Why is Montello, Wisconsin so mean? (Milwaukee, Madison: lawyer, transplants, travel)

[WIer]

Originally Posted by heartbroken2004

Hi again. I'm still waiting to hear from people who have had experience with Montello, Wisconsin, although I appreciate all the other people who have responded. Please do not dismiss this because I haven't spoken recently.

Read the previous post. Everyone's waiting for you to answer questions and provide more details on what happened that you consider meanness. Until you respond, you may well not get any further replies.

[volksbug]

I can relate to what you are saying! I grew up and lived for 25 years in Oklahoma. Where you can basically walk into a gas station and by the time your out you have made a new friend and have a date to go shopping with them I moved here to Wisconsin , where my husband is originally from and I will tell you that there are aspects I apsolutely love and of course those I dont. I would say the thing that gets me the most that there are alot of women here that would rather have 5 root canals than make friends with someone thats not from here ( or at least thats how they present themselves). And the ones that really kill me are the ones who you met somewhere and thought things went great, but the next thing you know they act like they never met you. Dont get me wrong, over the last twelve years of living here and alot of work, I have made some good close friends. But seriously, if you are moving here, you had better have some thick skin. The winters are really cold and the majority of women are even colder!!! Best of luck. Remember, its not you, its THEM!

[Tempest455]

I lived there for 37 years (Brookfield) 20 miles outside Milwaukee. While I felt totally at home as I was raised there and had tons of freinds, my wife did not.
She always felt the way you did.

Eventually, winter got to me and we moved to Nashville!

[katt]

I live in Oxford~~just a few miles from Montello. I moved here from a large city because the people here are very friendly. I've never had a problem with anyone in Montelllo and find everyone both in Montello and Oxford the friendliest people I've ever met. I'm a very outgoing person and have many friends at the places that I choose to hang out at. If you make no effort to get out and meet people you will surely be left out. You have to put an effort into it by getting out and meeting people~~they aren't going to come knocking on your door. BTW~~This area here is mainly made up of people from other areas of Wi. and Illinois who have week end houses and cabins so the chances of having full time neighbors is kind of slim. I have 8 nearby neighbors and only 1 of the 8 is here on a full time basis. Oxford has a population of just over 500 full time people and Montello isn't much bigger. The population triples when the week enders come up. You have to make the effort to get out and meet them and not sit and wait for them to come to you.

[BacktoNE]

We aren't in Montello, but I can say that Appleton is just as unfriendly as Montello sounds.

The minute people find out that we are "outsiders" they become anything from unfriendly to downright rude.

We will be returning to the northeast in 2007, and we can't wait. I'm not going to lump the entire mid-west into our experience in Appleton because that would be completely unfair, but for us, it has been a very negative experience.

[pickles59]

I have lived in Montello for the past 15 years and find that the people here are both friendly and standoffish. But that is anywhere nowadays. I use and electric scooter to get around town and have discovered that most people here are nice, kind and friendly if give them a chance. Like any where. This town does have its problems but what place doesn't and it does have its good points like the waterfalls down town and the great library.
Not everyone is mean here and I feel that you are lumping the whole place all together with out going out and discovering that great people do live here.
When it was discovered that I had cancer, more people offered to help me and are still my friends.

[TaraMoon]

There's a big difference between moving to a West Coast location where more than half the population, maybe even most of the population, consists of non-natives and moving to a Mid-Western location where 90% of the inhabitants have lived their all their lives and their families have lived there for generations. I have seen several people who moved here and made every effort to be friendly and fit in break down and cry because they've been shunned and viciously gossiped about. I have never lived in Fondulac, but I imagine that's what you're experiencing. There are really only two alternatives: you can accept the fact that the vicious gossip spotlight will occasionally shine on you, ride it out and accept the fact that you'll never be fully accepted, or you can move.

[politikally]

I don't really see the "outsider" problem that much. I think alot of the problems people talk about on this board are isolated incidents and have nothing to do with the quality or the nature of the people in any given location. So take the posts with the grain of salt and know that the incidents are few an far between and likely not a general reflection of a community!

[katt]

I just read "volksbugs" post on meeting someone in a gas station and immediately having a date to go shopping. There is no way I would make a "friend" that easily. No matter where you are you still have to "edge" on precaution and not pick up even "shopping friends" from a spur of the moment conversation standing in line to pay your bill at a gas station.

To make true friends you have to get involved in something locally in a small town and not just pick up friends in a spur of the moment meeting~~you show yourself as desperate and a true "target" if you do otherwise.

Small towns have con artists the same as any large city.

[nodemo04]

Originally Posted by heartbroken2004

Hi again. I'm still waiting to hear from people who have had experience with Montello, Wisconsin, although I appreciate all the other people who have responded. Please do not dismiss this because I haven't spoken recently.

You are looking for people more familiar with Montello ....O.k., Montello is home of the largest tree in the state !..and .....it has a few bars...and a grocery store....and a couple of campgrounds.....oh, and a new Kwik-trip.
In other words, this small town is just like so many other small towns in Wisconsin. Yes, I know this small community and I can tell you that it is -what it is !..If you are looking for small towns in Wis., take your pick ! Why Montello ?...I mean,.......why ?. What drew you to this town initially ? Small town like this has one thing...NOTHING !. No culture, no shopping, no future. It is a gathering place for local farm-hands and wanna-bee's. If small towns appeal to you, find one that is not so rural. Like...Green Lake or Ripon.
Good Luck !