Best town for us? (Springfield, Joplin: rentals, crime, house)

[mommachristmas]

Hi. My family and I are moving to MO from NW AR asap. We are going this weekend to look at rentals in Marshfield, Buffalo, Springfield, Mt Vernon and Joplin. I have 2 kids going to MSSU next Fall. I'm a single mom with an 11 year old daughter with asperger's (form of autism). I like Springfield and Branson for resources and things to do, but I've found better housing in the more rural towns along hwy 44. I don't want to be too far from resources. Of the towns I listed, which do you consider best? I like a town with a laid-back attitude, not too far from shopping and family resources. I really like a house in Marshfield, but know nothing about the town. I've been to Joplin and the parts I wandered into seemed kind of slummy. What's cost of living like? How far from a good grocery store? What about churches? (We go to Lutheran or Methodist). Where might an older lady find a job? I'm a digital artist, but I can do other things, too. Sometimes I sell crafts at craft fairs...any good ones around? Sorry to ramble. Thanks for any help.

[Silvermouse]

Originally Posted by mommachristmas

Hi. My family and I are moving to MO from NW AR asap. We are going this weekend to look at rentals in Marshfield, Buffalo, Springfield, Mt Vernon and Joplin. I have 2 kids going to MSSU next Fall. I'm a single mom with an 11 year old daughter with asperger's (form of autism). I like Springfield and Branson for resources and things to do, but I've found better housing in the more rural towns along hwy 44. I don't want to be too far from resources. Of the towns I listed, which do you consider best? I like a town with a laid-back attitude, not too far from shopping and family resources. I really like a house in Marshfield, but know nothing about the town. I've been to Joplin and the parts I wandered into seemed kind of slummy. What's cost of living like? How far from a good grocery store? What about churches? (We go to Lutheran or Methodist). Where might an older lady find a job? I'm a digital artist, but I can do other things, too. Sometimes I sell crafts at craft fairs...any good ones around? Sorry to ramble. Thanks for any help.

My brother and his wife just moved to Marshfield and they love it. Jobs, I have no idea. From what I read on this board, they seem to be pretty sparse.

[graytabbie]

Marshfield is the closest to Springfield and has a large (I guess that's relative) Lutheran congregation at St. Paul's--two Sunday services and a preschool. There seems to be a lot of community activities (fairs, festivals, etc.). It's a nice town IMO.

[GetmeoutofAR]

Marshfield is a ways from Springfield too far for my tastes. i just dont really care for long interstate drives. Having said that i really dont know too much about it im sure its a nice town and all. You may want to check out Republic, Nixa, Willard,

[Silvermouse]

Originally Posted by GetmeoutofAR

Marshfield is a ways from Springfield too far for my tastes. i just dont really care for long interstate drives. Having said that i really dont know too much about it im sure its a nice town and all. You may want to check out Republic, Nixa, Willard,

My brother said Marshfield was just like 20-30 minutes from Springfield. Of course he drives like a maniac, so who knows. We're 2 hours from Springfield so that seems short to me.

[cali-grown]

Marshfield is at exit 100 and the 65 is at exit 82. It's really not that far.

[mommachristmas]

Wow Marshfield sounds like the one! I really appreciate all the input. Thank you.

[BABsMom]

I've lived in Marshfield a few years ago. As far as housing, it is fairly decent and the walmart there was just constructed in 2006, so it is fairly new. There's also a two other grocery stores, basic fast food, and decent schools, although I don't know state ranking. Population wise, I think it was about 5 to 6,000. It was okay, not too much to do for kids though, and I hated having to plan a shopping trip to Springfield. I don't know where you come from either, but there's a lot of extreme country folk there too, majority are nice, but you still have a few roughnecks. The newspaper is www.marshfieldmail.com which also has links to the sister papers that surround Spfld such as Nixa, Bolivar, Republic, etc.

My father in law lives in Joplin, and I don't care for it too much compared to Spfld. Crime and drugs are about as high as Spfld, there's also some known gang activity that flights between SW KS, KS City, STL, and Tulsa. The schools are not the greatest there, and there is some violence. This link is for Riverton, KS, not too far from Joplin: 5 Face Charges In Columbine-Style Plot, Kansas Teens Allegedly Planned To Go On School Shooting Rampage - CBS News, and here's one for the Joplin middle school: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,218878,00.html.
That was as of a few years ago, and not to say that's how it always is, but you at least need the info. Housing was easy to find there, but not always as good as you could get somewhere else. The big employer is healthcare, aside from that it's kind of hard to find. You can find employment and housing info at www.joplinglobe.com, and sometimes they'll list on monster.com too.

Mt. Vernon is hard to find housing majority of the time and you have to drive to Monett or Aurora at least for shopping, and work is not high in the area either. I knew some people who would make the half hour drive to Spfld for work too. A plus is Apple Butter Makin' Days, but not worth the living there to me. www.monett-times.com is the closest decent sized paper, I don't know if Mt. Vernon even puts one out, or how the schools are.

Each place has a good amount of churches, although I don't know about any other than Baptist. I don't know much about Buffalo, but my sister in law's in laws live there, and lets just say they're some interesting people, lol. I personally like Nixa the best, it has about 15,000 and is not that far from Springfield, which I love, but I grew up there, so you know how that goes. You can visit Nixa's paper through the link from Marshfield. Hope I was some help, gGood luck and I hope you enjoy what you choose!!!

[Silvermouse]

Originally Posted by BABsMom

but there's a lot of extreme country folk there too,

Ok, this was pretty funny. What the heck is an extreme country folk? Is that like extreme sports where they do death-defying acts? Are they rushing through the streets on skateboards while wearing overalls?

It's always so horrible when those icky country people mess up a city person's day. Sigh...going away all depressed....

[BABsMom]

Originally Posted by Silvermouse

Ok, this was pretty funny. What the heck is an extreme country folk? Is that like extreme sports where they do death-defying acts? Are they rushing through the streets on skateboards while wearing overalls?

It's always so horrible when those icky country people mess up a city person's day. Sigh...going away all depressed....

Lol, the skateboards was funny. My sister in law's in-law's live around there and they are such hicks, that I can't really describe them. I grew up in the city, and just don't know what to use to describe them, so I just went with extreme. The way they talk, walk, act, smell (b/c they have pigs, or hogs to them), even look to a point is just different. They think the "city" way of doing things is weird too. I used country folk to be nice, after all, they are family....Oh, here's a description, kind of like the Beverly Hillbillies, only modernized, and not as dumb, with an indoor toilet. No road kill either...at least I don't think so. Make sense?? Lol.