What is Riverdale?
Founded in 1941 and located in Rockland County in New York, Riverdale is a small town. The founding was bankrolled, or paid for by Barnabas B. Blossom. It was founded by General Augustus Pickens. The town is split in half, the Northside and the Southside. The Northside of the town seems to be more prosperous and livable with low crime rates. The Southside is the opposite. The north was rich and the south was poor. Life in the north was easy while life in the south was harder. The town of Riverdale neighbors the town of Greendale.
The two sides of Riverdale
As mentioned above, the north of Riverdale was a pleasant place to live. Very low crime rates, high prosperity, and very livable. People lived richly and peacefully. The south side was tough and hard to live in. Crime rates were very high and people didn't have much. Most everyone was very poor. The south was home to a gang named the Southside Serpents. Another gang that also lived in the south was called the Ghoulies. Both gangs were involved in many illicit activities that found their way to the Northside on occasion, slipping through the border unseen.
Tension of the two sides of Riverdale
Both the north and the south side of Riverdale kept out of each other’s business. Never worrying about what was going on with the other side. However, when a criminal called the ‘Black Hood’ began causing trouble on both sides, tensions grew. The crimes committed by the dangerous criminal happened more on the north of Riverdale and targeted sinful people in very violent ways. The relationship between the two sides intensified until it got to the point of riots breaking out. One of these riots was triggered after an incident at the sheriff's station, resulting in a battle between the two sides, leading them to all out war with each other.
The fall of Riverdale
The harsh feelings the two sides had against each other eased when the death of Fred Andrews occurs. This reveals the farm’s part in brainwashing the town using false pretenses. A bit of time passes and the town is overlooked for several months until VHS tapes are left on the doorstep by an auteur. The tapes show footage of the re-enactment of the town’s dark and violent history. Later on, this is revealed to be the work of teens influenced by the town’s past. Years later, the town is empty. A ghost town. Over the course of 7 years, all its inhabitants moved away, going to other places. This left the town very empty. The only people who remained were gangbangers using the abandoned buildings for shelters and bases for their gangs. The school remained open, despite Riverdale no longer being a town, its township having been successfully stripped from it by Hiram Lodge. One of the buildings, La Bonne Nuit, was bought by reformed Serpents. It was turned into their new base named White Wyrm. It operated under Pop’s Chock’lit Shoppe which had been standing for a long while.