Glen Carbon Il, what do you think? (Edwardsville, Fairview Heights: transplants, 2010)

[at home america girl]

What is your opinion about living in Glen Carbon? Please help!

[CellarBelle]

LOVE IT!!! Okay, must come clean. I actually live in Edwardsville. But, if you do your research on the area you will find they are essentially the same. Edwardsville and Glen Carbon share a great school system, and they pretty much just run one into another. If you like being near a big city (St. Louis), but having the niceties of a small town, you will love Glen Carbon/Edwardsville. We have extensive bike trails (rails-to-trails system), Southern Illinois University Edwardsville is in GC's back yard, we have a brand new YMCA that is one of the largest in the country, and the area is very welcoming to transplants. Let me know what else you want to know. By the way, I have 2 kids in the schools here. So if you have any questions about kid activities, let me know know! Hope you find it to your liking!

[AnimalLover]

My daughter lives in Edwardsville, her sister's headed there in a few weeks. Both attend SIU-E and really like the area.

[justpicky]

Glen Carbon , Edwardsville , Maryville and Troy are good towns........Country living , you're close to major highways .........

Maryville is my favorite town , small , quiet , enjoy the bike trail .

[Road Warrior]

The wife and I moved to Maryville 2 weeks ago, great town..

[CathyinTN]

Please keep the information on Edwardsville coming!! We are looking into this area as well. We are looking for somewhere less conservative than Tennessee. We need opportunities, wonderful daycare and schools. Any thoughts?

[CellarBelle]

Edwardsville is a great town. We have Southern Illinois University Edwardsville here, and it is a growing university. The bike trails in the area are awesome. We all just updated our bikes, and we love going on the trails. You can be right in the heart of town, but feel like you are in a forest somewhere. The downtown is cute and quaint. Every Saturday morning during the summer we have "Goshen Market Days". During this time, a street is closed down and the farmers come in with their great strawberries, peaches, tomatoes and so on. We also have the "big box" stores in the area, so no need to drive far to find a Best Buy or Old Navy. Our new YMCA is an awesome facility with a skating rink, rock climbing wall, indoor track, indoor tennis courts, amazing gymnastics room, great fitness center and fun outdoor pool. They also have great camp programs for the kids during the summer. (visit Edwardsville YMCA to learn more). We went to the Cardinals game last night - 25 minutes from the parking garage to home (must confess - we left at the top of the 8th). Glen Carbon and Edwardsville are both the same school district - ECUSD7 (Edwardsville School District #7). The schools are great. Both of my kids will be going to brand-new schools in the fall. Very exciting.

Hope that is the kind of info you are looking for! Good luck!

Originally Posted by CathyinTN

Please keep the information on Edwardsville coming!! We are looking into this area as well. We are looking for somewhere less conservative than Tennessee. We need opportunities, wonderful daycare and schools. Any thoughts?

[Auxvasse148]

I've lived in Glen Carbon, Illinois for about 5 years now. I really like it. I am a teenager, and I have grown to enjoy this town very much. Everything about it is great. The people, the rural charm (despite being just 15 miles from St. Louis), the bike trails, Miner Park, the schools, all of it. I think that Glen Carbon and Edwardsville should just merge, because there is no real boundary between the two, and everything is the same.

[INSPIREDGREEN]

Hi,

I am married and have three boys. I have recently decided to go back to school full time to become an Art Therapist and I'm hoping to transfer to SIUE in the Spring of 2010. From what I'm reading on the forums it sounds like Edwardsville and Glen Carbon are great places to live and I think my boys will be happy (they are 10, 2 and 1) there. I do plan on taking a visit out that way from March 17th-22nd to attend an open house at SIUE and check out there area. Where would be the best place for my Hubby to look for a work? He has a BS in Ecology and Zoology and never really found work in those fields. He's currently getting his alternative teachers license here in Texas. Is that something he can do in IL as well? Do you know of the big employers in St Louis? And plllleeeeease, where I can find more pictures of Edwardsville and Glen Carbon? The interent isn't really providing much in that regard. Are there Whole Foods stores or Farmers Market in the area or is that another thing we'd have to travel to StL for?

I know, lots of questions... any info would be great!! Thanks in advance

Kim

[jewalte]

I attended undergrad at SIUE and lived in Edwardsville and I'll probably head back that way after I finish graduate school. Edwardsville and Glen Carbon are fantastic places to live. They give you the larger city feel without having the crime or traffic. You shouldn't have to go to STL for much. Edwardsville is pretty self-sufficient and there is an organic grocery store in Edwardsville. While there isn't a mall or very many "big name stores"...Fairview Heights is only about 15-20 minutes away. The school districts are great. And Madison county has got the best bike trails I've ever seen. Most of them are paved too, so your little ones would be able to ride bikes on them as well. It's definately a great area to look into. On the flip side though, realty in Edwardsville is definately higher priced than Glen Carbon, so I'd recommend looking their first. There's really no difference between the two cities, and until you've lived their a while, you probably won't even realize when you leave one town and enter the other. Good Luck!