if you could choose: Springfield, Rolla, West Plains (Columbia, Ozark: lawyer, house)

[Flyover_Country]

Originally Posted by lance1215

If finding a job were not a factor which town would you rather live near/ raise a family in- Springfield, Rolla or West Plains- Why?

I'd pick Rolla first, West Plains second, and then Springfield third. Rolla is a nice medium-sized town in a nice area with good schools, I've been there quite a few times. It isn't completely isolated, but it's not a growing medium-sized city like Springfield either. There is plenty of rural area around but it's only about an hour to Jeff City and two hours to St. Louis. It has UMR, but it's not really a college town, certainly not as much as say, Kirksville or especially Columbia. The engineers more or less keep to themselves, I guess.

I've never been to West Plains itself, but I've been to the surrounding area to the east go canoeing in the Ozark National Scenic Riverways National Park. It's very, very pretty and fairly isolated. That particular region was getting to be more Southern backwoods in character than Midwest forests-and-hills nature of the rural areas surrounding Rolla. I don't know if West Plains being a bit farther west would be less Southern, but there's certainly a bit of the South east of the West Plains area.

Springfield is not a bad area at all and I would pick Springfield about even with Kansas City and a bunch above St. Louis if I needed to live in a metro area for work. Springfield feels much more like a very sprawling small city, whereas Kansas City is a little bigger and St. Louis feels like a shrunken-down big city. But I am a small-town/rural person and living near an area like Springfield would be a "have to" rather than a "want to."

[MoNative34]

Originally Posted by ozarksboy

Rolla and West Plains do not have either. Well, I don't think WP has a Starbucks. It might. Rolla, I hear, is getting a Starbucks booth/kiosk on campus, but that's awfully inconvenient. You won't be able to stop and get a latte without walking half a mile and then you might go back to your car and find a campus parking ticket.

I heard a vegan grocery store is opening up in Jerome. The town also sponsors a drum circle at dusk every evening on the shoreline of the river to keep the spirit of Karma alive in the community.

[lance1215]

I have read and keep hearing a lot of people bringing up drug issues etc... is it really more of a problem in these areas than in any other part of the country?

[GraniteStater]

Originally Posted by lance1215

I have read and keep hearing a lot of people bringing up drug issues etc... is it really more of a problem in these areas than in any other part of the country?

Yes, in many areas of the Ozarks and Appalachians it is an enormous problem...

[christina0001]

I don't think the drug issue is more of an issue here at all. I think that the main difference is that the drug of choice in the Ozarks is meth, and it's very obvious when someone is using it. It messes their faces up. If pot and coke had such obvious physical side effects, people would realize what a prevalent issue they are in other parts of the country. And of course, growing pot can be done relatively quietly, and in urban areas you can have coke delivered to your house if you like, but making meth is dangerous and it's alarming when the occasional meth house blows up and it makes the news.

[BassoraMo]

Lived in Springfield. County commissioner stated: "We grow houses not farms." Springfield trying to become St. Louis without the culture.
Rolla is a college town but mostly in a good way.
West Plains has a major college there but it is not really near anything so it has kept its more rural feeling. Has great music festivals too with limited electric instruments.
West Plains would be my choice.

[GunnerTHB]

I'd be partial to West Plains since I'm sure it has the least migration of the three. Rolla would be second. Regardless however, I couldn't actually live IN one of them.

[ozarksboy]

Also you could consider Phelps County's Twin Cities: Doolittle-Newburg.

[Curmudgeon]

I still prefer Rolla if I had to move from where we are. The good news is that wherever we would be in the Aux Arcs and at our ages, we're likely to assume room temperature before sprawl becomes really intrusive.

[Cali BassMan]

Deffinatley Rolla, they have a Lowes, with nice employees to help you build up the urban sprawl.
As stated earlier they have a Starbucks, to get your juices flowing in the morning.
and they have a Aldi's (owned by Trader Joe's} for all your grocery needs....

Stay away from West Plains, especially just west of West Plains, nothing there but Horse Farms and Bass Boats...