Tell me what it's like to live in Sparta, IL. (Belleville: for sale, foreclosure)

[lynnew]

Hi! I have been looking at houses for sale in Sparta, IL. I would love to hear from people who live in or near the area about the town, it's people, life there.

[kaylinda_4_13]

Move to one of the smaller clean communities. Sparta's one claim to fame is that In the heat of the night was filmed there. Well that's because it looks like po-town Mississippi. Not a good place to habitate or raise a family.

[jiraiya]

there isnt really anything to do in sparta. very small. people tend to have that "hick" type of attitude. they are welcoming if you are like everyone that lives there, if not, you will feel unwelcome. the people arent very well traveled and have no cultural influence. why are you looking at houses in sparta? are you going to be working there or somewhere close?

[66565]

well i know aint no body saying i got a hick attitude you guys can just go somewhere elese and get the hell away from our town you guys come here tear up our town and dont respect us so we dont give respect back just like now i was all cool till u said hick attitude so we are a very respcetful town untill people like upset us so give us repect and youll get respect back hope you understand that i might of said that in a hick way so just thought i would speak my mind

[AbqTeacher]

Other than the dudes wearing red capes and underwear and kicking you into wells, it's a pretty cool place.

[tlpage]

My wife & I have lived here for the past 3 years. We bought a nice home out of foreclosure which we are renovating. Our neighbors have been welcoming and very helpful as we are new to the mid-west and most of our belongings (tools and extra working stuff) is still at our old home. You know, you can often find what you are looking for!!!

I'm not sure why / how the previously posted respondent is computer literate and addressing the city-data website, as you've seen in the information regarding education they do exceed the state high-school average graduate.

Regarding hick-eleetist; wow, thats kind of arrogant from somebody unwilling to greet a person to say hello! Some folks aren't as foreward as others. I've also been tolds some stories about the big apple, but I'll have to argue that if you don't make friends in NYC then you probably won't make any money. I found the people, food, culture and cash to be the best in the world.

So what is it like in Sparta? Stop in to say hi and ask somebody... I did, then I moved in!

[gargoyle_jps]

I grew up not too far from Sparta. It's small town southern IL. Actually, it's a decent sized town for that part of the state, but it's less than 10,000 people, so it's small town. You'll probably get what you'd expect from small town southern IL folk. They're "meat and potatoes" kind of people. The power plant going in not far from there is probably bringing some much needed jobs to the area. There's a major shooting sports complex nearby. There's not much in the way of shopping, or cultural centers there, but you're less than 90 minutes away from St. Louis if you want to go up there on weekends, or to catch a Cardinals game.

[DESTINY79]

Hello,

I realize the original posting is quite old but I feel the need to respond since people may still read the postings. I have owned multiple houses in Sparta, IL now for approximately 14yrs. I have lived in Sparta for about 11yrs. I have lived in two different locations in Sparta and have enjoyed my neighbors (with the exception of one neighbor who moved out after 1yr and thankfully left Sparta). I have lived in 6states and always lived in smaller communities. Sparta is a decent town with more conveniences and opportunities than what you would find in nearby villages such as Tilden, Coulterville, Pinkneyville, Steelville, and less than what you would find in larger towns such as Carbondale and Belleville.

Some of these conveniences that Sparta offers compared to smaller towns or villages is shopping; Wal-mart, Aldi, DG, Gliks, Hooker's, Auto Zone, Napa, O'Rielly's, multiple furniture stores, multiple boutique/antique/specialty stores, appliance ctr, consignment shops, music store. Additionally, Sparta has a hospital with an ED and specialty clinics, a convenient care ctr, multiple dental and optical offices to choose from. Sparta has multiple car dealerships and a motorcycle dealer, numerous auto service and repair shops. Sparta offers 15 restaurants not including the bars . The World Shooting Complex is also located in Sparta and has hosted many local as well as international events. As far as opportunities, with a larger school (compared to some of the smaller communities) we offer a larger variety of subjects including offering more foreign language and fine arts, advanced/college preparatory courses and offer math/science teams. Sparta also offers more sports compared to the neighboring communities (school and non-school sports). As a small town we have faced challenges. We recently had seen the bowling alley shut their doors this past yr and lost our roller rink 10 or so years ago. We do have a community pool and a decent park. As a community, we are raising a large amount of money to completely revamp our local park. I believe it will be gorgeous when it's done and can't wait to see the results.

Over all, I consider this to be a decent place to raise a family. Although I did not grow up here, I met my husband and my best friends here. The school and public facilities are great (always room for improvement though ). We have a great PD and FD with lots of staff to keep the town feeling protected.

There are sub communities around Sparta. Drive around and you will notice what I'm talking about. You will see that there are wealthier areas and some poor areas. Some areas take great pride in their lawn and others you wonder if the house is empty due to the overgrown grass. I believe there are quite a bit of nicer homes compared to the latter. If I was to give advice about purchasing a home I would talk to all of the surrounding neighbors, drive by the home during the evening and weekends, visit the local school and check out community statistics.

As far as diversity, most small towns won't have much at all. I'm pretty sure that is expected. The most diversity that I really experienced was living on base in Ca. City life, such as STL, will obviously present more diversity and culture. To say Sparta has no culture is a stretch. Sparta has celebrations that honor Scottish, Irish, German(festivals) and American cultures(traditional American holiday parades; Independence day, Lighted parade/xmas, Memorial/labor day and we have the Blues Festival). America over all is known as a melting pot of cultures. There are still customs, traditions and culture that thrives within families through the generations that still exist even in this small community.

When I hear that there isn't anything to do in Sparta, I think that people need to be more inventive or just use the resources that we have. There is always something to do. It is not the communities job to pull people off of their couch to enjoy life. My suggestion, go fly a kite, literally or metaphorically. Sorry, I had to add a little humor.
I think for anyone to say that we have nothing to do, need to read the local paper or better yet, get involved in the community. BTW, there are always traditional things people can do like ride a bike, walk some trails, play BB, tennis, Frisbee or sit back and watch a local game at one of our ball fields.

I hope this posting is helpful, good luck.