Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Pennsylvania
 [Register]
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
Reply Start New Thread
 
Old 03-11-2012, 09:34 PM
 
Location: I live wherever I am.
1,935 posts, read 4,752,167 times
Reputation: 3317

Advertisements

I have so many questions but I'll attempt to keep it simple. I'm looking to get ideas about towns that have really beautiful downtowns and houses. I don't want to hear about cities, and my idea of a cool downtown is NOT something that has lots of nightlife. I like those downtown areas with a "center square" or "center oval"... just an idea.

As for homes, I like Victorians... especially in the Italianate, Second Empire, and Queen Anne styles. Figure that if the house was built between 1850 and 1890, it should be good.

One town that definitely qualifies is Sunbury. I LOVE that downtown, and they have a lot of awesome Victorian homes. I guess it could be said that I am looking to find out if there's anything that tops Sunbury.

I liked the Wellsboro downtown when I drove through it. Waterford is okay. Easton was really cool... probably "second coolest" under Sunbury, and then Wellsboro is "third coolest". Of course, this only considers towns I've been to.

Oh by the way, if the town has over 100,000 population, it's no longer a town, it's a city... and I don't want to hear about it. So what's out there, PA natives?
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message

 
Old 03-11-2012, 09:53 PM
 
Location: Philly
10,219 posts, read 16,720,686 times
Reputation: 2971
gettysburg, chambersburg, greensburg, ligonier, hanover, and I suppose you could throw in lancaster and york since they're well under 100k. u;m sure there are many more out there.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 03-12-2012, 03:27 AM
 
4,277 posts, read 11,711,042 times
Reputation: 3931
A decidedly different aesthetic sense than some for ranking Sunbury over Wellsboro, I must say. It seems the OP must prize density.

How about in addition to those mentioned:

Reading, Berks County, population 88,082 (2010 city limits).
Newport, Perry County, population 1,506 (2000, nobody's bothered to update its Wikipedia page to date)
Mount Pleasant, Westmoreland County, pop 4,728 (2000, ditto)

Upstate NY typically has more high style Victoriana than PA (even places not too far into NY - Elmira is a good example with residential neighborhoods, Cortland has both the downtown and the residential areas, Addison is a smaller example with both too) but the layout with a "center square" or "diamond" is not as common. Wellsboro has more of a NY'ish layout, even to the point of calling its center area "The Green" (its statue of John Magee, a Corning NY-area coal baron, used to be more important than Wynken, Blynken, and Nod) although it is a more regular square than one usually finds in New England or New York.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 03-12-2012, 07:04 AM
 
24,334 posts, read 22,881,617 times
Reputation: 14912
Bellefonte would be the town you're looking for. In western Pa, I thought Butler was sort of like Bellefonte. Jim Thorpe is also like Bellefonte, smaller but it has some great old architecture in the downtown. I've driven through Sunbury and agree with you, its a nice looking town with a great public square. But Bellefonte has it beat.
Boyertown has some nice old homes and storefronts. Hamburg and Kutztown do, too. All on a smaller scale.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 03-12-2012, 07:18 AM
 
28,164 posts, read 25,152,310 times
Reputation: 16664
I think Lewisburg, Bloomsburg and Tunkhannock all have nice downtown areas too.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 03-12-2012, 07:23 AM
 
Location: Pennsylvania
30,214 posts, read 15,980,059 times
Reputation: 43892
Montrose?

haven't been through Nicholson in over 15 yrs but I remember that as having a lot of big old houses.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 03-12-2012, 09:19 AM
 
Location: I live wherever I am.
1,935 posts, read 4,752,167 times
Reputation: 3317
Quote:
Originally Posted by ki0eh View Post
A decidedly different aesthetic sense than some for ranking Sunbury over Wellsboro, I must say. It seems the OP must prize density.
I really don't prize density... it's just a type of look that I like. Sunbury really isn't that dense a town, anyway... it has a bit under 10,000 population.

Quote:
Originally Posted by ki0eh View Post
Reading, Berks County, population 88,082 (2010 city limits).
Newport, Perry County, population 1,506 (2000, nobody's bothered to update its Wikipedia page to date)
Mount Pleasant, Westmoreland County, pop 4,728 (2000, ditto)
Reading... uggghhhh... lots of crime in that city.

Newport- heard of it, never been there. I guess I should check it out.

Mount Pleasant- I think I had a friend from college days who came from that town.

