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HI. My Husband, my 1 year old and myself have just moved here from Southern California. We are currently renting an apartment, but are looking to buy a house within the next few months. I'm looking for information on Stoughton. Is it a good place for a young family to live? How are the schools? Are there fun things to do around town for kids? Will it still be a good place to live in 5 years? We are hoping to stay under $300,000 for a house and there seems to be a lot of choices in that town. TIA!
Hi, A's Mama, I grew up in Stoughton in the 1960's and it was then a beginning-to-fail town with numerous shoe factories. The tire plant blew up in the 50s, so I think all the manufacturing jobs were making shoes. I have looked in Stoughton because I have very fond memories of the place from the past. Stoughton has lakes, pine groves, was founded in the 1600s and has the oldest . . . well, the oldest SOMETHING in the country, I think a Singing Society.
But it's really sad to see it these days. I was there in July and saw no kids on bikes out on the summer streets. No teens walking together and sharing jokes. No children outside anywhere. Stoughton used to be kid's central.
Trulia gives crime statistics for every listing: Stoughton's shocked me last time I looked. There was a nice if run-down old house on a street I knew well. I had attended Mrs. White's kindergarten there, and I had taken sewing lessons a few years later in the very house now on the market. It was a sleepy and lovely neighborhood with trees to climb and little rivulets of water behind the houses, for building dams and such. There were 78 crimes reported within a few blocks of that area. Half were violent. Much higher than comparable towns. So I won't be returning to Stoughton.
You may want to check the towns of Pembroke, Hanson, Whitman (but be careful of the border with Brockton--Brockton is not safe these days), Abington, and Plymouth. I am looking in Plymouth and somewhere I read it is the largest town in MASS and also that it has the youngest population. I don't know if the schools are OK but Trulia also has information about the rating of the public schools.
Even when I was a kid the schools in Stoughton were sketchy; I went to Catholic schools.
Hope this helps a little. I had written up a longer post but somehow the site or my computer went down. Just to repeat that I am not an authority on Stoughton, having left to go to college. But I was back every summer in the 90s as my father slowly died of Alzheimer's, and the town was in steep decline then and (I was visiting late this July) seems even sadder now. It does have some big box stores, and some great pizza, and some great people, too. I have a few friends who have stayed, and love the place and are fiercely loyal to it. But I think a newcomer would be depressed, and a parent of a small child almost certainly has better choices. Just my thoughts.
Pembroke seems nice especially for families with kids - a lot of my friends who couldn't afford to buy homes in [our coastal south shore hometown that got more expensive] moved to Pembroke. I get the idea that it's a nice community for families.
A'sMama I would continue to check out Stoughton. My family owned a business there up until recently and I'm from a town over and am familiar with it and it's a very typical Boston suburb, friendly, good town center with lots of food, in close proximity to the hospital in Brockton, the movie theater in Randolph, the Blue Hills, and jobs in the 128 corridor. The schools are average performing ones, but you could always try and Sharon or Canton public schools if you feel your kids would be underserved in Stoughton.
A'sMama I would continue to check out Stoughton. My family owned a business there up until recently and I'm from a town over and am familiar with it and it's a very typical Boston suburb, friendly, good town center with lots of food, in close proximity to the hospital in Brockton, the movie theater in Randolph, the Blue Hills, and jobs in the 128 corridor. The schools are average performing ones, but you could always try and Sharon or Canton public schools if you feel your kids would be underserved in Stoughton.
I have several friends who grew up in Stoughton in the 80's/90's and they're all well adjusted and doing well professionally. I've been to their parent's homes in Stoughton and they're all in nice neighborhoods.
While I certainly appreciate ladyalicemore's description of Stoughton in the 50's & 60's, I think you'd be hard pressed to find a suburb this close to Boston that was the same as it was 50-60 years ago. They've all seen additional commercial and/or residential development which has changed them.
We bought our first house in Stoughton and lived there for 4 years until my daughter was 6. Then we fled. I think it has gone downhill further since we lived there.
You might do ok buying a starter home there like we did. Some of the elementary schools seemed ok.
A'sMama here's my interpretation of some of the people freaking out about Soughton's decline: They want to tell you without telling you that Stoughton has had an increasing black population as people move out of Boston (and maybe Randolph and Brockton) into other close-by suburbs. If it's not all of them trying to say this, I know it's some of them.
A'sMama here's my interpretation of some of the people freaking out about Soughton's decline: They want to tell you without telling you that Stoughton has had an increasing black population as people move out of Boston (and maybe Randolph and Brockton) into other close-by suburbs. If it's not all of them trying to say this, I know it's some of them.
LOL, there were very few black people in Stoughton when we lived there. I can't recall any in my daughter's school and certainly none in my neighborhood.
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I think it has gone downhill further since we lived there.
