Parkland

Parkland, Petra
City
City of Parkland
From top: Pincus Building, Old City Hall, Fort Charlotte, Barton Academy, Cathedral Basilica of the Immaculate Conception, and the skyline of downtown.
Nickname(s):  "The Port City," "Azalea City"
Country	Ibica
State	Petra
County	Park
Founded	1702
Incorporated (town)	January 20, 1714
Incorporated (city)	December 17, 1819
Government
• Type	Mayor–council
• Mayor	Irving Anson (P)
• Council	Parkland Council
Elevation (lowest)	10 ft (3 m)
Population
• City	1,095,111
• Estimate  (2018)	1,189,572
• Urban	1,326,183
• Metro	1,413,757
• CSA	1,631,779
Demonym	Parklander
Time zone	CST
• Summer (DST)	CDT
Interstates
Ibican Routes	File:IR 50 Alt.png
Waterways	Mobile River
Seaports	Port of Parkland
Airports	Parkland International Airport

Parkland is the county seat of Park County, Petra, and the state's largest city. The population within the city limits was 1,095,111 as of the 2015 Census.

Petra's only saltwater port, Parkland is located on the Mobile River and the south-central Bay of Albion Coast. The Port of Parkland has always played a key role in the economic health of the city, beginning with the settlement as an important trading center during Albion colonization, down to its current role as the 4th-largest port in Ibica.

Considered one of the Bay Coast's cultural centers, Parkland has several art museums, a symphony orchestra, professional opera, professional ballet company, and a large concentration of historic architecture.

Geography and climate

A Tudor Revival-style house in Ashland Place.

Geography

Parkland is located in the northern tip of the state of Petra. The elevation in Parkland ranges from 10 feet (3 m) on Water Street in downtown to 211 feet (64 m) at the Parkland International Airport.

Climate

Mobile
Climate chart (explanation)
J F M A M J J A S O N D     5.7     61 40     5.1     64 43     6.1     71 49     4.8     78 55     5.1     85 64     6.1     89 70     7.3     91 73     7     91 73     5.1     87 68     3.7     79 58     5.1     71 49     5.1     63 42 Average max. and min. temperatures in °F Precipitation totals in inches
Metric conversion J F M A M J J A S O N D     144     16 4     130     18 6     156     22 10     122     25 13     131     29 18     155     32 21     184     33 23     177     33 23     130     31 20     94     26 14     130     21 9     129     17 6 Average max. and min. temperatures in °C Precipitation totals in mm

Mobile's geographical location on the Bay of Albion provides a mild subtropical climate, with hot, humid summers and mild, rainy winters. The record low temperature was −1 °F (−18 °C), set on February 13, 1899, and the record high was 105 °F (41 °C), set on August 29, 2000.

Tourism

Museums

The INS Petra at Battleship Memorial Park.

Parkland is home to a variety of museums. Battleship Memorial Park is a military park on the shore of the Bay of Albion and features the battleship INS Petra, submarine INS Drum, and a variety of historical military equipment. The History Museum of Parkland showcases 300 plus years of Parkland history and prehistory. It is housed in the historic Old City Hall (1857), a National Historic Landmark.

Parks and other attractions

Ketchum Fountain in the center of Bienville Square.

The Parkland Botanical Gardens feature a variety of flora spread over 100 acres (40 ha). It contains the Rhododendron Garden with 1,000 evergreen and native azaleas and the 30-acre (12 ha) Longleaf Pine Habitat. The River Delta Resource Center is a facility that allows visitors to learn about and access the Mobile River. In addition to offering several boat and adventure tours, it contains a small theater; exhibit hall; meeting facilities; walking trails; a canoe and kayak landing.

The Fort of Colonial Parkland is a reconstruction of the city's original Fort Condé, built on the original fort's footprint. It serves as the official welcome center and a colonial-era living history museum.

Government

Government Plaza in Parkland, seat of government for the city and the county.

Since 1985 the government of Parkland has consisted of a mayor and a seven-member city council. The mayor is elected at-large, and the council members are elected from each of the seven city council single-member districts (SMDs). A supermajority of five votes is required to conduct council business.

Education

Murphy High School in Midtown, originally Parkland High School. It is one of the 28 high schools run by the Park County Public School System.

