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Old 03-10-2007, 01:38 PM
 
8 posts, read 49,545 times
Reputation: 12

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Hello everybody,

[CENTER]my husband and i we thinking about moving to Il. Mt Carroll area. We both have no clue what area would be the best to move to.
We want somewhere close to Malls but not to big as a city either, like chicago, we have a little daughter so we looking for good private christian schools or just regular private schools. It should be friendly neighborhood areas,if possible not to close to crime and gang scenes,especially because my husband would be gone a lot, job-related.
So, if anyone has some suggestions not more then 45 min. drive arround Mt.Carroll, let me know. Every help or any kind of information is highly appreciated.[/CENTER]

Thanks a lot for your time and have a wonderful day
manu
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Old 03-12-2007, 07:11 PM
 
22 posts, read 144,723 times
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Default Mt. Carroll

Hello-I'm Doug Bergren, currently an alderman for the city of Mt. Carroll. If you're thinking of moving here or near here, be aware that this is the middle of ag country. We're a small city of 1900 with no crime and no gang activity (that I know of-and I should be in a position to know). The nearest big malls are in Rockford, the Quad Cities (each 1 hour, 15 minutes away), with smaller malls in Freeport, Il. and Clinton, Ia. (each 35 minutes away). The city has a number of summer festivals starting with Mayfest each Memorial Day week-end, with car shows throughout the summer and Little League Baseball. In short, it's a great town to raise children, but not alot to do for adults. Your kids will be able to play safely throughout the town, with safety. Also, be aware that the school district has just merged into one large one (Thomson, Savanna, and Mt. Carroll created the West Carroll School district), so they'll spend some time on a bus. There aren't any private schools that I know of, but there are some parents who home-school their kids. Check out our website mount-carroll.il.us to learn a bit more. The property taxes are a just a bit high, but it's because of state mandates, and not the fault of the local assessors. My wife and I moved here 13 years ago, and we have never been happier. As far as I'm concerned, this is the greatest little town on the planet.
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Old 03-13-2007, 04:40 PM
 
8 posts, read 49,545 times
Reputation: 12
Dear Doug Bergren,

first of all thank you so much for your wonderful respond, you make it sound like i want to move right now!!I can really don't wait to see Mt.Carroll after you told me all these wonderful things from your place, it is not really important that there is not really anything for us to do, although all these fest that you talked about sounds like a lot of fun, i just want to have a safe place for raising my child and this sounds just like what we are looking for. Quick question and i hope that is not to personal to ask, your last name sounds a little bit like somewhere from europe, especially german?? I am german that's the reason i'm asking, would be funny if you have german roots, what kind of coincidence would that be!??
Thank you so much for your respond again and god bless
have a wonderful day
manuela
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Old 03-18-2007, 09:36 AM
 
1 posts, read 5,169 times
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Default moving to carroll county

Hello, I live in Savanna next door to Mt Carroll and don't forget it as well. Our taxes are a bit lower and we share the same schools. In fact the grade school your child will start in is located in Savanna and will shorten bus time ALOT. Our downtown area is nice, larger then Mt Carroll with fast food restraurants, small dept store, hardware, grocery and specialty stores. We are 10 minutes from Mt Carroll on the main hwy. The towns population is about 4000. I have lived here for 12 years now after living in the Chicago suburbs nearly all my life. I still have one child in the middle school. I love it out here and am very glad to have moved here!
Deborah Schultz
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Old 03-25-2007, 10:55 AM
 
