Hopkinsville? (Louisville, Madisonville, Corbin: for sale, crime rate, houses)

[sportsfangal]

My sister is interested in buying a small home in the Hopkinsville area. She is single, 40's, and likes to keep to herself.
She saw a home on line but does not know anything about this area. Is anyone familiar with this town? Is is very far from civilization? She is fine living in a small town, but still wants to be close to stores and post office, laundry, etc.
also, what are the population demographics of this area? she is from a big city and used to diversity, but curious as to what she may encounter here. are people friendly? is there much crime in this area?
any suggestions will be greatly appreciated!

[rnc76]

Originally Posted by sportsfangal

My sister is interested in buying a small home in the Hopkinsville area. She is single, 40's, and likes to keep to herself.
She saw a home on line but does not know anything about this area. Is anyone familiar with this town? Is is very far from civilization? She is fine living in a small town, but still wants to be close to stores and post office, laundry, etc.
also, what are the population demographics of this area? she is from a big city and used to diversity, but curious as to what she may encounter here. are people friendly? is there much crime in this area?
any suggestions will be greatly appreciated!

Why would she shop for a house in a town she knows nothing about?

I'm not sure what you mean by "civilization". Hopkinsville is a town of about 30,000 and is near Clarksville, TN, which is about 100,000. It is about an hour or less from Nashville. So it isn't exactly desolate. It is a military town bodering Fort Campbell. It has a reputation as having a high crime rate for a city of its size. That is about all I know.

[EclecticEars]

Hopkinsville...please, do yourself a favor and find a better place to look!!! I'm sure there are some good people there, but it seems like the disadvantages outweigh the advantages in that town.

I'll run down a list of pros and cons.

Pros:
1. Proximity to Clarksville, a regional shopping and medical center.
2. Strong sense of patriotism, influenced greatly by proximity to Ft. Campbell and the 101st Airborne Division.
3. Beautiful surrounding countryside.
4. 1 hr. from Nashville, 1 hr. 15 min. from Evansville, 3 hr. from Memphis and Louisville.
5. Just enough basic shopping needs (Wal-Mart, Kroger-?, Lowe's, small mall) to not have to leave town, as well as restaurants like O'Charley's and Applebee's.
6. Close to Kentucky and Barkley Lakes and Land Between the Lakes.

Cons:
1. Not much diversity, just a very divided black and white population. Surprising for it to be such a military town.
2. Speak of black v. white, there is a lot of subtle social segregation and racial tension. Probably more so than anyplace I can think of in Kentucky other than Louisville's west end and Corbin.
3. It's a dump. Dirty, depressing, bland, it feels like it's in the middle of nowhere.
4. Fairly high crime rate for a small town.
5. Proximity to Clarksville...yes, again. You see, it's a perennial dump that you couldn't pay me to live in.
6. The closest decent health care system is in Madisonville, 30 miles north.

[sportsfangal]

thank you for your insight, I will pass along this information to my sister. She was a truck driver and did some routes in this area, so she seemed to like it from what she saw of it.

[kygman]

When you get a report from jcm on anything in Kentucky, it's not going to be good. I have family and friends who live in Hopkinsville who say they wouldn't want to live anywhere else. I'm not saying it's the greatest place to live but it's like any town. You're going to have a "bad side" of town anywhere you go. You need to come down and check it out yourself. They have a great hospital in Hopkinsville. I've had several visits there including surgery on me. I've had no trouble. Have relatives that work there and they talk about how good the hospital is doing.
The best person to listen to for advice is yourself. Go to Hopkinsville and stay a few days to look around. jcm and I can argue all day long about what we think of the town, but what you need to go by is what YOU think! Enjoy your trip!

[EclecticEars]

Originally Posted by kygman

When you get a report from jcm on anything in Kentucky, it's not going to be good. I have family and friends who live in Hopkinsville who say they wouldn't want to live anywhere else. I'm not saying it's the greatest place to live but it's like any town. You're going to have a "bad side" of town anywhere you go. You need to come down and check it out yourself. They have a great hospital in Hopkinsville. I've had several visits there including surgery on me. I've had no trouble. Have relatives that work there and they talk about how good the hospital is doing.
The best person to listen to for advice is yourself. Go to Hopkinsville and stay a few days to look around. jcm and I can argue all day long about what we think of the town, but what you need to go by is what YOU think! Enjoy your trip!

I agree with you that this person needs to come to Hopkinsville and check it out for herself. Maybe she'll see a gem there that I don't. Hey, 30,000 or so people live there and it's not really losing population, so I imagine quite a few like it.

[yockee]

What's the best high school in the area for bi-racial, somewhat close < 30 miles to the Fort?

yockee

[patrickmpatrick]

"Hey, 30,000 or so people live there and it's not really losing population, so I imagine quite a few like it."

The only reason Hopkinsville hasn't lost population is because it exapnded it's city limits to reach Oak Grove: do the research.
AND...drive around and see all the houses for sale. Tons of them. There's a reason many people are leaving: the schools can't get decent education to the youth, there's no gold-standard health care (an hours drive to Nashville is the only plus), the racial problems are astounding, there are no good restaurants (unless you like fast food), the crime is out of control (again: do research on a Kentucky crime page), etc.
Unless one was born there, one will NOT be accepted - that is, unless one joins the country club.

It's a cesspool.

[kygman]

Nice of you to join in...10 months later! lol