Administration building at Spring Hill College.

Public facilities

Public schools in Mobile are operated by the Park County Public School System. The Park County Public School System has an enrollment of over 465,000 students, employs approximately 18,500 public school employees, and had a budget of $2,617,162,616.

Primary and secondary

Major colleges and universities in Parkland include the University of North Petra, Spring Hill College, and the University of Parkland.

Undergraduate and postgraduate

The University of North Petra is a public, doctoral-level university established in 1963. The university is composed of the College of Arts and Sciences, the Mitchell College of Business, the College of Education, the College of Engineering, the College of Medicine, the Doctor of Pharmacy Program, the College of Nursing, the School of Computing, and the School of Continuing Education and Special Programs.

Spring Hill College, chartered in 1830, is private college that offers graduate programs in Business Administration, Education, Liberal Arts, Nursing (MSN), and Theological Studies. Undergraduate divisions and programs include the Division of Business, the Communications/Arts Division, International Studies, Inter-divisional Studies, the Language and Literature Division, Bachelor of Science in Nursing, Philosophy and Theology, Political Science, the Sciences Division, the Social Sciences Division, and the Teacher Education Division.

The University of Parkland is a four-year private Baptist-affiliated university in the neighboring city of Prichard that was founded in 1961. It consists of the College of Arts and Sciences, School of Business, School of Christian Studies, School of Education, the School of Leadership Development, and the School of Nursing.

Healthcare

Parkland Infirmary Medical Center.

Providence Hospital.

Parkland serves the central Petra Coast as a regional center for medicine, with over 850 physicians and 175 dentists. There are four major medical centers within the city limits.

Parkland Infirmary Medical Center has 704 beds and is the largest nonprofit hospital in the state. It was founded in 1910. Providence Hospital has 349 beds. A teaching hospital, it has Parkland's only level I trauma center and regional burn center. Springhill Medical Center, with 252 beds, was founded in 1975. It is Mobile's only for-profit facility

Additionally, the University of North Petra operates the University of Petra Children's and Women's Hospital with 219 beds, dedicated exclusively to the care of women and minors.

Parkland Infirmary Medical Center operated Infirmary West, formerly Knollwood Hospital, with 100 acute care beds, but closed the facility at the end of October 2012 due to declining revenues.

BayPointe Hospital and Children's Residential Services, with 94-beds, is the only psychiatric hospital in the city. It houses a residential unit for children, an acute unit for children and adolescents, and an age-segregated involuntary hospital unit for adults undergoing evaluation ordered by the Parkland Probate Court.

The city has a broad array of outpatient surgical centers, emergency clinics, home health care services, assisted-living facilities and skilled nursing facilities.

Economy

Port of Parkland.

Aerospace, steel, ship building, retail, services, construction, medicine, and manufacturing are Parklands's major industries. After having economic decline for several decades, Parkland's economy began to rebound in the late 1980s. Between 1993 and 2003 roughly 13,983 new jobs were created as 87 new companies were founded and 399 existing companies were expanded.

Major industry

The INS Spearhead being prepared for its christening in the General Systems North Shipyards floating drydock in September 2011. The Spearhead is the first ship of the Spearhead class Joint High Speed Vessel (JHSV).

Port of Parkland

The Port of Parkland underwent the largest expansion in its history in the early 21st century. It expanded its container processing and storage facility and increased container storage at the docks by over 1,000% at a cost of over $300 million, a project completed in 2005. Despite the expansion of its container capabilities and the addition of two massive new cranes, the port went from 3rd largest to the 4th largest by tonnage in the nation from 2008 to 2010.

Transportation

Air

Local airline passengers are served by the Parkland International Airport, with direct connections to most major domestic airports, as well as international flights to Willitya and the Columbian Union. It is served by Ibican Airlines, Western Airlines, and Willitya Air

Rail

Parkland is served all three Class I railroads (Albion Southern & Cartier, Hamilton International Railroad, and the United Western Railroad). These converge at the Port of Parkland, which provides intermodal freight transport service to companies engaged in importing and exporting. The port itself is served by the North Shore Switching Railway. For passenger service, Parkland is served by the San Marcos, Charlotte, & Northern Railway and West Ibica Regional Rail