Living in Morton, IL (or other surrounding Peoria towns)? (Naperville: real estate, how much)

[LAC35]

Hello - My family may be moving to the Peoria area in 2009. (we just have to hear results of an interview) I've driven around the area to check places out and have done some internet research. Morton, IL seems like a great place to live. I hear a lot of great things about Dunlap but there didn't seem to be much to the town. Anybody able to give some insight?

Thank you!!

[JerichoHW]

Morton & Dunlap are very nice suburbs, Morton has very good schools if thats important too you. Each town boasts new homes and a gnerally good living condition.

[runninfiend]

Originally Posted by LAC35

Hello - My family may be moving to the Peoria area in 2009. (we just have to hear results of an interview) I've driven around the area to check places out and have done some internet research. Morton, IL seems like a great place to live. I hear a lot of great things about Dunlap but there didn't seem to be much to the town. Anybody able to give some insight?

Thank you!!

Morton and Dunlap, along with Germantown Hills, are the "elite" small suburban towns around Peoria. There are some differences.

Morton is a growing, relatively affluent community, with a strongly developed downtown area, and lots of shopping/restaurants/sprawl along rt. 74. The town has, undeservedly I think, the reputation of being snobbish. The reality is, that yes, you can find uber-expensive subdivisions, but you can also find older neighborhoods off of downtown that offer more of a small town feel.

I lived for a year in a house that my parents owned that was built in the 1950s and really enjoyed it. This was near the jr. high school, within bike riding /walking distance of downtown. I personally am not a fan of the exponential, cookie cutter growth east and north of town, but if you like that Naperville-ish feel, that's the place to look. There is a nice, paved river trail that connects you to East Peoria, if you like that sort of thing.

Dunlap is a small farming town that started booming in the 90's and now includes subdivisions generally north of Peoria that cover a fairly wide area. The actual village of Dunlap still has a small town feel, but all the new residential growth all over the area is labeled as "Dunlap," tends to be almost exclusively large homes and sprawl type.

The village proper lacks the amenities that Morton has, but on the other hand, you're only a few minutes from north Peoria, where there is all kinds of new business development taking place.

Both are known for their quality school districts, as they have large tax bases to work with. Morton has good schools, although the buildings themselves are not new, while Dunlap has bright, shiny new buildings with top technology.

The term "Dunlap schools" is a huge selling point for those with the $$.

Germantown Hills is largely a bedroom community that sprang from the wooded area along rt. 116 between Metamora the Illinois River. There have been all kinds of wooded subdivisions/lots/developments going up in this area for the past decade, and that doesn't show much sign of slowing down. There is no centralized town, and most businesses are along 116.

GH feeds into the Metamora school district, also a good district, but with a slightly more rural feel than either Morton or Dunlap.

[linicx]

Originally Posted by LAC35

Hello - My family may be moving to the Peoria area in 2009. (we just have to hear results of an interview) I've driven around the area to check places out and have done some internet research. Morton, IL seems like a great place to live. I hear a lot of great things about Dunlap but there didn't seem to be much to the town. Anybody able to give some insight? Thank you!!

Where you live depends upon two things: Distance to work and family needs. Morton is a beautiful clannish, snobbish, village. It has a cannery. Caterpillar parts building, and the Morton Pumkin Festival. It does not have a hospital. There are areas in the central Illinois that are just as pretty, with a cost of living that is just as high, that offer more.

If you have children, ask yourself if you want to drive 30 miles on ice and snow to reach *any* Emergency Room? Hospitals are in Peoria, Eureka, Pekin, Canton and Havana.

Any area in Peoria that is north of War Memorial Drive (US 159) is a good location. The drive from Canton to Peoria is horrendous. Eurkea is a nice town, just as pretty as Morton but itis farthest from Peoria. Pekin is Pekin; it's what you make of it. Havana is just as far as Eureka.

If your family is active, Peoria has something for everyone from symphony and upscale shopping to waterfront jazz and free movies on Saturday night at one of the 50+ parks the city owns. AAA ball clubs, museums, the whole package - for the most part.

The next time you drive around, check out Fondulac Drive in East Peoria. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised,

[LAC35]

Thanks to everyone for the information! It's very helpful! I'll look for more posts if anyone has more information.

[BUalumni]

Well welcome to the area! I hope that you find central Illinois to be a great place to raise a family. I currently live in Dunlap and would be more than happy to assist you with any and all questions that you may have. The market here can be a little confusing to say the least. Like others have said, Morton, Dunlap area (ie Alta, Edwards, Lake of the Woods), Germantown Hills, are the central locations where most people in the metro, with upper middle class incomes, tend to live. All three boast exceptional schools, and high quality of life rankings. You could also group Normal in with these as well, but the commute into Peoria is around 45 mins. Certain sections of Peoria Heights are where you are going to find your real millionaires though. Washington, Eureka, Metamora, and parts of East Peoria and Pekin will have what you are looking for as well.

