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Harumph. You put tiny little Rolla on the list, but left out Iowa City?
I kinda have a thing for college towns, and I like Iowa City, Lincoln, Madison, Columbia and Lansing in particular.
Des Moines is also very nice, as is Dubuque.
Forgot Iowa City, my mistake Hawkeye....I was actually in Iowa City two summers ago....Iowa has some very nice mid-sized cities. Also forgot about Mason City, IA and Rochester, MN.
I am going to have to agree with Sharp Hawkeye, Iowa does have some very nice mid-sized cities.
A few of my favorites: Iowa City, love the U of I campus, Ames, not just the ISU campus, but the downtown is very tasteful and more sophisticated than I had expected, Dubuque, Mississippi River town, that seems to be doing quite well... Des Moines is very nice, quite urban for such a low population (200K.) DSM boasts great amenities. :]
My favorite mid-sized cities in the Midwest would have to be:
1. Madison, Wisconsin
2. Des Moines, Iowa
3. Iowa City, Iowa
4. Rochester, Minnesota
5. La Crosse, Wisconsin
6. Beloit, Wisconsin
7. Bloomington, Illinois
8. Lincoln, Nebraska
9. St. Joseph, Missouri
10. Dubuque, Iowa
Btw, forgot to include Fort Wayne (IN), Port Huron, Tawas City, and Mackinaw City (last three are all in Michigan) on this list. Also forgot about Canton, Findlay, and Mansfield (all in OH). Feel free to include more cities in MO, IL, IN, OH, MI, WI, MN, IA, NE, KS, SD, and ND. Also forgot about Quincy, IL and Hannibal, MO.
International Falls, MN I would consider to have strong Canadian influences. It has a "northern exposure" kind of feeling to me. It does have some good snowmobiling and boating! It is a town of about 4500 people, and has a paper mill. That is when ya know you are in the north country
What is the criteria for medium sized? Omaha is 400,000 people and counting. It's bigger than Pittsburgh!
And Champaign-Urbana? Not my favorite place, but to each his own, I guess.
I never specificied Omaha as a medium-sized city. Here's my criteria: in terms of MSA. Omaha in that category fits the bill perfectly. Should probably just change this thread to Midwestern towns and medium-sized cities, especially since it appears I went overboard in throwing a lot of towns on here too.
International Falls, MN I would consider to have strong Canadian influences. It has a "northern exposure" kind of feeling to me. It does have some good snowmobiling and boating! It is a town of about 4500 people, and has a paper mill. That is when ya know you are in the north country
Would not debate that one, especially since it does sit practically at the Canadian border
afj it's actually kind of nice to see a midwesterner not drooling all over Madison.
what can I say I drove through there about ten years ago on a Wisconsin Dells vacation and it didn't seem incredibly special to me, although that's just my opinion, people are certainly welcome to debate it. It was a nice city though, don't get me wrong.
International Falls, MN I would consider to have strong Canadian influences. It has a "northern exposure" kind of feeling to me. It does have some good snowmobiling and boating! It is a town of about 4500 people, and has a paper mill. That is when ya know you are in the north country
Yep, wake up and smell the paper mills, then chop your nose off
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....I was actually in Iowa City two summers ago....Iowa has some very nice mid-sized cities. Also forgot about Mason City, IA and Rochester, MN.
I drove through there about ten years ago on a Wisconsin Dells vacation and it didn't seem incredibly special to me, although that's just my opinion, people are certainly welcome to debate it. It was a nice city though, don't get me wrong.
