Need Advice on Latrobe area (Pittsburgh, Greensburg: housing, jobs, hospitals)

[lip683]

My husband and I may be moving to the Latrobe area from out of state, and we will be visiting there next week. We would be buying a home within 20 (30 if it's really warranted) minutes of Latrobe. We have one elementary school-age child, one preschool child, and are expecting another one in three months. We have never been to the area and would love to save time and difficulty with some sound advice.

Are there any areas that are outstanding, or any areas I should avoid?

Any input on areas I've already read a little about -- Greensburg, Latrobe, Ligonier -- that would be helpful?

What other places should we visit to get the feel of?

Less important, but if anyone has anything to say, I'm interested: are there any recommended hospitals or preschools?

[Pitt Chick]

Depends on what you are looking for.

Right in Latrobe, 'the hill' offers great old houses at great prices. Just outside Latrobe is Unity Township... housing developments, farms and acreage for horses, etc. Hempfield can be nice also.

As far as schools, Greater Latrobe gives a great education. Hempfield does too, but it is HUGE, which some do not like. I do not know much about the Ligonier school districts - there are two.

The hospital in the area is Excela. There are three (soon to be four campuses)... one is right in downtown Latrobe. The healthcare is similar to what you get in Pittsburgh... in fact some of the Excela doctors are on staff at Pittsburgh hospitals.

Preschools - - well, I am partial to the Child Development Center on the campus of Seton Hill College in Greensburg.

If you are coming in because of Kennametal, you will find plenty of other transplants around town (especially from North Carolina!).

[lip683]

In other threads people have commented on the character of downtown Greenburg and certainly of Ligonier, but no one has said anything about Latrobe.

Does Latrobe have character or charm, or is it more plastic?

What would draw someone to Latrobe compared to somewhere else?

[guylocke]

I personally think Latrobe is a beautiful area in many areas.

[AnnaJoy]

Latrobe has a downtown area with a post office, a good public library, some shops. Upon seeing it for the first time a friend of mine said it reminded her of Mayberry which, IMO, isn't so bad.

[JoycieM]

I live near to that area and it is beautiful. Latrobe is a small town but nearby is Rt. 30 where there are plenty of shops, businesses and places to eat. The airport is very small but they have daily trips to Detroit via Northwest. We recently flew out of there on our way to Phoenix. There are NO fees for parking! While the ticket can be a bit more expensive than flying out of Pittsburgh ..not having to drive and free parking certainly made up the difference in costs.

There is nothing plastic about Latrobe. It's a small town with small town character. I also love Ligonier. I have always considered that to be my "Mayberry".

IMHO the people of this entire area are very friendly. Have a good visit.

Joyce

[lip683]

Thanks for your thoughts so far -- I'm really looking forward to seeing all this for myself.

I'm still interested in hearing more about the area...anything you can imagine that I might find helpful but am not thinking to ask.

Also:

Is the infamous drug problem in Greensburg all that bad, or is it that folks who live there are shocked that drugs can happen at all in a small town? I would be interested to hear from someone who went to school there or who can be more specific about what's going on.

And I hate to bring this up, but I noticed the population of some of the towns is going down...any accounting for this? Are there places that seem to be growing and more energetic than others?

Is there any traffic or anything else to speak of that would make a commute longer than what I would assume by the mileage? I'm still getting a sense of what towns are within the 20-30 minute radius of Latrobe for us to visit.

[AnnaJoy]

Ligonier is a really beautiful small town but I think it may get a bit more snow than Greensburg since it is closer to the mountains. As for your comment about the population going down in the areas you are looking at my guess is that folks are going elsewhere for jobs and also because of the high number of elderly folks in these areas who have died.

The best of luck to you and your family. I'll be curious to know what town you end up in.

[Stovpipe]

I've lived in this area most of my life and think it's a great place to live. The schools are all good and the country is beautiful. The people are nice and very friendly. All you need do is ask anyone you see for directions or help with loading your groceries and they will go out of thier way to help. My advice for anyone thinking of moving here though would be to look into a community called Wimmerton which is right next to St.Vincent and you can almost see it from Kennametal. They have Tennis courts and a pool that you can use if you live there but the best thing about it is you can get everywhere from there. A good base camp if you will till you get to know the area.

[NYSTYLE]

Last time I was in Latrobe was in the 80ies and loved it.....very cute lil town and the people were very friendly.