Quote:
Originally Posted by ki0eh View Post
Upstate NY typically has more high style Victoriana than PA (even places not too far into NY - Elmira is a good example with residential neighborhoods, Cortland has both the downtown and the residential areas, Addison is a smaller example with both too) but the layout with a "center square" or "diamond" is not as common. Wellsboro has more of a NY'ish layout, even to the point of calling its center area "The Green" (its statue of John Magee, a Corning NY-area coal baron, used to be more important than Wynken, Blynken, and Nod) although it is a more regular square than one usually finds in New England or New York.
You may be right, but I don't know if I could look at myself in the mirror if I were to move to New York State. It's way too liberal, they'll never go "red" in a presidential election, and it is constantly ranked the #1 or #2 most taxed state in the country. Since I hate taxes, I'm not sure I'm ready to throw in the towel and move to NY. (Although, if the tax expense were offset by a much lower cost of housing, it might work out mathematically. Who knows.)
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 03-12-2012, 09:23 AM
 
Location: I live wherever I am.
1,935 posts, read 4,752,167 times
Reputation: 3317
Quote:
Originally Posted by Icy Tea View Post
Bellefonte would be the town you're looking for. In western Pa, I thought Butler was sort of like Bellefonte. Jim Thorpe is also like Bellefonte, smaller but it has some great old architecture in the downtown. I've driven through Sunbury and agree with you, its a nice looking town with a great public square. But Bellefonte has it beat.
Boyertown has some nice old homes and storefronts. Hamburg and Kutztown do, too. All on a smaller scale.
It's been years since I was last through Bellefonte, but I remember liking what I saw (which wasn't much). I went to college in western PA but I never spent much time in Butler... I think I went to the mall once, but that was it. As for Jim Thorpe, yeah, nifty town... been there... kind of touristy, though. Boyertown- I don't know anything about it. Hamburg- my car broke down there once... so I didn't really get to do any sightseeing! However, I used to travel route 61 a lot and I could see from the highway that there were some cool-looking houses. Kutztown - I know it's a college town... that's about all I know. But thanks for the suggestions!
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 03-12-2012, 09:27 AM
 
Location: I live wherever I am.
1,935 posts, read 4,752,167 times
Reputation: 3317
Quote:
Originally Posted by pman View Post
gettysburg, chambersburg, greensburg, ligonier, hanover, and I suppose you could throw in lancaster and york since they're well under 100k. u;m sure there are many more out there.
Maybe... I've been through some of those towns but only in my youth. I guess I have some exploring to do!

Quote:
Originally Posted by Magritte25 View Post
I think Lewisburg, Bloomsburg and Tunkhannock all have nice downtown areas too.
I used to live in Shenandoah, which wasn't far from Bloomsburg... and my one abiding memory of Bloomsburg is how often that town floods out. I had a student whose mom worked in Bloomsburg... she said that there was a lady she knew there, whose house had been flooded 18 times. I'm not much of a fan of floods. But as for the other two towns, I haven't been through them. Again, I guess I have some exploring to do!

Quote:
Originally Posted by PAhippo View Post
Montrose?

haven't been through Nicholson in over 15 yrs but I remember that as having a lot of big old houses.
Sure, why not. Let's add 'em to the list of ideas. Thanks to all for the ideas you've thrown out there, so far.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 03-12-2012, 09:44 AM
 
4,277 posts, read 11,711,042 times
Reputation: 3931
Newport even with its natural foods store and art gallery is by no means a liberal town, Perry County is about as red as a county gets in PA, even in the borough the R primary is the election.

Troy (Bradford County) has Victorians, smaller and used to be cheaper than Wellsboro but not sure if that still holds with the gas rush.

NY's western Southern Tier is not liberal, west of Corning there isn't much distinction on the PA/NY border although they do need to pay welfare benefits set statewide, largely off the local taxpayer (meaning property tax outside The City where the benefits are set). Owego, NY is not a liberal town, with a Victorian downtown around the courthouse square and a number of high style Victorian residences, though I haven't been there since the 2011 record flood. In that town the social services office is at the old county home outside village limits, therefore unlike many other upstate NY shire towns you don't have as much of an assortment of social services clients (often also drawn from elsewhere by cheap housing) locating in close proximity to the courthouse.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.

Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.


Reply
Please update this thread with any new information or opinions. This open thread is still read by thousands of people, so we encourage all additional points of view.

Quick Reply
Message:


Settings
X
Data:
Loading data...
Based on 2000-2020 data
Loading data...

123
Hide US histogram

Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Pennsylvania
Similar Threads

All times are GMT -6.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top