Town of Clearfield Pa (Pittsburgh, State College: apartments, crime, house)

[Dylan D]

what is it like in clearfield? do they have alot of commercail developments? is the town pretty nice? how is the resturants and stores? i heard about a sweet HUGE burger from there and what to check it out. Is there alot to do in clearfield? how about a movie theater or skate park? how are the jobs there? it would be nice if i could see some pics of clearfield!

[Dawne]

We drove through Clearfield last year. The schools seem nice. There's a small hospital/medical center there. The downtown wasn't very impressive but I know they have (or had) a Main Street Manager program. They have a nice library and many different denominations of churches. There are stores there and nearby. State College is a short drive away.

I'm not sure about a movie theater or formal skate park. We saw kids skating near the hospital. There's supposed to be a huge power plant of some sort being built near there in the future. I think it burns coal leftovers or something along those lines. I forget now exactly what it was supposed to be.

[ChristinaIUP]

There isnt too much in Clearfield. There is a small "mall" with maybe four stores and there is a walmart near I-80. There are a couple of other stores but things have really changed there over the years. Many store closings, its sad actually.

[Dylan D]

Any more about Clearfield???

[Icy Tea]

We went looking for the huge burger place too but couldn't find it. Apparently it's off the main drag and a little hard to find even with directions. The town was similar to Punxsutawney, a little shabby, lots of bars, not much going on and not too picturesque. Dubois had way more in the way of shopping and mid range dining. Gilberton, Pa is getting a coal to oil plant too.

[pinetar10]

the huge burger place is great. its called denny's beer barrel pub, or something like that. it is hard to find, i had to turn around, but i could see the wooden restaurant that i saw on the website off of the main drag on a hill, so thats how i knew i found it. they have 1/2 pound, 1 pound, 2 lb, 5 pound and even bigger, i think up to 10 or 15 pound burgers. you have to call ahead if you're going to order a 5 lb. or up burger.
the 2 pound burger was only about 6 bucks, and it was huge, i could eat about half of it in a sitting.

[supersoulty]

Originally Posted by Dylan D

what is it like in clearfield? do they have alot of commercail developments? is the town pretty nice? how is the resturants and stores? i heard about a sweet HUGE burger from there and what to check it out. Is there alot to do in clearfield? how about a movie theater or skate park? how are the jobs there? it would be nice if i could see some pics of clearfield!

Clearfield is like most other small towns in America, and esspecially in Appalachia... declining. When I was little, there was a rather vibrant downtown with a number of small shops and resturants. There were jobs to be had (my family is a major local employer) in manufacturing and other fields. The mall was doing decently. Things were stable.

Today, the downtown has dried up... the stores were replaced with either smaller, cheaper stores, or doctors offices. There are a few decent restraunts, which mostly exist to serve the people who work at the courthouse. Wal-Mart has taken over the town... though not quite as bad as in someother places. The jobs market is dry. There is still some manufaturing, but they aren't hiring, and you have to know someone to have a chance of getting in (my family is only hiring manual labor right now). The mall is almost empty. DuBois has a few of the things you might need, if you are willing to drive 30 miles to get there.

It was a nice town once, and probably could be again if someone did something about it, but... what can you say? I would stay away from this entire area unless you are either a doctor, a lawyer, or have no other choice. Everyone around here is either a doctor, lawyer, teacher or they work in the service industy (though there is still a small manufacturing contingent left).

[blcapdee]

The entire Clearfield area is quite depressed. I spend a few weekends/ year in Clearfield to visit family and there is really nothing going for it. Honestly, I get this feeling that the life has been sucked out of me after spending time there. I am all for the rural lifestyle. I live in a small town in New England and spend quite a bit of time in rural Northern New England. I come back from places like Vermont and Maine feeling invorated and I come back from Clearfield feeling sorry for the family that lives there. It's pretty sad that the only thing they look foward to is the Fair that comes through town every year for one week! or driving an hour to go to a State College.
By the way, my family who lives in Clearfield make next to nothing for thier professional jobs and live in a house that isn't worth too much considering they paid 75,000 for it 30 years ago!

[supersoulty]

Originally Posted by blcapdee

The entire Clearfield area is quite depressed. I spend a few weekends/ year in Clearfield to visit family and there is really nothing going for it. Honestly, I get this feeling that the life has been sucked out of me after spending time there. I am all for the rural lifestyle. I live in a small town in New England and spend quite a bit of time in rural Northern New England. I come back from places like Vermont and Maine feeling invorated and I come back from Clearfield feeling sorry for the family that lives there. It's pretty sad that the only thing they look foward to is the Fair that comes through town every year for one week! or driving an hour to go to a State College.
By the way, my family who lives in Clearfield make next to nothing for thier professional jobs and live in a house that isn't worth too much considering they paid 75,000 for it 30 years ago!

Ditto

If you don't mind my asking, where does your family work?

Also, I concur... this area has to be one of the few in the coutry where property values have acctually decreased over the last 30 years outside of a major urban ghetto... and vlues have even gone up in a lot of those places. And I am not just talking about value relative to inflation... I mean the acctual values have fallen, sometimes as much as 15-10k

[15801]

Clearfield honestly has almost nothing left and its getting smaller every year and everything is closing slowly.

DuBois or State College are better for what you're looking for.
DuBois has big, but good schools for public schools.. especially for a city..
There are 3 private schools in the DuBois area that i know of..
There are 2 colleges in DuBois that are both growing, especially Penn State DuBois..
There is a decent size mall in DuBois that is changing a lot so who knows what kind of stores they are going to bring in..
There are many plazas, strip malls, and single stores all over the city and there is always something new being built..
There is a movie theatre near the mall that is kept fairly nice and always has i think 5 or 6 movies playing at once..
Traffic is bad like any city.. especially heading towards the mall or Liberty Boulevard/ downtown, and other areas..
DuBois has a skate park right behind a large YMCA in a big park called Memorial Park right outside of downtown, which has all that plus new basketball courts, tennis courts, a football field, 3 or 4 baseball fields, 4 or 5 pavillions, a concert stage, a public swimming pool, and more... and probably more coming seeing how everything there is new.. but it could be in a better location..
It has new commercial developments, many new housing developements, apartments and apartment buildings, and some very nice neighborhoods..
Of course though, it has a lot of crime but mostly in certain areas, just like a major city..
There are 2 major hospitals in DuBois... they're ranked in the top of the country..
Downtown is okay.. part of its kinda run-down but there are some new buildings and many of the old ones are being re-modeled outside.. but its really bad.. more at night than day though.. especially like West Long Ave./ Franklin Street and that area..
uhh.. State College is only about an hour away.. and Pittsburgh is about 2 hours..
but almost everyone that lives in Clearfield, Punxsutawney, Saint Marys, Brockway, Brookville, and all of the towns around DuBois end up coming here to shop, or just to find something to do anyways...
and DuBois is really the only growing area anywhere around
and the DuBois public high school is growing not only with students but the sports are growing and are fun to watch.. Mansell Stadium (behind the middle school, off of Liberty Boulevard) is probably one of the nicest stadiums in the state, and they just added turf to the field and they are adding proffesional NFL/ college scoreboards.. and they are adding another side to the stadium.. its a pretty big stadium already too..
and the highschool is building a new sports complex, turf fields, new tennis courts, an 8-10 lane track, and who knows what else behind the high school

but.. of course it has bad things too.. but overall it's definatley livable (unless you get yourseld tied up in gangs, drugs, etc. haha) and its basically a big city with less people
but.. the DuBois area (DuBois City and Sandy Township) is over 20,000 people.. not including sub-urbs