22 posts, read 144,723 times
Reputation: 29
Default Mt. Carroll

Hello Manuela-I'm sorry it's taken me so long to get back to you, but i forgot the name of the website to answer you. It took awhile to find it again. You're welcome, by the way, and yes, Mt. Carroll is a wonderful place to raise a child, but you should be aware that because of such a small population in the entire county, the school districts of Mt. Carroll, Savanna, and Thomson, Illinois all merged to form the West Carroll School District. The elementary grades go to school in Thomson, the middle grades go to Mt. Carroll, and the high school grades go to Savanna. Your child will spend time on a bus depending on his/her age and depending as to where you settle. I know some of this information has already been passed on to you, but the bussing of our kids from one town to another has been somewhat a contentious issue here. But it seems to be the lesser of all the evils rather than have 3 seperate school districts operate at a loss. Also too, unless you can work from home, you may want to look for a job before you move here or anywhere. The jobs here in Carroll County aren't that plentiful, and really good paying jobs even less so. But we're trying to entice companies to move here as we have a highly educated workforce, and the people here have a good work ethic. We have some industries looking into moving or starting here, but the progress for these things moves very slow sometimes. What does your husband do? Actually, my last name is Swedish from my father's side, and my grandparents on my mother's side came from Italy. My wife, however, is German/Dutch, with her ancestors moving here before the Civil War and started farming in the Forreston, Il. area. Hope this helps a bit for you. I promise to look more frequently at this site in case you have any more postings. Take care. Doug Bergren



Quote:
Originally Posted by mfaery79 View Post
Dear Doug Bergren,

first of all thank you so much for your wonderful respond, you make it sound like i want to move right now!!I can really don't wait to see Mt.Carroll after you told me all these wonderful things from your place, it is not really important that there is not really anything for us to do, although all these fest that you talked about sounds like a lot of fun, i just want to have a safe place for raising my child and this sounds just like what we are looking for. Quick question and i hope that is not to personal to ask, your last name sounds a little bit like somewhere from europe, especially german?? I am german that's the reason i'm asking, would be funny if you have german roots, what kind of coincidence would that be!??
Thank you so much for your respond again and god bless
have a wonderful day
manuela

Last edited by Doug Bergren; 03-25-2007 at 11:09 AM..
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Old 04-02-2007, 07:00 AM
 
8 posts, read 49,545 times
Reputation: 12
Default Thanks so much for all your help!!

Hi there,
well i do not check this website often as well, but thanks for your replies!!
my husband is in the military and he wil retire in 2 1/2 years, so we already look into places we settle down, especially for my husbands civilian career, he want to look into the blackwater company, the company where civilians get deployed overseas. One of the big training areas are in Mt.Carroll North that is the reason we want to look into this area, i already looked on your town website and it is such a precious little town, very beautiful. We already thought that the jobs would be hard to find, but i acutally looking into a police officer job!!
Well, now unleast we know the details about this town and i am really glad to find a person like you who can give all this great/detailed and helpful informations!! Thank you so much for your time and efforts i do really appreciate this.
About your name, i already thought it doesn't sound like a typically american last name, so your roots are very international as your wifes as well!!Do you still have family you see or have contact with in europe??
Like already said my husband is from texas, his mom is mexican and his dad american part dutch too.I am german my grandpa polish and my grandma from berlin, germany as well! Our little daughter has all kinds of bloods running through her veins !!

Thanks a lot again for your help and maybe we will move less then 2 years to this wonderful place on earth mt.carroll!!
God bless and you and yours have a happy easter!!
Manuela
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Old 04-02-2007, 12:51 PM
 
22 posts, read 144,723 times
Reputation: 29
Default Mt. Carroll

Hello Manuela-Just a short note to let you know that because of the small town atmosphere, a lot of people are retiring to Mt. Carroll, and we seem to have quite a few retired military moving here. Black Water has leased an area north of town, and a couple of people with the company have moved to Mt. Carroll with their families. Don't know about police jobs here, but they may increase somewhat because of a newly-built prison trying to open here in Carroll County. I know locally, we don't have the budget for more police, but the county may have an opening coming up, but this I couldn't tell you for sure. If there's anything I can do for you, please let me know, and I'll do my best to get it done on your behalf. Thank you for the interest in Mt. Carroll. I still think it's the greatest little town on earth. Doug Bergren
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Old 05-02-2007, 07:56 AM
 
8 posts, read 49,545 times
Reputation: 12
Thumbs up Hello Doug,

I am so sorry like you i really don't check this website a lot, but i thank you so much for all your information and in fact these are really helpful information about the retired military moving there, like already said my husband has 2more years to go until he will be an old retiree , no he isn't old it's sounds just funny!
Well that is really nice of you, i am really greatful for all your doing and help! i really do appreciate this as well!

