Ottawa, Il Historic Neighborhoods (Chicago, Peru: crime, homes, established neighborhood)

[mikeg453]

My wife and I are considering re-locating to the LaSalle/Peru/Ottawa area. We are now leaning towards Ottawa. We seem to like the older homes near downtown/river. We don't have school age children so a neighborhood's proximity to schools is not important. We are mainly interested in finding a older home in a quiet well established neighborhood.

Any input would be greatly appreciated!

[gardener34]

I like that area too. Very nice homes along there.

[inchoate]

I live very near to Ottawa and that surrounding area, and I want to give you fair warning of the community structures from this area. It's very tightly knit around here and you may be looked at kind of akwardly to begin with, but it doesn't take too long to get generally accepted. The La Salle/Peru area is VERY friendly, although driving around town takes a while to get used to, and there are shops/malls/stores for any needs you may have. Ottawa's highschool is refered to commonly for drug and crime problems, and I believe there was even a special on FOX news Chicago describing the rising drug problems. Individuals from ottawa have a special characteristic about them that I'm sure you will notice that just makes them seem sort of aloof.
I'm not from either of these areas so I do not really have a bias, but I figured I would just share my opinions.