Morton is a very safe, and very well planned community. It at one time was a very religious community, and as a result, many working professionals took refuge in Morton's high standard of morals. (ie lots of MDs.) Because of this, the town has thrived and along with good planning has never gone into any debt. Some things that Morton has, and I doubt GH will ever have, or Dunlap will take some time to have, is a central and quaint downtown. Living in Morton will definetly give you a more "hometown" feel, and your kids will be able to walk or ride bikes to school. However, most of the new housing in town is going to cost you. It really is one of those "perfect" little (but growing) towns.

Dunlap on the other hand is very split up and not cental at all. When CAT Mossville decided to expand, the city of Peoria decided to annex the entire Alta area. A smart move that has now become one of the fastest, and wealthiest areas of downstate, Illinois. This makes up the Rt. 6 corridor, and is towards the far northern edges of the city. What people call N. Peoria, and Dunlap, are similar, but not exactly the same. One thing that the city of Peoria didn't exactly plan on, was for Dunlap not to change it's school boundaries. As a result, all of the new commercial areas, many of which are very upscale, started paying taxes to Dunlap, which gave the school district a VERY nice return. With test scores going through the roof, and new schools going in left and right, many professional people that were moving into the metro, saw this area as the best of three worlds; Live in Dunlap school district, live close to Mossville, and yet still close enough to take advantage of north Peoria's upscale commericial areas. As a result you now have modern day Dunlap. The village of Dunlap though has not quite seen the growth that the Alta area has seen. In fact, life long residents many times will not admit that this, what people call Dunlap, even exsists. The town has added an attractive new subdivision (where I live) but most of the newest houses here are selling for close to 400K+. There are two other, much smaller subdivisions just outside of town, but expect to pay close to 700K+! In general, most any of the newest of the new housing is going in for 350K-500K. The Peoria area housing market is hot, and if you are looking for a Las Vegas like scenario here, you are in the wrong market. This area is expanding so fast that I would really need specifics to give you a more general area to look into. I could spend all day talking about, but since that would more than likely confuse you even more, just give me a topic like schools and libraries, and I will be happy to elaborate.

Just remeber that the rule of thumb usually goes; Morton = more established, less new; Dunalp = hardly established, and new everywhere. It just depends on what you want. Good luck!

[runninfiend]

I'll just offer a few short replies to what I think are slight mis-conceptions by Linicx

Morton is a beautiful clannish, snobbish, village. It has a cannery. Caterpillar parts building, and the Morton Pumkin Festival. It does not have a hospital. There are areas in the central Illinois that are just as pretty, with a cost of living that is just as high, that offer more.

That snobbish part is the perception around these parts, but I'm not sure it matches reality. The people I encountered during my time there were largely friendly. It can be a bit Stepford-ish, but most anyplace with a high proportion of wealthy people is at least somewhat that way.

If you have children, ask yourself if you want to drive 30 miles on ice and snow to reach *any* Emergency Room? Hospitals are in Peoria, Eureka, Pekin, Canton and Havana.

There is no hospital in Morton, but there are prompt cares, and you're no more than 10-15 minutes via 74 to the two downtown hospitals. It's not 30 miles.

The drive from Canton to Peoria is horrendous. Eurkea is a nice town, just as pretty as Morton but itis farthest from Peoria. Pekin is Pekin; it's what you make of it. Havana is just as far as Eureka.

Canton to Peoria is a long drive, largely on two lane roads. Eureka is a nice town, I know because I live there. If you work anywhere on the northern end or downtown, it's a 20 minute drive or so--15 to 18 miles depending on which part of town. And Havana is much farther than Eureka is to Peoria, 45 miles one way as opposed to 15.

Washington might be another option. It's grown wildly in the last few years, there are cookie cutter subdivisions off the 24 bypass, but the downtown square is gorgeous and there are many older, great neighborhoods with stately, affordable houses. Also close to shopping both of the small business variety downtown and the box store variety with a newish Wal-Mart and brand new Menard's, if one is inclined toward those sorts of places.

[BUalumni]

Here is a link that helped us greatly!

Peoria, IL real estate and homes (http://www.markmonge.com/dunlap.shtml - broken link)

[linicx]

I had an aunt and cousins that lived in Moton. Cousins still do. I have not met anyone in business in Morton that is overly friendly - although Butch's pizza was pretty nice. The shop owners were annoyed that a stranger entered their shop. Morton is the last place I would spend one penn.

Maybe there is a shortcut to Eureka, When I drove it every day from downtown Peoria it took longer than 15 minutes. Eureka is closer to I-39 than it is to 1-74.

Central Illinois is awesome. All the little towns from Brimfield to Goodfield all have one thing in common. Entertainment and things for kids to do is somewhere else. "Somewhere elese" translates to a metro area like Peoria, B-N or Springfield. .

[runninfiend]

Originally Posted by linicx

Maybe there is a shortcut to Eureka, When I drove it every day from downtown Peoria it took longer than 15 minutes. Eureka is closer to I-39 than it is to 1-74.
.

Hate to parse points but Eureka is 15 miles or so from El Paso and I-39 and 6 miles from Goodfield and I-74. From downtown Peoria is about 20 minutes, although it would have been longer if you did it before the bypass.