Terre Haute... A "Cut" Above? (Wabash, West Terre Haute: low income, section 8)

[pastorgirl]

My husband is from TH and we moved back two years ago (both his parents taught at ISU).... There are worse places to live, just as there are better. And I've lived in both types. Kreasote (ie. the stuff they put on railroad ties) is a problem, but it's also a place that offers jobs to people, just like Pfizer and Lilly do, along with other places, including some of the industry that's coming into town. Also, there are 3 colleges, including Rose-Hulman which is ranked #1, ISU which has it's own identity issues trying to compare with IU and Purdue and St. Mary of the Woods, which is home to one of the few American Roman Catholic saints. And the Hulman family, which owns Clabber Girl and the 500 make their home in TH. For better or worse, it is "the" shopping mecca for that section of the state (including parts of Eastern Illinois). Not bad for a town/county which has its trouble with meth, prostitution, low self-esteem, somewhat particular politics, can't get a Target, etc. It's a Democratic town with a highly conservative population.

Each place you live is what you make of it. If you don't like living in TH, my suggestion is to move elsewhere. Ultimately you had a choice to move there, so either make the best of it, or move elsewhere. (St. Louis isn't the be all and end all of places to live either....)

[dodeca]

Originally Posted by pastorgirl

My husband is from TH and we moved back two years ago (both his parents taught at ISU).... There are worse places to live, just as there are better. And I've lived in both types. Kreasote (ie. the stuff they put on railroad ties) is a problem, but it's also a place that offers jobs to people, just like Pfizer and Lilly do, along with other places, including some of the industry that's coming into town. Also, there are 3 colleges, including Rose-Hulman which is ranked #1, ISU which has it's own identity issues trying to compare with IU and Purdue and St. Mary of the Woods, which is home to one of the few American Roman Catholic saints. And the Hulman family, which owns Clabber Girl and the 500 make their home in TH. For better or worse, it is "the" shopping mecca for that section of the state (including parts of Eastern Illinois). Not bad for a town/county which has its trouble with meth, prostitution, low self-esteem, somewhat particular politics, can't get a Target, etc. It's a Democratic town with a highly conservative population.

Each place you live is what you make of it. If you don't like living in TH, my suggestion is to move elsewhere. Ultimately you had a choice to move there, so either make the best of it, or move elsewhere. (St. Louis isn't the be all and end all of places to live either....)

I second that.

[stinebus]

I'm a FW native and have been active duty Air Force for the last 10 years. I'm considering taking an opportunity in Terre Haute with the Air Nat'l Guard, so my family and I can be closer to home. I have read all the comments on TH and they're all Soooo negative. Is it really that bad? FW has it's bad parts but, over-all, it's a great town to live in with lots of great shopping/restaraunts and nice neighborhoods. The downtown part of FW has been revitalized with shops and bars and such. How does TH compare to FW? I'd be looking to live South (SE or SW) of the airport and I'm eyeing Riley, IN as well. Thoughts?

[dodeca]

Originally Posted by stinebus

I'm a FW native and have been active duty Air Force for the last 10 years. I'm considering taking an opportunity in Terre Haute with the Air Nat'l Guard, so my family and I can be closer to home. I have read all the comments on TH and they're all Soooo negative. Is it really that bad? FW has it's bad parts but, over-all, it's a great town to live in with lots of great shopping/restaraunts and nice neighborhoods. The downtown part of FW has been revitalized with shops and bars and such. How does TH compare to FW? I'd be looking to live South (SE or SW) of the airport and I'm eyeing Riley, IN as well. Thoughts?

I think the east and southeast sides of Terre Haute are probably the nicest in the city, and very close to the airport (though not noisy). The old, historic southern neighborhoods are closer to shopping, but are held back by their proximity to the industrial districts along the river. Terre Haute has great shopping for a city its size. There is a new Walmart near the airport, and traffic is not bad at all on that side of the city. Rose Hulman Institute is also on the east side, for the occasional arts program. Downtown is recovering slowly, with several nice bars and restaurants, though I dont know if it can compare to Fort Wayne.

Riley is a nice, small town, with a couple of gas stations and a Dollar Tree. Mostly suburban, with a newish elementary school. The rural areas in eastern Vigo County are, for the most part, very nice.

I think you should visit and have someone show you around. Good luck with your decision.

[Shell71]

I lived in TH about 8 years ago I moved there from Fl. and left there for Ca.
I miss it alot and am planning on moving back it had down home friendliness about it i am sorry I left there has been nothing but building and stores coming up around me here and its getting annoying I am moving back to TH to get away from it and am hoping NO make that PRAYING the same does not happen there I want a nice place for my family and am tired of this people on top of people building i'd rather drive 20-30 minutes somewhere than have the crowdedness..I miss TH hopefully next spring or so i'll be back..I don't recall drug pushers on the streets and I walked my kids all over downtown and by the ymca there were nice no beautiful parks to visit and we enjoyed the nice and NEVER (except halloween ) over crowded mall and yes the paper mill smelled but not always and not that bad..Has something changed I don't know about if so I'd like to know before I move there unless so I'm coming back and making it home

[Colts]

Terre Haute reminds me of another depressing Indiana city: Muncie. If I had to choose between the two I would go with Muncie however.

[Ron House]

all the negative comments about my home town is depressing...I love Terre HAute and would come home if I could...I have many relatives still in town and would pick it over all the crime ridden dangerous SOCAl areas I live in.

[annie1971]

I grew up just outside TH, spent most of my adult life away, then moved back. There is definitely a "bad vibe" aspect of TH that is hard to describe. I thank God that I have had the experience of living in and visiting other places to know that life here--no matter who you are when you enter the toxic bubble --is not "normal." There is a hair salon here called "curl up and dye" which basically sums up the general feeling of being a true Hautean. Trying to be positive and do positive things here is generally frowned upon. However, there are a few wonderful people here--they are just broken or hopelessly outnumbered. Why am I still here? My friends outside of TH (really my only true friends) claim that only the bravest of souls travel here into this hellish place, and look upon me as a selfless missionary. I hope they are right and I try to spread as much positivity and wisdom from "the outside world" as possible, in the hopes that in some way it will sow the seeds of change. I cannot wait to get out of this place, but when I do it will tear me apart to have to leave my family and the handful of good-hearted people I know here behind. Maybe I should try to organize a mass exodus. Wait--that's already happening--the population has decreased by about 80,000 since I was a kid, and is still steadily decreasing. I no longer consider TH my hometown, but is technically just where I am from.

[Seaharbour]

can you give me more information/details on this...since i have to move there, i would like to know more of why you dislike ur hometown, is it politics or religion or both or more here? Please try to pinpoint it down for me, I would very much appreicate it!

[Shell71]

I don't understand why people on here keep putting TH down from what I remember it was friendly the parks were wonderful there were the noisey and sometimes rude college students but they weren't always from TH so you can't blame there actions on TH and you didn't have to go around that..It was so uncrowded and I could walk my kids around there were lots of family activities I took the kids to the yw and Mca for things to do..
Yeah I agree it had a bad smell in some areas but that was factory work ..
I've lived in Ca and am from Fl and I hate the overgrown, overcrowdedness,snobishness and overall pushiness of these areas..I want to come back to TH when I can to settle down and relax and raise my little ones somewhere nice..Unless its really changed and gotten overpopulated and the cool cornfields and greenary are gone and replaces with stores and houses I don't see what the people who are talking bad about it mean..