Wanting to relocate (Akron, Canton, Barberton: home, employment, neighborhoods)

[2BAD4U]

Iam looking to relocate to the akron/canton area

does anyone have info on any of the following towns:
1. Alliance
2. Barberton
3, magadore
4. Louisville
5. Uniontown

looking for general info about neighborhoods, schools, restaurants, shopping

[Buckeye in SC]

Originally Posted by 2BAD4U

Iam looking to relocate to the akron/canton area

does anyone have info on any of the following towns:
1. Alliance
2. Barberton
3, magadore
4. Louisville
5. Uniontown

looking for general info about neighborhoods, schools, restaurants, shopping

Growing up just outside of Alliance and having lived in Louisville for a few years, I'll share a little on those 2.

Alliance is kind of a 'dead' town, it hasn't grown any in like 50 years (in fact it's shrunk a little even). Mount Union College really has proved to be the backbone of the city staying somewhat relevant. There really isn't a lot in way of sit-down chain restaurants outside of Texas Roadhouse & Applebee's, although, Grinders, Don Pancho's & Doug's are very good local establishments. As someone who went to Marlington (one of the districts outside of Alliance), it was ok, smaller - about 200 students in my graduating class. Alliance City schools are about the same size now, maybe a bit bigger, and they do have newer schools - middle school & most of the elementaries have been built in the last decade - for what that's worth. The Carnation mall is not much of a mall, it had a Goody's which went out of business and I think the only big stores left our Elder-Beerman & JCPenny, it does have it's own movie theater, and while it's nothing special, it was always significantly cheaper than Canton theaters (a few years ago tickets were $4, I'd imagine they've gone up some since then).

Louisville is a lot smaller and your typical small-town USA at about 9,000 people (Alliance is around 23,000). One thing to keep in mind that we didn't realize was as big of a reputation until we actually lived there is that many people believe it to be a racist community - which we hated that it had that stigma b/c it has a lot of nice little features. Schools are rated significantly better than Alliance or Marlington, however, really no shopping to speak of, one grocery store (Giant Eagle), a couple drug stores, and a bunch of pizza places. It has a Grinders as well now, and usually has a rotating door of restaurants that last a couple of years before going out of business on both the north & west ends of town. It does have a very nice park, Metzger Park on the south-side, and the middle school was built about 5 years ago. Like a lot of small towns, they rally around their high school sports team - in particular the football team.

Keep in mind that Stark County, and most of NE Ohio for that matter, is very stagnant - essentially no population growth in the past decade - and a lot of manufacturing/industrial companies have left the area or gone belly-up, which means a lot of run-down areas b/c that is what helped build the area in the first place. Don't get me wrong, spent my childhood and early adult years calling that area home and I have lots of great memories and miss some of the people, but it is what it is now, and there's just not a lot of opportunity nor positivity in the area any more. I hope that it reinvents itself and comes around, but it's been in a state of recession really for a decade now.

While I've been to Barberton, Mogadore & Uniontown, I haven't spent enough time in any of them to give you an accurate description, but I'd imagine they aren't much better off than Alliance or Louisville. Uniontown is tiny, but it does feed to Lake Schools which have a really good reputation, and it's pretty much right in the middle of Akron & Canton. Mogadore isn't much bigger, and Barberton is probably somewhere between Louisville & Alliance as far as 'size' goes.

If you are looking to buy a house, honestly I'd focus more on North Canton or Green.

[Mrs. P]

Uniontown? forget restaurants you won't have to eat the crap they put out....That area is heavily populated by Amish and Mennonites....and they have the restaurants, and fabulous food.

It's a nice quite burb of Akron/Canton kind of between the two...shopping would be North Canton area off I-77 and or Belden Village Mall.

[Twinsrock]

I have lived in Stark County all my life and in Louisville for the past 4 years. We choose this community b/c of the schools and the small town feel. We have not regretted it. The people are not very welcoming at first but warm up if you are sincere about becoming active in the community. I volunteer regularly at the schools and my husband is very involved with the community soccer program. Housing is very affordable in this area but unemployment is very high. If you have exisiting employment that brings you to the area you will be ok. Back to the schools... a new elementary school is being built within the next two years that will replace 3 of the 4 existing elementaries. The community is trying to raise funding for a new football stadium (football is very big here). This is a rural community and as such are rather low key.

[Toneriko]

Originally Posted by 2BAD4U

Iam looking to relocate to the akron/canton area

does anyone have info on any of the following towns:
1. Alliance
2. Barberton
3, magadore
4. Louisville
5. Uniontown

looking for general info about neighborhoods, schools, restaurants, shopping

I lived in Barberton for 19 years, very small town with very little to do. There are a few good restaurants and a movie theater. There's a serious problem with teenagers at the library and parks. They start fights, damage cars, etc. There are pretty much no jobs and the people are unbelievably rude!!