Question about Oshkosh (Fond du Lac, Onalaska, Freedom: best neighborhoods, houses, neighborhoods)

[WeLuvItHere]

What part of town is more residential? We're looking for a regular, vanilla, suburbia sub-divisions Pleasantville type area, with good schools for young children. Property budget around or under $175K.

Any suggestions?

[nodemo04]

The north side of Oshkosh is good. Check out the following streets,..Farmington, Christian, Freedom...all within walking distnace of a school and close to hwy 41..

[B'Goshboy]

Originally Posted by WeLuvItHere

What part of town is more residential? We're looking for a regular, vanilla, suburbia sub-divisions Pleasantville type area, with good schools for young children. Property budget around or under $175K.

Any suggestions?

Do you want city or country? There are some nice suburb areas that are outside of the City limits, although they may be pushing the $200K range. The Lakeside and Green Meadow elementary schools are VERY good. They're in the more rural areas, but there are also small sub divisions near them. I would stay away from the north side, mainly because of the North high school. The big problem with choosing where you live because of the schools is that they may close some or make other major changes.

[WeLuvItHere]

We're looking to stay in the city limits, with the city water and sewer and stuff. But not necessarily the bustling part of the city. Subdivisions are ideal. Good schools are more important than anything else though.

What in general can you tell us about Oshkosh? We visited there about a month ago and we were very impressed. Clean, progressive, diversed, but not too metropolitan. And what are your biggest complaints?

[Hickory]

With young kids, the Menominee Park area easily wins my vote for best residential neighborhood. The city has been criticized for not putting enough parks in the sprawl to the west. But even if they had reserved some corn fields out there, Menominee Park would be the gem: zoo, trains, Little Oshkosh playground, tennis, basketball, soccer, fishing, rollerblading, biking, etc. The surrounding neighborhoods are pretty quiet and safe for biking. Don't go too far west or you will be too close to the train tracks. The best neighborhoods are to the north and south ends of the park; house sizes/prices are more reasonable to the north. It is also very close to the downtown public library, which was probably our second-most common destination with young kids.

Schools in Oshkosh are universally excellent, compared to the rest of the USA. Locals will always have opinions about differences, but I have never seen any data showing that schools are significantly worse than others (don't judge them based on one year or one person's experience, as every school occasionally has a weak cohort of students). The current debate over where to draw the geographic line between the 2 high schools is particuarly silly, as both schools have genuine strengths. However, there are some legitimate stand-out programs in some schools (music at South Park Middle School, some of the charter school programs), and kids/parents have obviously been taking advantage of open enrollment for high school sports to stack teams at one high school over the other. My kids went to Emmaline Cook Elementary, jumped around for middle school, and are doing very well at North High (the oldest is now getting accepted at top colleges). My main pet peeve about Oshkosh schools is how poor they are at transportation -- the city bus system is inadequate and every school becomes a traffic nightmare twice daily.

[WeLuvItHere]

In looking at the Oshkosh Chamber of Commerce website, I found that there are 2 YMCAs in Oshkosh, and are very well equipped! Indoor soccer field! Sauna! WOW!

What are the major festivals in Oshkosh? Parades? County fairs? Kids love that stuff!

Another thing - how are the property taxes in Oshkosh? I found that Fond du Lac is unreasonably high. Up to $3500 for a $150K house. Here in LaCrosse/Onalaska we're paying less than half that. Is Oshkosh more in line with that?

[B'Goshboy]

Originally Posted by WeLuvItHere

In looking at the Oshkosh Chamber of Commerce website, I found that there are 2 YMCAs in Oshkosh, and are very well equipped! Indoor soccer field! Sauna! WOW!

What are the major festivals in Oshkosh? Parades? County fairs? Kids love that stuff!

Another thing - how are the property taxes in Oshkosh? I found that Fond du Lac is unreasonably high. Up to $3500 for a $150K house. Here in LaCrosse/Onalaska we're paying less than half that. Is Oshkosh more in line with that?

Yes, two Y's, a public museum and two private ones, also. As well as an excellent library, indeed one of the best in the state. Major festivals? Country USA, Lifefest, and of course EAA. The Miss Wisconsin pagaent and the parade are in Oshkosh, as well as the Winnebago County Fair.

Property taxes are moderate.

[ComfortablyNumb]

I grew up in the Menominee Park area on Oak Street. It's one of the most diverse areas of town with a lot of hmong families, and the houses are overall pretty nice and well kept. I'd recommend that whole area around the elementary school Emmeline Cook. If you have more money, the areas to the north of Murdock past Hazel street (Fairview, White Swan, etc) can be very nice to raise a family.