Saturday, November 10, 2007

Our History

Written by Cameron Masters, Archive Librarian/Webmaster
(started Simday 19, 4th period, and constantly updated as 'historically deemed' events occur.)


The Hills started on December 10, 2006, human time (ht), with one man’s vision. The vision was to live in a community that thrived on its own independence, everything for Sims and by Sims.

This young man was a hard-working Poli-Sci student by the name of Sabien Cunningham. He and his fiancé, Tomika Green, recruited “The 6”, who we lovingly know today as Nick Michels, Cameron Masters, Honey Tebo-Michels, Trinity Higgins-Dalton, Sergio Spencer, and the late Asya Rasmussen. Each having a niche of their own, they formed the Hood Council and set out to build this town brick by brick.

Sabien Cunningham, Sr. is Simmington Hills’ first Mayor/Spokes Sim/Hood Council Leader. He’s been a leader in every way, hence the many titles he claims. His legacy includes arranging necessary start up monies through the NPP, Neighborhood Partnership Program in SimCity. The NPP gives the Hills $700,000 every period, only as needed, as long as there are less than 50 residents. At this point in time, Fall 2007, we are pleased to no longer need this funding with a population of only 35 Sims.

He also oversaw the building of several Administrative Buildings. City Hall, SHPD (Simmington Hills Police Dept.), SimCity Bank, to name a few….he was instrumental in starting the Technical Training Center at SSU (Sims State University), now demolished. This training center was to be the catalyst for Sims wanting to launch their own businesses. A new Technical Training Center is being proposed for construction in Willow County.

Sabien's biggest accomplishment was to join our hood with Simmerville and SUN, Sims United Neighborhoods. Through this alliance, Mayor Cunningham has built lasting relationships with Mayors and Spokes Sims from all over SimNation and is revered and respected by all of them as a great leader. Because of this, he was appointed as a SUN Core Representative.

A devastating hurricane nearly destroyed Simmington Hills completely in Period 4. Horribly inexperienced in these kinds of matters, Sabien thought that it was the end for all of us, and posted a tremendously painful goodbye letter on the site. At the last minute, several friends that he has come to love over the years came to his support! Apple Valley was one of those main supporters. They helped us get back on our feet. Our sitizens stayed at Kent Camp, which was a shelter named in honor of the Kent Family of Apple Valley, and was temporarily located at 403 Willow Rd. (where the McDonalds stands now) while Lars Larsson and his crews were able to rebuild.

The aftermath of the rebuilding and demolitions left our Administrative Budget in shambles. The Hills declared bankruptcy and many of our sitizens braced themselves for what was to be our hardest rotation yet. Hood Council members and Administrative officers were prepared to not get paid, hefty taxes were going to be imposed on our debt-ridden sitizens, until our leader came through once again! Sabien threw the most successful online fundraiser in the history of SimCity...an art auction to sell the rarest and most expensive art to wealthy Sims all over SimNation. We raised over 3 million simoleans in one simday! Traffic to the site that simday, our 2nd Anniversary, was the highest it's ever been.

Mayor Cunningham kicked off Fall 2007 with a tour of historic Cedar Street, the first street to be built in the Hills, in Willow County. Not only to show our visitors where all our simoleans went before the bankruptcy, but to show how proud we are that we were able to survive the storm! A new Simmington Hills stands bright and more beautiful than ever!

Willow County is the main county seat in Simmington Hills, through which all immigrants must enter. It is home to the historical Cedar Two Flats area, the very first residential apartments built in the Hills. This is where Sabien and all of the Founders first moved after graduating college. These two-flat apartments still stand today, although newly renovated. This is why they have been noted as historic buildings. We also appreciate having Lars Larsson as a resident of Willow County. He has been our main contractor and architect for the residential building and growth you see there.

Camden Park District is located on the North side of the bridge. It has not been developed at this time, but we forecast that residential buildings will start being built sometime in the future by many different architects. Camden Park is slated to be a more upscale, wealthy area, with mansions and gated communities, modern homes and shopping areas.

Keeping his promise to Apple Valley for all their support and generous donations, Mayor Cunningham commissioned Li Sweeney and James McMillian to oversee the construction of the new Wilsonoff Technical Community College (WilTech). It is named in honor of Ray Wilsonoff's family, who hailed from Apple Valley and cherished the importance of education and family business. Ray Wilsonoff is currently the only sitizen in Simmington Hills to hold a FENSA card, an elite club for Sims who have mastered all their skills. Mayor Cunningham established the Board of Education in the Fall of 2007; further enforcing his goal for excellence in education.

25 simyears after it's founding, Sabien Cunningham, Sr. officially became Mayor of Simmington Hills by reaching the top of his Political Career. This milestone was celebrated with a Mayor's Ball in December 2007, where all of his colleagues from around SimNation attended to witness his coronation. An heirloom timepiece was given to Mayor Cunningham by all the Founders to mark this occasion. It is engraved with the words, "To the 1st Mayor of Simmington Hills for your dedication in service and leadership, and most of all your unwavering friendship."

A more informal celebration of Simmington Hills' 25th Anniversary was held at Jacques and Maxine Wise's home where all of the surviving Founders were there to celebrate and share 25 simyears of memories, laughter and tears...unfortunately, the party was a catalyst to our 1st publicized court case, Case #001 Cunningham vs. Masters.

Despite the negativity surrounding the case, Simmington Hills was still able to celebrate the wonderful memories the 1st 25 simyears has brought us:

Click to play this Smilebox slideshow:
In August of 2008, it was decided that the old website had run its course and Webmaster, Cameron Masters, suggested we combine our main website with our journal blog.  Thus, Cameron began the task of transferring all of our archive records over to the new database.

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