Smaller towns in Southern MN? (St. Cloud, Mankato: houses, rent, motel)

[angeljoy25]

Originally Posted by weerheimj

My husband and I are interested in moving to a smaller town in Southern/SouthWestern Minnesota. This will happen in about a year, but i'm trying to do some homework. Does anybody know anything about New Ulm, Willmar, Albert Lea? Are there any other smaller towns we should be looking at? Right now we are pretty interested in Albert Lea, but would love to hear some feedback! I'm pretty new to this so i'm really sorry if something like this has already been posted!

Thank you for any advice you may offer!

I actually work in Albert Lea. I moved here just over three years ago from Arizona. When I went to purchase a house, Albert Lea was too big, so I actually live in Emmons, about 12 miles southwest of Albert Lea population about 450. It is a beautiful area, with the state park right here. My dog and I go walking there multiple times a week as well as some of the other parks around, like Whites Woods. It is a slow paced area, if that's what you're looking for. A lot of people have been here forever, but I've had no trouble being accepted and have made many friends. If you want a fast paced place, this is not the area for you. For shopping, Owatonna, Mason City and Rochester are all with in an hour away. It's easy access and not really too far to the cities. Employment opportunities are here, but not like they are in Mankato or Rochester. Best of Luck to you!!!

[elroar]

Brewster, MN is in the SW corner of the state near Worthington (11,000 pop.). The elementary school is in Brewster (preschool through 6), while the junior high and high school are in Round Lake (about 10 mi. south of Brewster). We are 6 miles from Worthington, which has a hospital, Swift Meatpacking, Bedford Industries, large school district, a Christian school, parochial school, a mall, Walmart, Shopko, a lovely downtown with minority restaurants, many churches, a lake for boating, swimming, and fishing.

Round Lake has a lake, Sathers (candy company). Brewster is right off interstate 90 about 4 miles. Sioux Falls is one hour away. Worthington has a community college, two health clinics, a campground. I grew up in Minneapolis area and I am totally happy with small town life.

[Vertigo]

I grew up in New Ulm, and although I hated it growing up, I've now lived in towns of comparable size that aren't nearly as clean, neat and charming!

New Ulm is big into it's German heritage and the local brewery (Schell's) is a prominent fixture in town. There are about 4 or 5 German festivals every year, complete with polka, sauerkraut and brats and a crowd of raging drunks! And they are FUN!!!

Nightlife...the town could certainly benefit from a live music scene...but there is most definitely not a shortage of bars in New Ulm, particularly in the downtown area. It's actually a hoppin' little downtown at night.

Shopping is a different story...unless you want to buy all your clothes at Herberger's (the only women's store that has managed to survive the nightmare hall...I mean...MALL they built awhile back). But Mankato is only a half hour away and is a booming college town that has something newly completed and something new being built every time I come home to visit.There is a Target..though.

It's a very industrial area...a huge 3M and Kraft plant, and many other factories, most with decent to stellar pay...considering cost of living in New Ulm. It can be a little conservative...but I live among hillbillies now, so it make N.U. look pretty tolerable and open! And all in all...very nice people and friendly, hard-working area!

Good luck!

[prairiedoggy]

Originally Posted by srands

Hello, I just moved back to the twin cities from my 2 year nightmare of living in Westbrook , MN which is located in the middle of marshall, Windom, Worthington. I should of done my homework before I ever bought a house there. I got sucked in by a beautiful house for 60,000. Without thinking about anything else. My house is still sitting there unoccupied for sale. Want to buy a house? Anyways to make a long story short. If you like driving 40 minutes to any shopping places or restaraunts then you will be fine. I put almost 60,000 miles on my car in less than 2 years. Marshall is okay but houses are high buck. There is a walmart there at least. You go 30 miles and you hit tracy and walnut grove which the population is hmong. Worthington is all mexican. What I figured out basically if you are not farmers you really dont have any reason to be out there! Take in consideration the winters are brutual, roads are horrifying! Its flat country and there are huge drifts in the roads.Roads do not get the same attention as the twin cities. some roads dont get plowed at all!! I would look up north instead of south! Just another comment. Small towns are clicky and if you are not born and raised there, you are an outsider, its very tough to get jobs and any breaks. Not to mention check out sex offenders list!

