Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > General Forums > Rural and Small Town Living
 [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 01-28-2009, 10:12 PM
 
Location: St Louis County, MO
711 posts, read 2,099,059 times
Reputation: 349

Advertisements

I always make comments to suburbanites and city people about urban sprawl...but never thought to ask people from rural areas. Have you ever lived in a small town, and suburbia stretched out to it and it became just another suburb?

We have one city 40 miles away from St. Louis called Wentzville that has grown by 200% since 2000. It is now up to 40k people. There were under 7,000 people in 2000. It's sad to see that urban areas are sprawling so far as it seems that people are trading in their suburban life for a small town, only to create the same suburban lifestyle that they desired to leave.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message

 
Old 01-28-2009, 11:27 PM
 
Location: Great State of Texas
86,052 posts, read 84,131,087 times
Reputation: 27718
Yeah..when I moved to my city 12 years ago the pop was about 8K.
Small town atmosphere, no big box and not too much industry.
Fast forward..population is 41K, cornfields replaced with cookie cutter subdivisions, big new tollroad splitting the city in two and big box (Wallymart, HD, Target) that doesn't seem to end.
Forgot to mention..I'm north of Austin Texas but I guess not far enough north to escape the sprawl.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 01-29-2009, 01:15 PM
 
Location: NE Nebraska
84 posts, read 404,501 times
Reputation: 100
Omaha, NE annexed the small town of Elkhorn, NE about two years ago. Urban sprawl just swallowed the town.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 01-29-2009, 03:18 PM
 
419 posts, read 1,177,649 times
Reputation: 329
Quote:
Originally Posted by AJohnston_STL View Post
We have one city 40 miles away from St. Louis called Wentzville that has grown by 200% since 2000. It is now up to 40k people. There were under 7,000 people in 2000. It's sad to see that urban areas are sprawling so far as it seems that people are trading in their suburban life for a small town, only to create the same suburban lifestyle that they desired to leave.
Wow, that's really sad. There are some people in Rolla who seem determined for us to follow that route.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 01-29-2009, 04:52 PM
 
Location: Rolla, Phelps County, Ozarks, Missouri
1,069 posts, read 2,549,483 times
Reputation: 1287
Quote:
Originally Posted by Silvermouse View Post
Wow, that's really sad. There are some people in Rolla who seem determined for us to follow that route.
Rolla city fathers are trying to sprawl the city to the west. St. Robert city fathers are trying to sprawl to the east. Twenty years from now (I'll likely be dead by then so I won't have to see it), the two will meet in the middle and driving along I-44 will be like driving through one big town.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 01-29-2009, 06:00 PM
 
Location: County Mayo Descendant
2,725 posts, read 5,961,540 times
Reputation: 1217
This happened to Bend Oregon, Central Oregon years ago, I miss my small town.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 01-29-2009, 08:37 PM
 
Location: St Louis County, MO
711 posts, read 2,099,059 times
Reputation: 349
Sprawl is such an awful thing. It's most frustrating for two types of people; rural people who want to be rural people, and urbanists who want their city to remain the center of the region. St. Louis sprawls 40 miles west now, aand has thus far only sprawled 16 miles or so to the east (in Illinois). The people move out there and then want all the services and conveniences they had in the suburb they hoped to leave.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 01-29-2009, 11:18 PM
 
Location: North Carolina
2,657 posts, read 8,006,281 times
Reputation: 4361
Quote:
Originally Posted by AJohnston_STL View Post
We have one city 40 miles away from St. Louis called Wentzville that has grown by 200% since 2000. It is now up to 40k people. There were under 7,000 people in 2000.
It's gotten that bad? Zounds.

I used to live across the river (Collinsville). 20-some years ago, heading west to visit family in the KC area meant fighting the congestion on I-270/I-70 thru St. Charles, but knowing that things would open up once I got past that area. Living in the SE now, I haven't had much of a chance to see that part of the country since I take a route that doesn't involve going thru the St. Louis area. Much sympathy on the ruination of the area.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 01-30-2009, 03:58 PM
 
23,519 posts, read 69,925,450 times
Reputation: 48893
South Florida, and especially from Miami to Homestead, has been swallowed up with sprawl in the past twenty years. Any area near a big city was fair game during the real estate boom.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 01-30-2009, 07:32 PM
 
Location: CasaMo
15,972 posts, read 9,334,967 times
Reputation: 18547
I'm looking forward to selling my land when it happens. I'll be set for life.
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:


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 > General Forums > Rural and Small Town Living
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