Marshfield? (Madison, Appleton, Wausau: apartments, rent, how much)

[Shoshana]

Hi.

Considering a move to Marshfield for a position at Marshfield Clinic.

How much of the Marshfield population is originally from WI? I'm thinking the area might have a large number of people from other places (because of the Clinic), which I know from experience alters the workplace and the living experience.

I'm single and would really like to just rent an apartment at first. Will I be able to do that in Marshfield, or will I need to look for housing other places (Warsau, Stevens Point, points in between)?

Any other advise/information about the area would be greatly appreciated!

[Wisco_#1]

Yes, large amounts of people aren't from Marshfield originally. This is just from the people I know. Because of the Clinic I know people from Twin Cities, Baton Rouge, Iran, and Seattle. I dont work there, but seeing as I know people from those areas I am sure theres lots more.

As for apartments. They have some nice apartments right by the park and zoo. They will locate you on the south side bout 1/4 mile to a mile from main-street.


As for doctors they (as expected) live primarily on the outskirts of town. Not much of a commute.


When in Marshfield you have to go to El Mezcal. It is arguably the biggest restaurant in town. Shopping is not that great here, but places like Wausau and Plover are short drives.

[Shoshana]

Thanks for the response! Do people tend to come and go quite a bit, or come and stay?

[Wisco_#1]

I don't know anyone who left when working there. Now that does not say a whole lot because I probably know less then 10% of the people working there. Because of that I would conclude that the general trend is those who come stay.

[Vagus]

Bumping this back up to try to get more input.
What's the town like?
What's there besides the clinic?
Commercial areas (stores, shopping)?
How are schools?
What else is in the area? It looks really isolated on a map . . . couple hours from any larger city (Madison, twin cities, etc)
Thanks.

[ekg56]

The town of Marshfield is nice. The shopping will be just OK. It has a mall but it is nothing great. I do like the grocery stores in town. They have both private and public schools. I live in Kronenwetter, near Wausau and I tend to go to Madison for Trader Joes and to the mall there. It is a little less then 2 hours. Or I go to Appleton. Being from Chicago the shopping is hard to get use to and so are the lack of restaurants. I'm not a big chain restaurant person so it is the shortfall of this area.
In the area there is a lot to do if you like to be outdoors. We love all the state parks. You aren't far from Warrens which has a giant festival in September during cranberry season. Marshfield has some nice festivals too. And a big fair over Labor Day week end.

[CivicMinded]

Marshfield has some "up" sides.

As for neighborhoods: THere are a few "pockets" of nice residential areas. The west-side neighborhoods are generally 'nicer', although I can think of one or two neighborhoods on the east side that are pretty nice too. If I had to move back there, though, I'd probably look for a place on the west side.

As for shopping--I dislike malls and Marshfield's is no exception. I hate "big box" retail too and there's just way too much of this in Marshfield, which has driven away some of the locally-owned businesses. However, There are some nice shops on Central Ave, especially near the center of town where the boulevard crosses Central Ave.

As for restaurants: Someone mentioned El Mezcal--that is an excellent restaurant. I heard they're moving to a new location, hopefully the new digs are as good as the old place if not better.
THere's also a restaurant called West Fourteenth, that's the upper part of the building and there's a cool brewpub restaurant on the first floor (can't remember the name of it). I've been here once or twice and I love it.

ONe thing Marshfield lacks, in my opinion, is a unique "natural feature"-most cities have a river or a waterfront or at least a hill or something--Marshfield has no waterfront at all and not many other unique natural features. I guess the history of the settlement has to do with where railroad tracks crossed, not so much that it was a natural place to live. The RR tracks, the industry such as Weyerhauser, plus being a 'cow town' and then later the clinic took off for whatever reason, that's how the town ended up being in this location, kind of in the middle of nowhere, really.

[Vagus]

Originally Posted by CivicMinded

ONe thing Marshfield lacks, in my opinion, is a unique "natural feature"-most cities have a river or a waterfront or at least a hill or something--Marshfield has no waterfront at all and not many other unique natural features.

I guess the name pretty much sums it up . . . combo of "marsh" and "field" does kind of imply pretty dull terrain!

Thanks to everyone for your input!