small town within 1 hour of MSP airport? (River Falls, Hudson: home, schools)

[chickadee3]

Hi, I'm new to this forum and my family of 5 is considering a move to west-central Wisconsin, or maybe Mn.
Here is what we're looking for:
- Small town and good community - we really dislike the suburbs. I've lived in big cities for the past 10 years and am ready to try a small town - 50,000 tops.
- Needs to be within 1-1.5 hours of Minneapolis/St. Paul airport.
We like the beautiful hills of southwest Wisconsin, but that is too far from the big city airport. It looks like the towns north along the Miss. river still have the bluffs and hills, so I was thinking of towns along the river.

We'd appreciate any suggestions from you strangers! Thanks!

p.s.: I haven't lived in my home state of Indiana for 10 years, so being an outsider at first doesn't worry me too much. But I'd obviously prefer a community that was more welcoming to outsiders.

[golfgal]

Since you mentioned MN I will put out some possibilities there, Stillwater, Northfield, Hastings, Red Wing. They are all smaller towns, all within an hour of the airport and all are very scenic. On the Wisconsin side, Hudson, Prescott and River Falls would be options. The Stillwater and Northfield schools are the best on this list with Hastings not far behind. Red Wing and Hudson are ok schools. I don't know anything about Prescott schools.

[ekg56]

I love Stillwater. It is so pretty. And we love Red Wing. We make a trip over there every year. I love Red Wing pottery. I love the hills of western WI. It is so nice over there. We had a friend that went to school in River Falls and it was also a nice town. I also like Hudson. I think a lot of people who work in the Twin Cities live along the river on either side of MN/WI. Good luck!

[chickadee3]

Thanks for the responses. Right now we are looking at cities south of the twin cities, so Stillwater is probably out. The airport commute would not be daily, more like weekly, so we can go farther out into the country.

[rainbird]

Stillwater and Hudson are still pretty much suburbs of the twin cities. All of the cities Golfgal mentioned are scenic in my opinion. It is absolutely my favorite area of Wi-Mn, it gets even better south of Red Wing, but that's probably fruther than your desired proximity to the airport You may be better off from a tax perspective on the MN side, if that is a consideration. Also be careful about the Mississippi flood plain, when considering home locations. Good luck.

[GreggB]

WINONA MN is a great place--maybe a little too far out though??

[mel55880]

How about Hastings, MN? It's a nice small town feel in the airport area specified. It's beautiful and right on the river across from Prescott. I'm not sure about the schools in that area though. I see that it was mentioned, but it's definitely worth checking into!