Fort Wayne vs. South Bend?

[Chancelynn2002]

I LOVE Chicago, so for me it's South Bend (until I move, anyways.) I prefer Fort Wayne's downtown - it reminded me of Nashville, somehow. Fort Wayne's zoo is quite good, and they are closer to the East Coast - as for cost of living and the like, go to [Moderator cut: link not allowed and check it out yourself - you can compare and get all the demographics. I really like living close to Lake Michigan, so that'll keep me around; plus the South Bend area does have the Morris Civic Auditorium that attracts some big names, the South Bend Symphony, the South Bend Chocolate Company, Fiddler's Hearth (which is as close to the Ireland I remember as I can get), and other odds and ends that make this area tolerable. I would also check out craigslist classifieds: jobs, housing, personals, for sale, services, community, events, forums and South Bend Tribune for area info. Good luck in your search!

[hoppy172]

I lived in the South Bend/Mishawaka and in Fort Wayne. Fort Wayne's population has increased signifcantly through annexation. It is approx. twice the size of South Bend (not including Mishawaka).

Fort Wayne Community Schools High Schools (Northrop, Snider, North Side, South Side, Elmhurst and Wayne) have a "school choice" program as well as magnet schools. Excellent schools for a city of its size (city size approx. 252,000 people) they have their share of positives/negatives like any other larger school district.

Surrounding County schools (Southwest Allen, Northwest Allen and East Allen) are better, having higher ISTEP scores. Southwest feeds into Homstead high school, Northwest into Carroll high school, East Allen has Multiple high schools (Leo being one of the best...it is still a junior/senior high school if you like smaller schools).

There are also several private schools....Bishop Dwenger, Bishop Luers and Canterbury.

The best depends on what you desire.

South Bend also has several schools, Riley, Washington, Adams, Clay etc. but also have the same positives/negatives of a larger school district.

Mishawaka has one central high school (Mishawaka high school) and is a good school.

Private school St. Joseph and Marion (I can't recall any others...) are in South Bend and Mishawaka.

There is a large school district in St. Joseph county (South Bend and Mishawaka are seated in St. Joseph county) called Penn/Harris/Madison. The high school is called Penn (student body is a little over 3000 students, grades 9-12) and is fed by three middle schools. It is by far the best public school in the area and offers myriad of programs. (I may be a little biased since I went to Penn).

Fort Wayne and South Bend are quite similar for entertainment.

South Bend has, of course, Noter Dame and the college football hall of fame. Major + if you like big time college sports. Lots of activities at the JACC also (i.e. concerts etc.) It is also closer to Lake Michigan and Chicago. They have much more snow than Fort Wayne (which I miss...nothing worse than suffering through an Indiana winter without plenty of snow to play in ). South Bend boarders Michigan and many go to a place called "Swiss Valley" to ski. There is no quick/easy way to Indianapolis from South Bend (U.S. 31 is a terrible drive...lots of stop lights to slow you down). South Bend is a little more liberal than Fort Wayne even though FW is larger. That being said FW has had two consecutive Democratic Mayors and has a strong Democratic party.
South Bend is not so large that you have to live in the city proper. You could easily live in Mishawaka (which is to the east or Granger to the northeast) with little travel time. South Bend and Mishawaka are divided by a street, no travel time between the two cities.

Fort Wayne has a few differences from South Bend. FW is larger and has better shopping. FW also has several minor league sporting teams, hockey, baseball, arena football and basketball. FW also has more festivals in the warmer months than you could ask for (i.e. Three Rivers festival, October fest, Johnny Appleseed, Rib fest, German fest, Greek fest...etc.) FW is located to the south of a Nationally recognized vehicle auction house called Auburn Cord Duesenberg (sp?) which brings national celebrities in to purchase/sell classic and custom cars each year. The FW childrens zoo has been rated as one of the top 10 Zoos in the country. Pierr's (sp) night club has been rated in the top 15 nationally as an entertainment venue. The Allen County memorial colliseum has multiple concerts and trade shows.

Either way there is something to be said for Hoosier Hospitality

Hope this helps if its not too late.

[diggitydot]

Thank you all so much for the great information! We now know that we're heading to South Bend, for sure. As a matter of fact, we'll be making our scouting trip out there in a couple weeks to find a house and check out schools for our kids. We've found an awesome real estate agent and have a great list of homes to check out. We're hoping to put in an offer on one of them at the end of our scouting weekend. I might post a couple of the addresses and ask about the neighborhoods, though...

Again, thank you all for the help. You've been absolutely wonderful!