Cities around DSM...Small town feel? (Des Moines, West Des Moines: new house, neighborhood, school district)

[Back2Iowa]

My husband and I are originally from a small town in Iowa. We moved away for college and have since lived in much bigger cities (Tempe, Seattle, and currently the suburbs of Chicago). Now that we have 2 young daughters, we are determined to raise them back in Iowa. I'd really like to live in a small town, but my husband's career path will probably take him to Des Moines. I'm just wondering if the cities around DSM have any sort of small-town feel to them. The main things I miss about small towns are: that people genuinely care about their neighbors, seeing people you know at the grocery stores, people not caring about what brand of jeans you're wearing or what kind of car you're driving, and people just in general helping each other out. We'd also like the schools not to be too big, which I know might be hard to find in places like Waukee, Ankeny, Indianola, etc. Ideally we'd love a place with 6,000-10,000 people that isn't too far from the west side of Des Moines, and has a good school district. But we're open to the bigger communities if in fact they feel like communities and not just bedroom cities. I'd love to hear anyone's thoughts. Thanks!

[pepe1]

Adel, Winterset, Indianola meet your criteria.

[Back2Iowa]

Thank you for your reply! I suppose I'm dreaming thinking that I can give my girls the same small-town experience I had growing up, but I can try, right? I really don't think there's any comparing suburbs of Chicago to the suburbs of Des Moines. I'm pretty sure we'll be happy whereever we end up in Iowa.

[dblchills]

Hello,
My husband and I just moved to Iowa from Jacksonville Florida - we had the same criteria in our minds...however, we ended up settling in an even smaler community because I had heard so many great things about the town of Bondurant. They have a great school, it is close to Altoona & Des Moines, many new houses being built & the town is growing - so there will be more "features" to offer in the future. We really like the neighborhood, lots of kids to play with and friendly neighbors to help you out. Just a thought!

[Back2Iowa]

Thank you for the reccommendation! I too have heard good things about Bondurant, but never heard from anyone actually living there. It's nice to hear it firsthand, so thank you!

[SharpHawkeye]

I don't know as much about towns west of DSM as I do about towns east, but I'll do my best.

6-10K is kind of an awkward range. Most of the towns that were that size have all been sort of swallowed up by Des Moines, and as a result are losing their "townness" and becoming plain ol' cookie cutter suburbs. (I'm thinking specifically about Waukee, Altoona, Johnston, Grimes, ect.) They're all perfectly good suburbs, but it doesn't sound like what you want.

Most of the real "towns" that are left are much smaller, in the 1-5k range. Bondurant, for example is around 3k; Adel around 3 or 4k.

Out west, you might want to look at Adel. It's an old county seat town, with an old-fashioned town square. It's a very nice small town, good growth potential, old grid streets, right on the Raccoon. Good (if smaller) schools, about 30 minutes out from the middle of West Des Moines.

North, you might want to think about some of the small towns around Saylorville Lake like Polk City or Granger. Very pretty country north of Des Moines, less of a traffic hassle, right on the lake. Polk City's about 3k, good (if smaller) schools, more rural, more expensive houses (depending on location), still about 30 minutes out from WDM.

East, there are several good choices. Bondurant is nice, but might be a tough commute (80 and 235 every day). You also might think about Pleasant Hill (6k and growing) or Carlisle on the far southeast side (3-4k). Both are nice towns, close to Des Moines and would be a shorter commute with less on the interstates--about 20 min each. They have a combined schools there, Southeast Polk, which is much bigger than the other small towns--which has its pluses and minuses.

South, meh. Winterset is too far out (45 min), Indianola is just OK, Cumming is too small, and I've never been a big fan of Norwalk.

Hope that helps!

[WoodwardGirl]

I'd vote Adel, based on that analysis, SharpHawkeye. It was a realy nothing town when I grew up near there, but now that I live on the other side of the state, there are some antique stores and a nursery that I look forward to visiting when I'm back in the area. The downtown still feels "classic," yet you are minutes from Des Moines. It may be largely a bedroom community but has retained an identity, imho.

Granger... hasn't retained an identity so much, I don't think. The town was so heavily settled originally by Italian Catholics that when it was flooded with commuters of less homogenous origins, it kind of forgot who it was; I'm not saying this very well and I don't mean to be any kind of "-ist" about this, but the community feel was largely based on shared heritage and once that was no longer the case, the "community" fell apart. On the other hand, if you have horses, the area around Jester Park is a real paradise, I hear!