What do you think is the best small city in your state?

[supfromthesite]

Originally Posted by atadytic19

Is cool, I was surprised by how much San Marcos has grown too.
It doesn't matter that Gruene is part of an MSA, the OP stated that just as long as the city proper is below 50k.

I like Port Aransas, junction I haven't been to in like 18 years so I'm not very familiar anymore.
I like Fredericksburg and Marble falls too.

Gruene is not a town or a city or anything like that. It was once a town (long ago) but now it's just a shopping district with an old dance hall. It is very cool, but I don't see how it would qualify. Nobody lives in "Gruene" anymore.

Port Aransas is a nice town but the tourists make it sort of trashy in my opinion.

Junction is nice too but most hill country towns are nice. There are a lot that are nicer than Junction these days.

Objectively, the answer is probably Highland Park. It is home to the wealthiest Texans. It is basically where the richest people in Dallas live. Since it is for all intent and purposes a part of Dallas, I'm going to ignore it because it's not a "town" or "city" in any meaningful sense it just has its own police force and government.

Fredericksburg is probably the answer. It is a small town that is slowly growing with retirees (many from out of state) but it is not like any other town. The "downtown" area is truly stunning and the houses are mostly old and fixed up to look as if they were new. The town has kept much of its charm, although it is definitely not the same town it used to be.

Marble Falls is similar to Fredericksburg, a small, nice town, although not as historic and slowly becoming a suburb of Austin. Nonetheless, it might be even nicer than Fredericksburg all things considered.

Kerrville is nice too, and not a small town, so I'll mention it. It's not quite as nice as Fredericksburg but it's nice enough and not too far away. Also much closer to a population of 50,000.

[supfromthesite]

Originally Posted by JMT

Cookeville and Sewanee would be my choices for Tennessee, too.

The village of Sewanee is synonymous with the University of the South, an Episcopal college founded a few years before the Civil War. The village has a population of around 2,300 while the university has an enrollment of about 1,800 on a gorgeous campus of 13,000 acres about an hour outside of Chattanooga.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BzD1...ature=youtu.be

Cookeville is also an attractive college town but quite a bit larger than Sewanee. It's surrounded by over 100 waterfalls and 1,200 miles of lakeshore within 40 minutes of town. It's become "noticed" and has been attracting people from all over the place these last few years. Being an hour from Nashville and a lot more affordable than Nashville probably helps. Being home to the state's flagship technological university has helped attract a lot of industry to town, too, which has added to the recent surge in population and commercial development.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dRXNUrHpd8I

I visited Sewanee and it was the time of my life. I regret my life turning out the way it did, I wish I could have gone to school there. It was the best town I've ever been in.

[IowanFarmer]

If you're using 50K as the cut off, in Iowa it would be definitely be Cedar Falls, home to University of Northern Iowa.

Decorah, Fairfield, and Pella would all be on the list too.

[eddie gein]

Originally Posted by StillwaterTownie

Yes, Guthrie is highly unique from its late 19th and early 20th century frontier architecture throughout its downtown, while being located close to Oklahoma City. Tahlequah is quite unique from being about the only rural town in Oklahoma not being far right Christian conservative. But it's not growing very fast like Durant is. Durant is worthy for being the fastest growing small town in Oklahoma outside of a metro area. For entertainment it has a very large casino and a few other good things going for it.

However, Stillwater is well up there as a no. 1 candidate, if the 2000 census puts it under 50,000.

Yes, if Stillwater is under 50K it is certainly a candidate. And I say that begrudgingly as an OU grad .

There was another thread about Grove, OK which could be on the list. And I believe Sulpher, OK is on the upswing.

Because of our short history as a state we don't have a lot of "charming" old towns.