Bartonville IL (Chicago, Peoria, Pekin: credit, property taxes, travel)

[leelee04]

My Fiance and I are thinking about moving to Bartonville IL. Can anybody tell me about this area such as crime? Is it a nice area? I heard it's right next to Peoria.

Lisa

[jwhittak]

Bartonville isn't to bad. Me and my wife had actually looked in that area for a home but we settled in Chillicothe IL. I would say they are comparable communities. We were looking to move out of Peoria for cheaper property taxes, lower crime, and a better school district. Oh, and also a quick commute to Peoria for the jobs. Both communities have all of that.

[leelee04]

Thanks for the information. I'm guessing not to many people live there since I only got one reply.
Lisa

[goodgirl4uhaha]

I don't live in Bartonville, but I do live in the Norwood School District which is a feeder school to Limestone. First about Bartonville. I agree with the previous post about the areas of Bartonville. It is on the flood plains of the IL river and is built on a hill. The area below the hill and on the hill should be avoided. However, above the hill has some very nice, but older subdivisions. The area west of Limestone High is very nice with many new homes.

There are 7 feeder schools into Limestone. The only three I would not send my children to are Pleasant Valley, Pleasant Hill, and Bartonville Grade. These schools are from neighborhoods you want to avoid. Other areas you may want to consider would be Bellevue, Norwood, and other unincorporated areas of Peoria. Bellevue and Norwood have mostly small run down houses, but both also have areas with large new homes. Bellevue also has two Manufactured Housing Communities, one of which is offering new homes with 0% interest and no credit check. Hope this helps.

[wting10]

Bartonville is a very nice area. Everything you need without leaving the town, yet close to Shopping , Dr, Hospitals without being in Peoria. Bartonville School is nice as is Monroe, Hollis, Oak Grove East and West. Limestone is a good high school with a good student base and very diversified field of study. Bartonville is right off 474 which makes it easy to get to Peoria, Morton and the north part of Peoria county.
Norwood is also a nice community, but you would need to come to Bartonville for local shopping as Norwoods only business is a tavern.
Bellvue I would avoid at all cost.

[doll lady]

WOW ... I travel a lot and I go through Bartonville a lot. The road through the village is nasty and pretty dirty as stated above, with bars and run down businesses .... you definitely don't want to frequent this area.

I personally think Pekin is a much nicer town. Nice small hospital. Beautiful Park. Huge new shopping areas which is a part of the revitilization of the old Pekin Mall, with stores in the area: Walmart, Hobby Lobby, Deals, Menards, Big Lots, Bergners, Goody's, Dollar Tree K-Mart. They even have some nice antique shops and a coffee house.

Pekin is the Marigold captiol of the world with a huge Festival each year. It's close to Peoria with the convenience of a large city at a small town price. Just my honest opinion.

[Kali's Grandma]

To respond to the previous poster. When I lived there there was a difference between the "bottom of the hill" and the "top of the hill". I lived on the top of the hill. Just west of Limestone High School. I walked there matter of fact. It was a very nice area.
We got to and from Peoria via Airport Road. No bars or Taverns.

So this just goes to show that as in any town there is good and bad.

[wting10]

Comparing Bartonville to Pekin is like comparing Peoria to Chicago. Bartonville had 6,310 in the 2000 census, Pekin numbered 33,286 in the same census year. Pekin has many positive qualities, but as any other community it has it bad areas. The South Pekin area is very unattractive and is said to have a large amount of drug activity. I am not sure what what part of Bartonville you are driving through that is dirty with taverns and a run down business area. Route 29 through Bartonville is an industrial area with Keystone Steele and Wire, There is also 2 Clark stations, and Shell Station and some car lots and I do believe there is a tavern. This is not a residential area and I would not have any trouble walking at night in that area.

[illini_69_2000]

Bartonville is a good town to live in. In the middle of the Tri-County area, which is well over 300,000 people all together. minutes from everythig, but still small town living.

the school is very big for an average school around central illinois

Limestone High School has well over 1,000 people.

the only problem is where in Bartonville you choose to live, Bartonville backs up to the south side of peoria, which per capita is prolly the up there with the crapiest neighborhoods anywhere. So if your housing is away from that area Bartonville is a good place to live

[hollis is home]

Just outside of Bartonville is a great school if you've got k-8 kids. We built in a subdivision close to Hollis and we love it. All I hear is Dunlap, Dunlap, Dunlap. Who wants to live in cookie cutter cramped subdivisions where the postage stamp sized lots cost a fortune and the traffic up and down the subdivision streets is non-stop. You can't let your kids ride their bike's on the sidewalk without keeping a close eye on them because you never know who's around. For the same amount of money for a dinky lot in Dunlap, my husband and I bought a lovely two acre wooded lot in a quiet subdivision with trees...large lovely oak trees. The grade school has a swimming pool. The kids put on musicals for the Christmas program. The class sizes guarantee a personalized education with a teacher who actually knows your child... and can tell when they are having a good day and a not-so-good day. They have band and art....it's wonderful! We're 10 minutes away from all the great parks Pekin has to offer; 20 minutes to most of Peoria. Close to 29 and 474. The tax rate is one of the lower ones in Peoria, too. We couldn't be happier.