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Morgantown, WV seems to be devoid of the nicer restaurants and kitschy small shops that typify many college/university towns. Last time I drove through I tried TripAdvisor and it led me to an allegedly fancy burrito place that seemed mostly dead. There do seem to be a lot of McTownhouses and McMansions on the outskirts so it seems prosperous but frankly it is hard for me to tell how or why.
Morgantown is always ranked as one of the best college towns. It might not have 5 star dining at a large scale level, but it has a lot of quality locally owned restaurants. As for Kitschy shops, not so much, but there is a good selection of shopping downtown for a city its size. A big draw about Morgantown is its proximity to the outdoors.
Morgantown is always ranked as one of the best college towns. It might not have 5 star dining at a large scale level, but it has a lot of quality locally owned restaurants. As for Kitschy shops, not so much, but there is a good selection of shopping downtown for a city its size. A big draw about Morgantown is its proximity to the outdoors.
Come to think of it, Storrs in my own homestate of Connecticut has to be one of the most sorry college towns in the country (and almost certainly the worst in the Northeast). Despite being the location of a university of 22,000+ in the middle of nowhere (and having been set up since the 19th century) there's not even a hint of a nearby "town." Historically there's been nothing other than a set of strip malls and a few "garden apartments" when you get off campus, but there's a at least a few new mixed-use midrises which have been built now. Still, the contrast between the surroundings of UConn and UMass Amherst in terms of the surrounding community is vast, which is surprising given they're otherwise pretty similar (grew out of agricultural colleges, flagships of state system, enrollment in the 20,000-30,000 range, etc).
Wasn't Amherst MA an actual town though? Maybe a better question of why so different for Storrs/UConn would be Penn State/State College - why did State College become something that looked like a town after the university was plopped in the middle of nowhere, and Storrs didn't?
I best college towns (imo: Ithaca, Madison, Charlottesville) are scenically beautiful, have a lot of (previously) smokey coffee shops, good and cheap (ethnic) food, musky book stores, and a wide mix of bars.
East Lansing does not have these qualities. There's one main drag in town, I think it's called Grand River Ave., featuring basically nothing but fast food, a Starbucks, and a couple sports bars. And Grand River Ave. is huge four lane road, which decreases walkability. The economic depression of Lansing also seeps into East Lansing.
I have a colleague and a friend who when to Michigan State, and they have nothing but bad things to say about East Lansing. I've only been there once, so I'm not exactly a huge expert on the subject, but from what I've seen I'd prefer Kalamazoo to East Lansing any day.
Interesting.... I went there a while back and Downtown E.L. is really around M.A.C., where there are restaurants, clubs, cafés, the Marriott Hotel, etc. It actually has good public transportation and while Grand River is a wide street, the lights are generally in sync. On Grand River between Abbot Road and Collingwood, has a variety of shops, banks, restaurants, stores and more. It is viewed as being largely middle to upper middle class, with some spillover into solidly upper middle class Okemos. South of campus has dairy farms and there were times I would get homemade ice cream after class. Nice countryside, but it is pretty flat.
Even Yale in New Haven fits into this category, although Yale's downtown location and sheer economic clout has allowed them to keep downtown New Haven afloat by pouring a lot of development money into the area immediately around campus.
Sounds a lot like University of Chicago. Hyde Park and southern Kenwood are lovely neighborhoods (northern Kenwood is decent too but not great), surrounded by a sea of urban chaos.
I love college towns but I have to say I wasn't particularly impressed with Champaign for a Big 10 town.
Best I can tell it fits right into the middle of the pack for Big Ten college towns. Madison is the crown jewel, many say Ann Arbor is right up there with it (only been briefly myself). Bloomington is decent and IU is probably the nicest campus grounds among the actual campuses. East Lansing is snoozertown, Lafayette isn't much better, Columbus is sprawlsville, Iowa City falls somewhere just above East Lansing, haven't heard anyone raving over the latest Big Ten entry (Lincoln).... C-U seems to fall somewhere around the same stratum as Iowa City.
As for the silly idea that "you can pursue a career in health care and IT in Boulder but not in Champaign" . . . well, I have friends and family in Champaign who make their living in health care and IT.
Wasn't Amherst MA an actual town though? Maybe a better question of why so different for Storrs/UConn would be Penn State/State College - why did State College become something that looked like a town after the university was plopped in the middle of nowhere, and Storrs didn't?
All of New England is split into towns. Storrs is part of Mansfield, which has been a town since 1702. Amherst was actually incorporated later, in 1759. Mind you, Amherst did have a "New England Town Center" with a green, town hall, church, and (starting in 1821) Amherst College (a separate private school) on one side). Amherst wasn't anything special during the pre-UMass period though - Northampton was the regional city. It was just a small agricultural town which happened to have a private college. After the civil war, a public agricultural college was founded, which ultimately shifted into being UMass Amherst and had big growth in the 1960s and 1970s.
State College was incorporated as a borough in 1896, but was almost certainly developed somewhat during the period before that. The borough has Victorian housing, along with old storefronts, so it clearly was somewhat dense even by 1900.
The bottom line is I can see no reason why Storrs/Mansfield has stayed such a depopulated rural area. Willimantic and Manchester are the two nearest places with anything resembling business districts, but they are both somewhat rough by Connecticut standards, and not heavily used by students from what I can gather.
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