West Chester Pa I don't see the downtown charm (Downingtown: apartments, how much)

[rainrock]

Originally Posted by ScrantonWilkesBarre

By the way, great job on the photos of West Chester! It reminds me quite a bit of Lewisburg, Union County, home to Bucknell University. PA has quite a few quaint, historic, walkable towns, and that's something we should be proud of! Then again, we also probably have the highest amount of McMansions per capita, so hats off to us for that too! WOOOO!!! LOL!

Yea I actually meant to say our small towns and cities in the SE part of the state have fallen on hard times. Although I don't agree West Chester is in that category. Its nice to see Manayunk, Media, Conshohocken doing so well and Phoenixville is beginning to get it together down in these parts.


Check out Kildarespub.com. I looked for news on the Scranton location , is that going to be part of that Montage development? You need to check it out , good food, beer and nice atmosphere.

[ScranBarre]

Yep. That's going to be joining a Longhorn Steakhouse, Panera Bread, Starbucks, and a few other eateries to help anchor the new "Shoppes @ Montage" lifestyle center coming to Montage Mountain. Personally, I abhor this new overglorified STRIP MALL because it is attracting tenants away from Scranton's downtown mall, which will hurt the city in the long run, and will increase traffic all along the nearby two-lane roadways, but I'll still give Kildare's a shot!

[ScranBarre]

Given the region's huge Irish population, the new local Kildare's should really take off! We're home to the nation's third-largest St. Patty's Day parade, and we have one of the highest percentages of Irish-Americans. I just checked out the web site, and I already like what I see. I wonder if the staff here will dress in kilts when it's snowing outside? Talk about a draft! LOL!

[rainrock]

I was kind of hoping Kildares was in town, you are absolutely correct about that strip mall cannibalizing business.

[Luckysmom222]

Hi, if you are moving to the area, don't overlook the Tredyffrin Easttown School District. It is one of the best in the state, and is spelled incorrectly on these threads. You might check the Philadelphia Inquirer web site; they recently did their annual "Report on the Schools". The high school is Conestoga High School, and it is excellent. If you look at the Report on the Schools (surely your realtor has it if you can't find it online), you'll see that the T/E School District is one of the THE BEST in the area. It actually has scores higher than West Chester's schools and is comparable to scores in Great Valley. The Tredyffrin Easttown school district serves town such as Paoli, Berwyn, most of Wayne (very cute downtown, but pricey), parts of Malvern addresses, and these towns are located (going east) between West Chester and Radnor (previously mentioned). Don't overlook them; there is still some affordable real estate, but the school district is certainly a price driver in the area. People want to live in T/E. Frazer isn't really a town to me; it's more like an area, primarily businesses...Frazer's closest town would really be Malvern. Hope this helps you!

[toobusytoday]

I have to agree with the other PA posters here, especially rainrock - West Chester is an attractive town. I was a member for 10 years of a church in West Chester -we lived four years north of West Chester and 6 years south of WC and enjoyed walking into town after services with my kids. Winter, after the twinkly Christmas lights have been taken down, is not a very good time to look at the Northeast. One of the bonuses of West Chester is having West Chester University so close. You can see theatre performances, sporting events, attend lectures and even take classes.

Here's the link to the on-line version of the Inquirer article Luckysmom is referring to: http://inquirer.philly.com/specials/2005/report_card/

[mechtm84]

Originally Posted by rcovph

However, I was so very dissappointed when we visited these"downtowns" they seemed so run down and dirty. Did we miss something?

Yeah, that's like...all PA towns

[Katiana]

From phillyphan: west chester is one of those towns you have to get used to.

mechtm84 took the words right out of my mouth.

Yeah, that's like...all PA towns

. When the best you can say about a place is "you have to get used to it", you're not saying much. Granted the subtleties of a place aren't obvious overnight, but if it's not attractive, it's not attractive.

Good luck with your house/school search. Your kids will do fine and make friends whether you live someplace with a "downtown" or not.

[KoZmiC NinJa]

*sNiFfLe* *s0b*
Why did you put those pics up RainRock ??
Now my keyboard is flooded with tears.

How could you not like the downtown area of WC ?
Wow, I miss West Chester !

I moved to Vermont to try to get more of what West
Chester is doing and only got less. There isnt a day that
goes by where I wish I never left Chester Co.
There is a brick with my name on it in front of the library
you posted, so I guess a little of me is still there

[cid]

If your kids go to West Chester EAST (Probably Rustin and Henderson as well) they will surely get a better education than any kid who puts in equal effort at Lower Merion or Radnor. Sorry but I go to school with MANY kids from Lower Merion and Radnor and I have to say that if they are equivalent to HS graduates then West Chester HAS to have a better educational system. In my estimation, LM & Radnor school districts have failed their students - even if the kids passed all of their classes (this is based off interactions with kids I used to attend college classes with, and with kids I know even more personally). In the WCASD the teachers - at least from my experience - are extremely pleasant (Westtown-Thornbury Elementary + Glen Acres Elementary, Fugett Middle School, West Chester East High School 2001-05), the kids are accepting (at least in High School... young kids will be young kids...), the sports are spectacular (I mean HS sports, but the HS sports have declined since they added a third school - there are plenty adult leagues as well if you are into that), the bars are awesome, the college atmosphere adds another flavor to the borough, West Goshen (if you live here, your kids will go to East) was ranked as one of the top 15 places to live on the Atlantic coast... and one of the tops in the nation (Delaware county is up there too, but Frazer is about 30-35 minutes or more from LM/Radnor/Delaware County/Montgomery County and WC/Malvern is only 5-15 minutes from Frazer). You should of checked out WC East, Rustin, or Henderson if you were going to make a decision based off of schools - which obviously you aren't if you didn't check them out... and yeah, I have to say, if you didn't dig West Chester then you definitely have to be from the hills - WC one of the finest towns in all of PA. Also, I must say - you will NEVER find the same kind of people that you will find here in West Chester ANYWHERE else (this is a good thing)... and that's the truth!

I also believe WC is the best place to raise kids. I wouldn't be surprised if I found myself raising my own kids here in 10 years time - perfect mix of the borough (small-town-ish) and suburban America. WC (in my opinion of course) is without a doubt superior to LM/Radnor - if you want to shelter your kids you take them to the suburbs of Delaware/Montgomery county... if you want your kids to have a real experience, you take them to the suburbs or streets of the good old Dub C.