[DC at the Ridge]

I'm not GETMEOUTOFAR, but having lived in Northwest Arkansas for almost 40 years, I can tell you that Springdale is like any other growing town, it has its good points and its bad points. A lot of Springdale's prosperity is due to the poultry industry, Tyson's is headquartered there, and there are poultry farms scattered throughout rural Arkansas, Missouri and Oklahoma. There have been several lawsuits about the environmental damage from the poultry farms, you can learn more just by googling. Sometimes when it's hot outside and the wind is right, you can smell it.

Jones Truck Lines, a very solid LTL trucking company, had its headquarters in Springdale. During the late 80's they were acquired by Sun Corporation out of Pennsylvania, and their assets were drained and the company was eventually closed, but Harvey and Bernice Jones, the founders of Jones Truck Lines had managed to build a considerable bank account. After Mr Jones's death, Mrs Jones became involved heavily in several charities, and eventually used her money to build the Jones Center for Families which is really a jewel in community centers with pools and a skating rink, classrooms and so on and the facility is largely free of charge, though classes have to pay the instructors and so on.

Because of the poultry industry, Springdale has attracted quite a few immigrants. It has the largest population of Marshallese in the world outside of the Marshall Islands. And it has a thriving Hispanic population. There is concern about the number of illegal Hispanic immigrants now in the area, and the federal authorities have been working with local police to address this.

Springdale is currently working on building a baseball stadium for their new baseball franchise. They effectively stole Wichita's baseball team, and the new stadium looks to be very nice. Springdale has a very proud high school sports heritage, many of their football and baseball teams have received national attention, and with the Razorbacks so close, sports get a lot of attention in Springdale. They also have a really terrific water park for the summer, though it gets crowded, it's the nicest swimming pool complex in Northwest Arkansas. And of course, there is always easy access to Beaver Lake in the summer.

The school systems throughout Northwest Arkansas are some of the best in the state, since the tax base is so good. Along with that, you have some of the exceptionally nice neighborhoods as well as many that are more affordable. Some of the older neighborhoods have a run-down appearance. Rather than updating these older houses most people just moved into newer houses and the older neighborhoods reverted to a lot of rental housing and homes for people on fixed or lower incomes.

One of the things many people comment on is that Springdale doesn't feel as "clean" as the other cities in Northwest Arkansas. Along the highways I think this is true. Maybe because Springdale has positioned itself as the business-friendly of the four major towns, it has more signage, more billboards, more litter along its major streets than the other cities. Traffic throughout Northwest Arkansas has been a pressing issue; people who move here say it's not as bad as Dallas, Atlanta, LA and so on, then they sit for two hours on 540 trying to exit to get to the mall at Christmas, and they realize that day-to-day it's not as bad as some places, but the lack of alternative routes during heavy traffic periods like the holidays, or Razorback games, or Bikes, Blues and Barbecue can really snarl things up.

To anyone interested in moving to Springdale, I really suggest getting off the main streets and really exploring. It's not perfect by any means, and really, each of the main cities in Northwest Arkansas has a distinct personality, so Springdale isn't for everybody. But Springdale can be a good place to live.

DC

[jsherman9901]

Originally Posted by GetmeoutofAR

If you prefer winter weather move to Springfield, but make sure and position yourself north and west of I-44.

Why is that?? Most Springfield posters say to live in south Springfield.