Ironbound

The term "Ironbound" refers to the neighborhood's physical boundaries of heavy industry on three sides and the Pennsylvania Railroad on the fourth. The latter term is derived from the fact that the area is located to the southeast of the main body of Newark and is connected by a "neck" of land. Nestled in this thickly populated area, Independence is one of the County's smallest parks, second only to Riverbank Park, which is located nearby.

Located east of Penn Station, bordered by the Passaic River and surrounded by major highways and the railroad, the Ironbound feels more like a village than a neighborhood of a major city. In the 1820s, German and Irish immigrants first settled the Ironbound and worked in the factories springing up amid the Industrial Revolution. Successive waves of immigrants—including Italians, Poles, Slavs, Jews, Lithuanians, Spaniards, Portuguese, Brazilians, and Latin Americans—followed this pattern, finding jobs and a chance at the American Dream in the Ironbound and Newark.In the 2050's, the Resource Wars began. Many smaller nations go bankrupt, and a war in the middle east errupts. Many people from Western China emmigrate to the United States, but are generally unwelcome. By 2060, large parts of Asia and Europe broke down and collapsed, furthering emigration, until the 2060's. As the oil resources dry up across the globe, China's fossil fuel dependency causes an energy crisis in the nation. China, bordering on collapse, becomes more aggressive in its trade talks with the United States. Unwilling to export oil to China, talks between the United States and China break down. No immigration into the US is allowed from China, and Chinese residents are put under immense scrutiny, especially following the winter of 2066, when China invaded Alaska. By 2070, the population of the ironbound had become 95% asian by herritage, and was too large to move to the nearest detention center. Instead, the remaining hispanic population was removed, and the ironbound sealed off from the rest of the country until the bombs drop in 2077.

There is no record how the Chinese kept their culture and practice, let alone their people, alive in the Ironbound when the bombs fell. With no Vaults, it was amazing that any survived. But as the prophet of 2075 foretold, The area of New Ark would be spared from direct hits, although he did not mention the lingering effects of the Fallout. For a list of Ironbound Locations: see Ironbound Locations (list)