Moving to Wisconsin, but don't know where to live! (Milwaukee: private school, college)

[Alexis03]

Eau Claire...there are alot of old logging houses from along time ago here. Plus you have UW Eau Claire here and there are A LOT of coffee shops here. You are really only 2 1/2 hrs from madison ( going about 75-80mph) and 2 from Green Bay. On the plus side its great historical value and there are plenty of houses on the market here. You can get one of the older houses that you like for around 150,000 and up. google the historical society of Eau Claire. Plus it is only and hour and a half from MSP/st paul....

[Alexis03]

here is a link you might want to look at....
Welcome to the Eau Claire Historic Preservation Foundation (www.eauclairehpf.com).

[Alexis03]

The City of Eau Claire: content / historic preservation

[Alexis03]

the above link will tell you alot about Eau Claire....thats the city webpage....good luck!

[Ayla12]

I relocated to Wisconsin from Georgia 3 years ago and LOVE living in Portage. Housing is very inexpensive, and you can afford a lot for your money - I actually have a house right on the river which gives me great views of bald eagles, ospreys, sandhill cranes and blue herons in my backyard!. I actually work in Madison; the commute is no problem and you have easy access to all the luxuries of a city. As someone mentioned, the downtown area is in need of some work, but there are very dedicated people that are members of the Main Street organization that are actively working on that. They just recently finished rennovating the area around the canal.
If you enjoy outdoor activities, the river is beautiful and easily accessible and there are loads of parks, and trails along the levee and canal. There are also a large number of festivals in the downtown and canal areas every year. I did not actually know about the historical significance of Portage until I moved here, but it makes the area very interesting. Portage has a small town feel, very friendly people, and I would consider it a good base of operations for working all over the state; with and easy commute to all of the population centers including Milwaukee, Madison and LaCrosse because of it's location right on Interstate 90-94 and Hwy 39.
I won't say anything negative about other areas, but I personally like it here and plan to stay.

[Wellstone]

Originally Posted by MunaCat

Hi everyone,
We are moving to Wisconsin at the beginning of November, but the requirements of my fiance's job are rather odd. We are not allowed to live in Madison, Green Bay, or Milwaukee...but we can have our pick of anyplace else. It's a home-based office with travel throughout the state. Naturally, this is a bit overwhelming!

I would appreciate your advice on any of the following towns/cities. Northern Wisconsin is beautiful, but probably should stick to lower regions.

My requirements are: must be near (short driving or walking distance) a university/college; decent downtown (coffee shop, please); places to live downtown. No kids yet, so no worries about the school system.

Whaddya think of:
Baraboo
Stevens Point
Portage
Whitewater
Chippewa Falls
Ripon
Kenosha

Thanks!

if you want to be near a university then i think your best bet is stevens point.

chippewa falls is a dump and most of those other towns are too.

the only other one i'd give consideration to is baraboo which is growing quite rapidly. they have a UW extension there, not really a major university but it is something.

oshkosh isn't so bad but most of the fox valley just stinks after paper mills.

[FormerMexifornian]

Originally Posted by escapetacoma

We were there about 2 months ago. We were just checking things out since we're new in the area and we enjoy browsing downtowns. Not this one, though there was a pretty good candy store

We're not really into Historic Preservation but we are into old houses and cool old buildings (you can see pictures of our house here:

)

Fond du Lac has some great old houses as does Beaver Dam. Both also have some pretty cool older commercial buildings. Really each of the towns/cities around here has something along these lines to recommend itself, though.



I'd definitely take Oshkosh over Appleton.

Oh my gosh!! I recognize that house!! I have a picture of it! I live in Oshkosh, and when I moved here last May (moved here from San Diego, CA), I saw that house and fell in love with it! I took a picture of it and sent it to everyone I know in San Diego!

I can't believe I'm seeing it here! I just joined tonight.

Anyway, I live just a few miles from you and have always wondered what the inside of your house looksl like. It's BEAUTIFUL!!

[escapetacoma]

Originally Posted by FormerMexifornian

Oh my gosh!! I recognize that house!! I have a picture of it! I live in Oshkosh, and when I moved here last May (moved here from San Diego, CA), I saw that house and fell in love with it! I took a picture of it and sent it to everyone I know in San Diego!

I can't believe I'm seeing it here! I just joined tonight.

Anyway, I live just a few miles from you and have always wondered what the inside of your house looksl like. It's BEAUTIFUL!!

Thanks, but if the house that you know is in Oshkosh it's not our's. We're in Waupun. Of course you could be talking "few miles" like a lot of Californians (and former Californians) that I know and WI 26 runs right past us so it's conceivable that you're talking about our home. I know that some of my coworkers in SoCal seem to think nothing of a 100 mile as long as it's away from city traffic!

[FormerMexifornian]

Originally Posted by escapetacoma

Thanks, but if the house that you know is in Oshkosh it's not our's. We're in Waupun. Of course you could be talking "few miles" like a lot of Californians (and former Californians) that I know and WI 26 runs right past us so it's conceivable that you're talking about our home. I know that some of my coworkers in SoCal seem to think nothing of a 100 mile as long as it's away from city traffic!

Oh, my apologies. It looks SO MUCH like the house I took a picture of....identical, actually.

Anyway, your home is beautiful. I don't know what it's market value is, but a similar house in San Diego would be worth about 2 Million dollars...way out of my price range.

[Averie-Jay]

Originally Posted by 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.

I grew up (& lived as an adult) in DePere for most of my life. I loved it! Green Bay is only a 5 minute drive, and I can't think of anything that a person would need/want that Green Bay doesn't offer. The downtown area of Green Bay is doing a fairly good job of revitalizing its own downtown and I foresee a lot of dynamic shops, etc. going up. The Farmer's Market during the summer is fantastic.

I would agree that DePere would be a wonderful consideration. Having St. Norbert's College in the "backyard" is a bonus because of the plays they put on. For the past several years (during the summer months) the college has been hosting music festivals every Tuesday. I really enjoyed that, it was nice way to meet new people.

Ashwaubenon (just a fancy name for the western part of GB) is also a convenient place to live. I had an apartment on Pilgrim and could walk to Barnes & Noble, the Bay Park Square Mall, and restaurants galore. The housing is very reasonable, also.

My personal experience with Steven's Point is that it becomes deserted during the summer months when the college isn't in session. This could've changed since the last time I was there, but it may be food for thought.