond. These homes are almost universally built on pilings and have no basements.

Key landmarks include...


 * The Port of Churchill, Albion's prominent eastern port. Large grain silos dominate the skyline.
 * St. Matthew's Cathedral, an impressive Anglican church built from butter-yellow brick and sandstone in an English Gothic Revival style. It's the oldest church in the city, dating from 1888, with an expansion dating from 1926. It's located at Edward and James Streets and looks out onto Hudson Common. The focal point of the building is an impressive bell tower at the church's crossing. To this day, the bells at St. Matthew's ring in downtown Churchill at 9 a.m., noon and 3 p.m.
 * The Dominion Building at the corner of James and Townshend Streets, basically in the centre of town. At one point the administrative building for the federal government, today it's a bank and private offices. A heritage building circa 1904, built in an Edwardian style dominated by bold sandstone on the lower three stories and yellow brick on the upper two.
 * The old Royal Hudson Hotel at the corner of Townshend and Victoria Streets downtown. Built in 1912 in a Queen Anne Revival style, mostly from yellow brick, it was at one point the most splendid hotel in Churchill and played host to Prime Ministers and dignitaries worldwide. These days it's an office block.
 * One Port Street, a 1960s-era International Style office block in the downtown core, built mainly from heavy concrete slab and glazing. At ten storeys, it's the tallest building in town. The building, situated at Port and Townshend, houses the offices of several mid-sized regional companies as well as the offices of the local daily paper, The Churchill Times.
 * Hudson Common, the city's downtown park, bounded by Victoria, Townshend, James and Edward Streets, with great views of the Royal Hudson and the Dominion Building. It's an open and stone-paved city block-sized square with planted black spruces and alders to give it colour alongside Lapland rosebay and twinflower. At the centre of the square is a statue of Henry Hudson. The Harris's sparrows and Smith's longspurs perch on it sometimes.
 * The Cathedral of St. Cyril of Turau, a mid-sized Russian Orthodox church facing onto La Verendrye Avenue on the edge of downtown. Built in 1929, it's a relatively large church with prominent onion domes accenting a structure built largely from sandstone and honey brick. It's one of the last impressively brick buildings to go up before the steady transition to concrete and wood siding.
 * The Riverside Church, a church predominantly frequented by Norwegians and built in 1939 in an older Norwegian style from reinforced concrete. So named because it overlooks the Churchill River.
 * Churchill City Hall, a 1920s-era sandstone building that used to house the regional government but now houses city council. The adjoining Eugene Baronoff Park, named for a 1960s mayor of the city, contains a sunken concrete square that serves as a cozy gathering space in summer and is filled up and used as an open-air skating rink in winter.
 * The Parliament of Muskegon Building, built over a drained marshland southeast of the port itself in the 1950s. It's a prime example of utilitarian International Style architecture, being a six-storey building and associated four-storey second wing, both dominated by heavy concrete slab and industrial glazing. Residents sometimes call it the Block.
 * The Bergland Centre, built downtown in 1997 on the site of several bulldozed buildings closer to the bay. It's a 5,600-seat arena built mainly from concrete and metal siding. The Churchill Ice Bears of the junior-A Eastern Hockey League play there. The arena takes its name from Bergland Nautical Services, one of the city's largest employers, which bought naming rights to the arena.
 * Old Prince of Wales Fort, part of Prince of Wales Fort Provincial Park. It's the old fur trading fort and has been restored to a semblance of its former glory. One can reach it across the river.

Air
Churchill is serviced by Townshend International Airport, a three-runway airport with the longest coming in at a length of three kilometres. The airport services both domestic and international passenger lines as well as cargo service, charter flights and general aviation. Operators are as follows:


 * Air Albion: Passenger service to Windsor International Airport.
 * Air New France: Passenger service to Québec City.
 * AlbaJet: Seasonal to Bridges Point Airport, Christmas Island, Line Islands.
 * Spress Air: Passenger service to Minishic, Miskwaham and Iqaluit.
 * Sunryze: Seasonal to Ocho Rios, Jamaica and Hamilton, Bermuda.

Townshend International is shared by the Royal Air Force of Albion as AFB Townshend and operated primarily as a small search-and-rescue base for a handful of AC-190 Merganser SAR planes and AH-149 Cormorant rescue helicopters. Two AP-150 Alcyones also fly from the base in a maritime patrol role.

Small floatplane service is handled out of the Churchill Waterdrome, located on a mid-sized shallow lake east of the municipality.