Dennison Iowa (Des Moines, Sioux City, Council Bluffs: homes, wedding reception, high school)

[profrb2]

Would like information on living in Dennison Iowa as well as travel to and from the community

[WyoNewk]

First off, if you're having problems Googling information, etc., it's spelled with one "n" -- Denison.

Since you haven't gotten any replies so far....

I haven't lived there, but I grew up about 30 miles south of there in Harlan, so I'm a little familiar with Denison. It's a nice town in a pretty area of Iowa. The Missouri River breaks are just west of Denison, and the whole area around Denison is good farm land with rolling hills.

What do you want to know about traveling there?

[mofford]

It used to be a real nice town, I think actress Donna Reed and congressman Steve King grew up in Denison. It started losing population in the 70's and 80's, they opened several meat packing plants and it did not do much to make the town a nicer place to live. At one time the town had over 10,000 and was bigger than Caroll, we used to pass thru there and eat at Cronk's restaurant. Cronk's closed up long ago, the town now has pop of 7300.

As WyoNewk mentioned, Dunlap, Charter Oak and the east edge of the Loess Hills are 10 miles or so west of town. To the east is also a bit hilly between Denison and Carroll in some spots, the goegraphical divide that seperates water flow from the Mississippi and Missouri rivers lies between.

Denison is a great location for antenna geeks that like to see how many TV and radio stations they can pull in off the air. With the proper setup and location, you can get stations from Sioux City, Omaha, and Des Moines.

[mustang84]

I grew up in Harlan too! Denison was always one of our football rivals to the north.

As said above, it's about 7300 people and set in a hilly area. They are building a new Super Wal-Mart on the NW side of town, and Tyson and Farmland Foods are the two big employers in the area (and not very pleasant smelling). The NE side of town is the newer area, located near the high school. Denison also has some railroad tracks that bisect the town and follow Highway 30.

Denison is a decent place, but you should be aware of the changing demographics there. Ever since the 80's, there has been a growing Hispanic population (largely illegal immigrants) that now account for about 20% of the population. I have cousins who grew up in Denison and say that fights and gangs are more frequent at the schools and the cops have been called before. This may be more exaggeration than truth on part of the locals, but it is worth being aware of. I would not be worried about walking around on the streets at night as it is still very much a small, quiet town.

Denison is somewhat isolated, so travel to larger cities becomes a little more of a hassle. Harlan is about 45 minutes from Omaha / Council Bluffs, so Denison is likely an hour and 15 minutes. It's probably the same amount of time to Sioux City. Denison is also a good jog from interstate access; I-29 is about 40 miles to the west, and I-80 is about 40 miles to the south. Highways 59 and 30 are the two major roads that pass through. Denison does have a small municipal airport, but there are only private flights out of it.

Btw, Cronk's is still open (I believe they still hold the title for longest continually operating restaurant in Iowa). I was there last summer for a wedding reception and it was busy as ever. Also, I'm pretty sure Denison has never been higher than the 7300 current population; it was 6600 in the 1990 census and a few hundred lower in the 1980 census.

[mofford]

Good to hear Cronks is still open, thought it was closed the last time I passed thru 10 years ago. My dad used to play saturday night gigs there with his country band long ago. Maybe thats why he told me the town used to have 10K, the extra people must of been from out of town visiting Cronks to watch the old man sing and play guitar, lol.

[kenneth.kahl]

I actually live near and work in Denison, and I love it. I grew up here, moved overseas and traveled a bit, and have returned because it actually is awesome. The cultural clash between our immigrant population and selected bigots is very fascinating to watch and mediate, and I'm proud to say our local standards of Mexican food are way too high for any Taco Bell to survive around here. The uptown business district (it's called uptown because it's up the hill from the highway) is beautiful, and many people are restoring their Victorian homes to class up the place. The packing plants do stink at time, when the wind is blowing your direction, and I think everybody's gotten used to the smell of bacon. Travel to the Omaha/Council Bluffs metro is an hour, to Sioux City is an hour, and to Des Moines is two hours. This is the same time I used to travel to downtown London from the suburbs, except this drive is more scenic. I easily get my urban-fixes by finding area places to enjoy sushi (weekends only), martinis, live jazz/blues/rock/cover bands (about every other weekend I find this), and trips to the area cities. The most interesting cultural experiences I have, though, are at the local bars with true blue smalltown and rural folk. If you're looking for a job, we're hiring! Denison has great business-professional jobs and excellent industrial work available.The best jobs aren't in the local classifieds, so you have to meet people and ask around.

[heaton]

I'v been to Denison several times on my way to Sac City, IA. It ALWAYS smells sooooo bad. The kind of smell that makes you gag.