We have a website so if you would like to know how our little Faery Family looks like, you are more then welcome to visit this website! It's mostly my Familie and Germany!
Mt.Carroll would be still my fav. place to move to, that is sure, so i hope things turn out like we want them to!
You have a wonderful day and god bless you and yours
manuela+family

our website
http://www.myspace.com/usager
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Old 06-17-2007, 11:00 PM
 
54 posts, read 305,443 times
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I once lived in Mount Carroll. It's an excellent place to raise a family, yes, but jobs are kinda hard to come by (which is why at 17 i decided to move away). What kind of work do you do or are looking to get into in this area? Like Doug said, the state of Illinois is progressing on opening up the State's Maximum Security Prison in Thomson IL (about 10 miles away). There is also an upcoming project to build an Ethanol Plant near that prison. He also mentioned BlackWater USA North's training facility about 8 miles north of Mount Carroll in rural Jo Daviess/Stephenson/Carroll Counties. Blackwater USA

Deborah, I wouldn't say that savanna has 4000 people in it (at least since the army depot closed and the Milwaukee road went kaput) more like 2000. Still it's a place where one could get groceries and household things.

Also, you mentioned Private/Christian schools. The nearest one I can think of to MTC is in Fulton IL (about 20 Miles away) called Fulton Unity schools (grades k-8) Another school (Can't remember at the moment if it is private/christian) is Sterling Newman catholic high school in Sterling, IL (about 32 Miles south of MTC) and also the Freeport Aquin Schools (about 30 miles northeast of MTC) which serves all grades.

When living in Mount Carroll, make sure you get a water filter or something that filters out radium. Mount Carroll has had a history of water quality violations with radium (State EPA requires 5 ppm or lower, and MTC is usually hovering at or above that level of radium in the water, most recent test showed 4.9 ppm)

Malls/large towns with shopping centers near Mount Carroll:

Clinton IA-30 miles
Sterling IL-32 Miles
Freeport IL-35 Miles (also has a large and well-run hospital on Stevenson St, which is where Mount Carroll Ambulances take you in case of Emergency)
Dubuque IA-55 Miles
Rockford IL-60 Miles
Moline/Davenport/Quad Cities-60 Miles

and naturally if you have some big shopping or something to pick up or look for, there's Chicago IL, 120 Miles east.

My own last name is Coleman, Dutch ancestry. My Brother lives over on Cemetary Hill with his wife (peruvian ancestry, but she lived in Frankfurt am-Main for years and speaks fluent German) and newborn daughter.
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Old 07-03-2007, 10:14 AM
 
22 posts, read 144,723 times
Reputation: 29
Default Moving to Mt. Carroll?

Hi All-Just a short note on the radium issue with the water in Mt. Carroll. To be honest, one of the reasons my wife and I moved here is because the water tasted so good right out of the faucet! After some research, it turns out that while Bill Clinton was in office, the EPA ruled that instead of the usual 40 picoCuries/Liter of radium in the water, it was lowered to 5. I've emailed my federal representative and senators, and nobody can find out why. My opinion is that a large water company made a large campaign contribution or donated much to his presidential library in Little Rock. An independent research group in Wisconsin came to the conclusion that at 40 picoCuries/Liter of radium in the water, if a person drank 2 liters every day for 80 years, they would have a 1:100,000 chance in getting bone cancer. As an alderman, I think after spending $70,000 for a test well, $1,000,000 currently being spent on a new water tower, and $250,000 for a new well in which to blend all of the wells, the EPA has gone a bit overboard on another unfunded mandate. Anyway, after the new well is built and integrated into the system, the radium level in the water will be well within the EPA limits. Hope this helps a bit. Doug Bergren
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