Moving to Wisconsin, but don't know where to live! (Milwaukee: apartment, home)

[adam76]

Originally Posted by escapetacoma

We're not really into Historic Preservation but we are into old houses and cool old buildings

Sorry off topic... beautiful woodwork inside, terrific old house you have. No wonder why you are so happy in Waupun!

[escapetacoma]

Originally Posted by MunaCat

My requirements are: must be near (short driving or walking distance) a university/college; decent downtown (coffee shop, please); places to live downtown.

If it weren't for the college requirement Horicon might be a very good answer in a small town. I think that having a viable industrial base (the John Deere plant) has helped them avoid the downtown erosion that has struck so many midwest towns. Unfortunately the nearest college's are in Beaver Dam (Morain Park Technical College) and Fond du Lac (UW - Fond du Lac), maybe 8 and 30 miles away respectively.

[quijote]

If you want to live near a large city, you might consider Eau Claire (near Mpls) or Kenosha (between Mke and Chicago), though neither impressed me as a particularly liveable and walkable place (though many people do live that way in those communities).

Even though La Crosse and Stevens Point are both rather isolated (quite a drive from major cities), I found both to be quite charming and walkable.

Is Port Washington too close to Mke for your requirements? Even though the city shuts down at night, there is a nice historical downtown by the lake, and that zone is surrounded by residential neighborhoods.

Sheboygan, a little farther north on the lake, is also rather nice. The central city is reasonably vibrant and walkable.

[StretchNavy]

Oshkosh is a very good town, UoW Oshkosh is a good college
Appleton is nice too, though it is growing rapidly.

stevens point is a very nice town, the college there has one of the best forestry programs in the country. Portage is very close to there as well. that area it takes about an hour or so to get to madison.

[EnjoyEP]

What about a nice suburb of Milwaukee - I would pick one of these:

-Menomonee Falls
-Greendale
-Oconomowoc (this is 30 - 45 minutes away from Milwaukee)
-Pewaukee
-Wauwatosa
-Shorewood
-Sussex
-Whitefish Bay
-Bay View
-Port Washington (this is so far away it might not even be a suburb)
-Grafton
-Franklin

You cannot live in Milwaukee itself, but why not pick one of the many great, great towns that are semi-near or near to Milwaukee, experience all of the great things that they have to offer, and then be able to access the big city in WI - Milwaukee - any time you'd want or need (eg: to fly).

If for whatever bizarre reason you aren't even allowed to live in a suburb, I would then go south of Milwaukee perhaps to a newer, nicer part of Kenosha (there is a lot of growth going on there due to transplants wanting to be close to both Milwaukee and Chicago) or over to the Lake Geneva / Whitewater area.

I am not nearly as big of a fan of Madison as many others are here on this forum, but I would do that as a third option. Appleton would probably be fourth.

[GRAMMY G]

Originally Posted by dreamhunter65

Chippewa Falls/Eau Claire area is good but sounds like if doing alot of travel may want to centralize more so that may be Stevens Point.

Stevens Point (AWESOME student town as well - lots to do and for winter activities, your going to have lots to do!) gets my vote out of your listed choices as well! Chippewa is VERY up northie and would require tons of driving time for himi.

[quickdraw]

If I was to live in Wisconsin it would be Milwaukee,Madison,or LaCrosse and that's it.

[Escape Wisconsin]

I live in Plover and work in Point. As of late, the downtown is dying, rumor has it they are going to "level" the mall and build something in its place - rumors vary from office building, parking garage or a justice center/jail.

Point now has not one but two Starbucks. There are various coffee shops around town. Things are growing in the Crossroads Commons area (east side of town, Plover). Shopping and dining will only get better here. Point is surrounded by parks (except the new shopping areas, which used to be farmland.) Check out the Green Circle Trail and Lake Joanis. The Wiscconsin River is right here, great boating and fishing. And snowmobiling if you like that.

I laugh about Stevens Point being centrally located, but it is true. We are about 90 miles from everywhere. Wausau is 30 minutes the Fox River Valley is 60, Madison and Green Bay are 90. Milwaukee is about 2.5 hours, and the Twin Cities are a little over 3 hours. Chicago is an hour more than that.

The college population increases about 8-9,000 during the semester. It is pretty quiet in the Pointski (mostly Polish in population) during breaks and summer. And Berries is correctamundo about the water. It is better to be safe than sorry. Get the gizmo to keep your water safe.

Dont move anywhere sight unseen. Spend a few days and get a feel of the place, and drive around.

I hope this helps. Best of luck to you!

[andslat]

I currrently live in DePere, which host the 3rd best Liberal Arts College in the country (St Norberts). I like it tremendously and I am happy we chose to buy a house here. There is a thriving downtown on each side of the river (the town is split by the Fox River) and sidewalks everywhere. The people in DePere are very educated and I have met many other "transplants" here who claim they will never leave. I think you would greatly enjoy living here. Also Port Washington has a great little downtown, and the town sits on Lake Michingan, so very cute. Lived there briefly and like the accessibility to urban. I do like DePere better though. It is next to Green Bay and only 20 minutes from Appleton. Also, a nice airport is nearby for quick trips away.

[msnjen23]

What about Stoughton? Great historic buildings and it's within about 20-25 minutes of Madison.
The other town that comes to mind is Evansville. Much smaller than those that you are mentioning but it also has some beautiful older homes. It is 35 minutes to Madison, and about 10 to Janesville. Commuting to Milwaukee to travel for his job wouldn't be hard from there either....