Morris, MN--- ???? (Minneapolis, Alexandria, Thief River Falls: real estate, houses, job market)
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Morris is a nice town. It is your typical outstate smaller town. It is clean, safe and has descent schools. Looking at a real estate site I would have to say cheep is a relative term. The most expensive house I saw was $480,000 for a 5000+ sq foot home. There are pages of houses in the $150,000 and less range?
As for work, I am not familiar with the industry in the area, we have only visited the town a few times.
Besides agriculture, the ethanol plant, and the college (along with some restaurants, stores, banks, etc.), I'm not sure what else would drive the economy in Morris.
Morris is a nice town with good schools - the K - 12 schools capitalize on the plethora of college students that volunteer or perform service learning in them. One thing that should be stated is that the U of M, Morris has a stellar reputation that is highly regarded throughout the midwest and the nation - it is known for having excellent, highly rigorous academics, great professors and staff, small class sizes, it is very diverse, affordable, and highly progressive (Morris' efforts to reduce footprint/ go totally green have been newsworthy in recent years - I believe there is a plan to be totally off the grid within several years). So, the K-12 and local population benefit from the college and the college's extension services and Center for Small Towns there.
One nice thing about living in Morris are the interesting folks and diversity that can be found there (due to the college) that you may not otherwise find in small towns. There are occassional culture clashes between the townsfolk and the university folk but you would expect that anywhere. Some really nice lakes and towns close by - Lake Minnewaska is a big one.
It is generally a clean town, about what you expect in a rural college town but some neighborhoods are very nice and well-kept. I would consider it a good place to raise a family, especially with the college and college's activities/ events right there for good educational exposure for the kids. And when your kids get to high school, if they excel in school and are accepted, there would be the option of PSEO (i think it stands for post-secondary educational opportunities or the like), in which they could complete their last 2 years of high school and first 2 years of college simultaneously by attending Morris, again, a great school and huge $ saver for parents.
Job market - check out the local papers and www.minnesotaworks.net, or local hubs like Alexandria, MN for jobs. I would assume that it, like most outstate rural areas, is not exactly booming/ not a lot of options available, and if one family member gets a really good job, it would be worth the very low cost of living for their partner to just find whatever might be available or maybe try and telecommute (I had a friend that took an interim faculty position at morris, and his wife's company allowed her to telecommute during their time there).
Downsides of living in Morris - it can sometimes feel very isolated if you are used to living in or close to a large urban environment. Although you can get just about everything you need in Morris, the closest "big" town/ business hub to Morris is Alexandria, MN which is about a 45 - 50 minute drive. The local businesses in Morris tend to close pretty early in the evenings and weekends (I believe there is a large, conservative, Mennonite family that owns a lot of business and surrounding land around Morris so word had it that this family had a lot of pull/ say in the goings-on in the town, number of bars/ restaurants there, etc.). And it does get North Minnesota cold in the wintertime - located on a vast expanse of MN prairie and not too sheltered from the elements, it can get the very harsh, cold prairie winds throughout winter so you'll want to be prepared for that.
So if you're willing to commit to a rural existence and bear the MN winters, I think Morris could be a great place to raise kids - I can say that it's definitely a great place for young adults to attend the university, and townspeople generally seemed pretty friendly there. Good luck with your decision.
What is Morris like? Other than being a college town, is there anything else driving the economy there?
I did check a real estate website. Things aren't exactly cheap.
Would this be a nice town to live in? Or is this a better place to be from?
Is the K-12 public school system quality?
Clean town-- do people keep up their properties?
Good place to raise a family?
How is the job market? I can't seem to find any good classified ads. Mostly looking for my wife. I'm following a potential lead in my field.
Thank you for your replies,
disneyrecords
There is I think a nice meat place Ive stopped in at a few times awhile ago that is, having meat and beef jerky and smoked fish. I dont know if its still there though.
I took a welding test here one time, passed it and, and then things didnt work out, so I didnt move here.
By the way, you mentioned a "potential lead in my field". What is the "lead" perhaps then can give you more and better assistance.
Thanks
Morris is a nice town. It is your typical outstate smaller town. It is clean, safe and has descent schools. Looking at a real estate site I would have to say cheep is a relative term. The most expensive house I saw was $480,000 for a 5000+ sq foot home. There are pages of houses in the $150,000 and less range?
As for work, I am not familiar with the industry in the area, we have only visited the town a few times.
I wouldn't say our town is cheap. We have alot of old houses that really aren't worth that much. Being a railroad town we have many houses that are small and were built between the 20's and 50's.
As for our economy, we have a few large businesses. There's Superior Industries, West-mor, the ethanol plant(Denco) and of course the college. Our ethanol plant has recently shut down though. Demand isn't high enough.
The $450,000 house was just built 2 years ago. The couple got divorced and very sadly the owner killed himself....
I love my school. We dont have all the funding in the world but we make do. We're number 1 in our conference for boys basketball right now
I know dredging up old posts is a faux pas, but I want to post an update.
After a few years of searching and visiting many greater Minnesota communities, I accepted a job in my field in Morris in March 2010. We've been here a year now. This community offers everything I was looking for in a smaller community. My list of things I wanted are:
1. Economy-- the community had to be a hub of employment for the region.
2. Quality K-12 education-- Morris exceeds that goal with participation from #3 (next line)
3. Higher Education-- University of Minnesota, Morris invests heavily into the community.
4. Recreation-- area lakes, including the Minnewaska and Alexandria area, give a variety of outdoor activities. Again, with #3, the community can use the facilities of UMM for a YMCA type experience along with a partnership with community education gives summer activities for children.
All around, Morris was a good fit for us. Having family up and down the US 59 corridor from Appleton to Detroit Lakes, this opportunity turned out to be our winner.
There are many other communities I enjoyed in the region as follows: Alexandria, Detroit Lakes, Park Rapids, Thief River Falls, Glenwood, Starbuck. The job opportunity presented it self in Morris, we accepted, moved, and have no regrets.
If anyone has any questions on Morris, please don't hesitate to ask.
Respectfully Submitted,
disneyrecords
Last edited by disneyrecords; 05-01-2011 at 09:42 AM..
It's always nice to get updates and am glad to hear things are going well- I really enjoyed my time living there while attending UMM (although it did take some gettting used to coming from a more urban environment!).
Thanks for the update. It's always interesting to hear how things turned out, and very useful for any future would-be Morris residents looking for information! It's nice to hear that Morris has turned out to be such a good fit.
Glad to hear you are enjoying it. When my high school FFA, speech, or music teams went to state competitions in Minneapolis, we always stopped at the Morris Coburns for breakfast as it was just far enough down the road that we'd be getting fully awake and hungry by then. Bet you wouldn't have guessed that as a place with sentimental value to anyone, huh?
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demtion35