Is your house the cute one on Ash Ave? If so, I can see why you bought it.

[PBC19]

Originally Posted by weerheimj

Wow,

Thanks for all the responses!! It's given me alot to think about!
Basically my husband is finishing up school to be a specialized type of chiropractor in about a year. Our dream has always been to live in a smaller lake town. We both come from smaller towns so that is something we are used to (we had to drive about 45 min to Sioux Falls, SD anytime we wanted to do some shopping) - but now we are also very used to living in a diverse city so i'm not sure how easy it will be to give up all the conveniences of that either. Our obvious first choice would be to live in Northern MN but we also realize with our plans to start a family in the near future, that we would like to be with in a few hours drive of our family in Northwest IA, hence the info request regarding SW MN. Again, thank you all for your thoughts and suggestions!

For reference, I have lived in several large cities and small towns all over the U.S. and grew up in southern MN and used to live in Sioux Falls. If your hubby is going to be a chiropractor, especially a specialized one, I'd put some serious time into researching where chiropractors are needed first. Many of these towns are quite small...and filled with blue collar workers and farmers...not necessarily people who seek out chiropractic care, nor do they necessarily have health insurance that would cover it. IMO, going to a very small town in the middle of nowhere could be a big mistake. Look into the St Cloud area due to it's fairly close proximity to Minneapolis and larger size - but still near lakes.
These towns can be hard to "fit in" if you are a newcomer since people generally all know each other already and new business is often through word of mouth. There's many options for towns with all the lakes in MN - but have your hubby's job in mind first. Good luck!

[alysonst]

Ugh- would NOT recommend Albert Lea. Not at all.
Anybody else here think it's a ghetto, dumpy city with little or nothing to offer? It all depends on what you are looking for. Oh, and don't even look twice at Austin, either. St. Cloud is nothing special. Confusing roads, once voted ugliest layout of a city, or somethinglikethat. Summer months, the town is as dead as a doornail. Partly because the college is what *makes* this town. There's nothing else alluring about it. That can either be good or bad!
I'd definitely second the love for Mankato and Rochester. Rochester is a great little community- 100,000 and growing, but you still get the intricate "community" feeling. Plus, with Mayo and IBM and such, it's still progressive. Plus, it's only an hour from the cities, so that's always a bonus. Very healthy community also- parks and trails abounding. And the shopping is pretty reasonable, for the size and all. The neighboring towns east of there are absolutely *great* in the summer- like Lake City, Wabasha, etc.
Same thing for Mankato. Both pretty areas. But everybody here is going to have a different opinion, as you can certainly see.

[Minnehahapolitan]

Funny how Rochester can have 100,000 people without a single one of them downtown. I would hardly call it vibrant, even in comparison to Saint Cloud. Rochester is literally built around a hospital. A good place to have a heart attack, another place to live in. It doesn't even have a nice river or hill or some quaint Main Street. Winona is better, and it is a quarter of the population. (not to take hits at Winona, which is one of my favorite outstate cities).

[mystree]

I like Albert Lea,in fact Friday we closed on our house there.

[earthwar]

Pipestone or Windom if you want to be way down there. New Ulm is probably the best of the ones you mention. I would never live in Willmar unless I was forced to. Marshall is the last place on the planet I would go to. Pipestone and New Ulm are still nice places to live. EW

[golfgal]

Originally Posted by earthwar

Pipestone or Windom if you want to be way down there. New Ulm is probably the best of the ones you mention. I would never live in Willmar unless I was forced to. Marshall is the last place on the planet I would go to. Pipestone and New Ulm are still nice places to live. EW

Just curious why not Marshall? Marshall is economically much more stable then Pipestone or New Ulm. The schools are better in Marshall too.