Moving to Streator IL (Chicago, Ottawa: to rent, crimes, homes)

[supernova9]

I went there a few times for a job interview. I was frightened that I'd actually get hired and have to consider moving there. It was a pretty miserable town in the middle of nowhere, and I was actually contemplating a 45 minute commute from Bloomington to keep from living in the vacinity of the area. The areas between the burbs and Bloomington / Champaign are no joke. These are pretty dull and isolated places, and one of the exact reasons why I would never live anywhere but Bloomington-Normal or Champaign-Urbana or within a 20 minute drive of these places if I wasn't going to live in Chicago. Metro East St. Louis is the last hope of any meaningful activity south of I-72.

Don't move to Streator.

[sgresident]

I have only been to streator once, for a high school basketball game. Did not look like the greatest place to be. The only other thing I can comment on is that they seem to misplace a lot of kids in Streator. We must share the same Cable network because they are always breaking in to say a kid is missing. It is never any other town. Always Streator!

[Bulldog54]

Hello. I stumbled across this forum this morning. Interesting. I used to get back to Streator once in a while to visit relatives. They are no longer there. I grew up in Streator a long time ago. Graduated from SHS in '54. Worked at Knoedler Mfg under the viaduct for a while after graduating. Nice little company. It's long gone. Then on to Peoria and attended Bradley U. From there it was Chicago and then Syracuse, NY. Now, I only get back for class reunions.

The other contributors to this forum are right. Industry has left. The downtown area looks deserted. Others my age will remember Main Street from the good old days. Always busy at night. Cars cruising in front of Hill's Brothers. We had three movie theaters. The Plumb, the Majestic, and I think the other was the Granada.

As a kid, I used to pedal my bike south of town to the dam on the Vermillion River and fish. Also could get to the river at the end of 12th Street by the old trestle bridge. Can't get there anymore. And, the dam area is all fenced off denying access to the river. I wonder why?

As a kid, I attended St. Anthony's School. In those days there were four Catholic churches in town. I think there are only two now. The population of Streator was more then than it is now.

A word about Syracuse. When you tell someone that you live in NY, they usually think of New York City. We are along way from there. This is a great area. Even though I'm now retired, I have no desire to leave. The largest wilderness area in the lower 48 is only a two hour drive from here. Beautiful country in the Adirondack area. A great area for backpacking and canoeing. Yes, it snows a lot here. But, I love to ski and look forward to the snow.

Our next reunion will be in 2009. Looking forward to it. Fifty-five years. Wow. Time flies when you are having fun.

If any of my old classmates see this note, I'd love to hear from you.

[larrylampson]

I grew up in Streator; graduating from HS in 1954. It was a great town then and a great place to grow up. The school system was very good also, as you can see from some of their graduates.

I must admit that when I return to Streator for reunions, I am very disappointed at the downtown, Railways, Lipton tea, bottle plants etc. They used to be very busy and successful. I worked at Owens Glass while in HS and could work any shift as they needed bodies. I worked for the Santa Fe Railway during summers while I was in college. I worked at the Granade Theatre also, and had a paper route while going to Plumb grade school. I spend a lot of time at the YMCA, Hill's Bros.,Readers Smoke Shop, Millers, Staceys, and of course Trapps For me, it was an Ideal place to grow up, but I'm not sure now that that is true for the youth of today.

For sure I made good friends there that I still contact to this date. Perhaps the economy of the world right now is so bad; Streator really does not look like it did when I lived there, I wish it did.

Larry T. Lampson

[katiess1]

I've lived in Streator acouple of times,I like the town and the settings,but the people are very stand-offish even your own relatives!!!

[dragfan66]

I lived in Streator for six years. It definitley has some problems, maybe more so than other towns of similar size. I made a lot of life long friends there though. There are some really good people in the area. I have a kid that still lives there and we visit a few times a year even though we are 700 miles away.

[thisnthat]

If you want to know Streator, you should come and stay for a couple of days. Heritage Days, Fourth of July, and Cruise Night are some highlights. On the plus side, we have an EXCELLENT school system. I have been a teacher in 4 districts in Illinois, and Streator tries very hard to meet and exceed standards. They have very hard working teachers and many activities for children, plus they have extra help for the students who have trouble with a subject, or fall behind. The junior high alone has Art Club, Spanish, lots of sports, Robotics team, Math Team, Academic Team, etc. The High School has many faculty members who hold a Masters degree in their subject. (I do not teach here, I am employed elsewhere.) We have a newly refurbished vintage movie theater that shows first run movies and hosted Jefferson Starship a week ago. We have very active churches. Housing costs are reasonable. People are friendly and generous. This year the Streator High School Bulldogs are in the football playoffs. We have a recently built hotel, a nice Kroger store, a KMart, and a small strip mall. We have St Marys Hospital, which is undergoing remodeling and will soon open a new floor. Our main street has been updated. We are ideally located 1 hour from Bloomington and Peoria and 1 1/2 hours from Chicago. Other posters on this site have enumerated some of Streator's faults, and if you compare Streator to Bloomington, we do look bad (but we have higher school test scores). And as for violence, Peoria had two shootings at their high schools in 2006. Do I wish there was improvement in the quality of life here? Of course. We could stop granting new liquor licenses. We could feature more positive stories about our area in the paper. We could have harsher punishment for graffiti and vandalism. We could give awards for most improved neighborhood or neighborhood spirit. We could give more incentive for small businesses. We could offer IVCC classes at night at the high school. We could have a parks dept like East Peoria that offered activities for everyone.

[markbrunskill]

If you would decribe a town as a hairstyle Streator would be a mullet

[brittiny perrigo]

Originally Posted by Gatorfan867

Streator is not that bad of a place i have lived here for years yes we dont have much to offer but if you dont want to live in the big city its perfect. Its also had alot of improvements. We are getting a walmart supercenter and there has been a large employment jump. The school systems are not that great but are getting better. The murders are everywhere if you want to do the whole murders count thing go for it theres more unsolved murders in chicago why dont you bash them? Dalton was a member of my family and i know how it feels but people lose there family daily its part of life im sure its everywhere not just streator just unless you live here now keep your mouth shut!

i was born in streator, i always wanted to go back and see where i grew up, now im not so sure i want to lol. ...i hope that other guys just being a little over dramatic

[sjdo]

ok look here i grew up in streator i moved away wen i was 15 by the time i was wen i was 11 i had already been offerd many drugs and being pushed to havsex with strangers! was to little to no any better and i look back now that place is drug infestided i lovee my friends to death and my best friend but i could never live there ever as much as i love them. its not a safe place at all i havnt been there in two years but from all my friends opinion it has only gotten worse.