[BigLake]

Originally Posted by jasonw33

I know this is an old post, but I read and just HAVE to reply and give a little truth.

I have lived in the Hurley-Ironwood area for about 24 years now. Mostly in Hurley(WI), but ive spent a couple years in Ironwood as well. For those not in the know, Hurley and Ironwood are seperated by the Montreal river.

Ive read all positive comments regarding Ironwood MI, but heres a little reality for anyone interested...

Traffic, period, is horrible. If you have to drive anywhere around here, it sucks. I have never seen worse roads. Potholes are everywhere. The city's solution to potholes is filling them in with tar, and then covering the tar with little white rocks - which in turn stick to your car and or chip your paint when you drive over them. There was a hole by family video this spring that you would actually bottom out in. Stopsigns are EVERYWHERE, and traffic lights that you often sit at only to have NO opposing traffic. No reason to be stopped. Most locals avoid these lights by taking a route thru sidestreets(either the cemetary way, or by the fountains and family video, or the memorial building way...).

You cannot drink the water. One taste or smell will do it for you. Its not safe.

There are no jobs. Local youth move away as soon as they can. The thought of spending their life at Bessemer Plywood, or Ironwood plastics must not appeal to them. Those that do not move away are likely to become alcoholics and work at Bessemer Plywood or Ironwood Plastics.

Everyone here is drunk. Ironwood is a small rivers width away from infamous "Silver Street" and its tempting lower block where prostitutes can be purchased in the Club Carnival, even today. This street is a tourist scurge. In the winter its a cesspool of drunken tourist snowmobilers, and drunken locals who think its fun to beat up tourists. Well, it IS fun.

Its a hard place to be comfortable. The summers are ok, and yes, the area IS VERY beautiful. But the bugs totally consume you. Lake Superior has Biting Fly infestation, and inland the gnats and mosquitos will drain you of your blood. The winters, however, will test you. Bitter cold and huge amounts of snow. Expect a 350.00 monthly heat bill. The weather is nice June thru sept. The other 8 months you have to run your furnace. Winter here, in a word, is madness.

Those are a few real observations on the area of Ironwood MI. Dont get me wrong, I actually dont hate it here. I could pack up and leave anytime. For me the good outweighs the bad. But this town is not the rosegarden its made out to be. Living here changes you. And there are deer downtown.

This is one of my all-time favorite posts on this board. Awesome.

[badtown]

[You don't want to live in Ironwood Michigan there water is way to expensive, the buildings in Ironwood are run down. There is this guy who lives in Ironwood, all he does is talk bad about everybody on his website. He owns this rundown pool hall and shut down sub shop with his run down apartments so I think if Ironwood would change they could start there. A lot of the police in the town do nothing and say everything is a civil matter. The town is full of felons and drug dealers, the courts are corrupt and there is no work. The roads are very bad the water is awful with rotten egg smell all the time. The fire department has very old out dated trucks and the city is built on people that lie cheat and steel to get a head in life BAD VAERY BAD TOWN Beware of Ironwood Michigan

[badtown]

Ironwood is a bad place to live

[badtown]

http://rcoleman2010.blog.com/

[Nephler]

Let me guess badtown, you signed up to CD for the sole purpose to bad mouth Ironwood.

[darstar]

Ironwood always brought good memories, the winter Ski, the summer hiking and camping.All places in the UP are different and that's alright with me , most folks included.Many are welcoming the new industry ( actually old) that is scheduled to change the place forever, I guess mostly for the good, with exceptions.
The entire UP is drawing renewed attention for its vast treasure of mineral wealth......hang on , its going to be a bumpy ride.......

[jabsab08]

We were thinking of moving over to Ironwood from the UK in the next few years as everything about the town seemed good, but then i cam across this thread! Am i right in thinking that this is a place to avoid!? Where would anyone suggest to raise a young family? We are looking for a small town with cold snowy winters and warm summers? Any help/advice would be amazing.
Many thanks

[SoontobeYooper]

Jabsab....my husband and I are planning on relocating there in the next few months, and we just visited a few weeks ago. It looked like a beautiful area. The town is small, but we currently live in a town of 16,000 that actually has less than Ironwood in the way of shops, etc. We got the feeling the people were very friendly there, and we went to tour the school as we have 4 children that would be attending. I haven't seen great reviews about the Ironwood school, but we have an autistic son that would benefit from their services. The principal was extremely nice, and they made us and our children feel welcome. We only have our current city to compare to (Mt. Vernon, Illinois), and we can't imagine it can get any worse than where we currently live. I've also seen some negative posts about Ironwood, but everyone has their idea of what an ideal place for them would be. My husband and I wanted small, less humid with more snow, and we don't really care about being close to a big town. Actually, we were excited to see they have a new soccer complex (we've been trying for years to get one in our current town with no luck). Every town has the possibility of corruption, and the one we live in is no exception. Overall, we really wanted an atmosphere that we would want to perhaps stay in when we retire. We love to hike and bike; we are really excited about getting involved in some winter snow sports as well. We also talked to a great realtor there...Mark Silver is his name...very helpful, very friendly. We are going back at the end of October to finalize some things, and we hope to be settled in there by December Hope this helps a bit

[Perferator]

Originally Posted by SoontobeYooper

Jabsab....my husband and I are planning on relocating there in the next few months, and we just visited a few weeks ago. It looked like a beautiful area. The town is small, but we currently live in a town of 16,000 that actually has less than Ironwood in the way of shops, etc. We got the feeling the people were very friendly there, and we went to tour the school as we have 4 children that would be attending. I haven't seen great reviews about the Ironwood school, but we have an autistic son that would benefit from their services. The principal was extremely nice, and they made us and our children feel welcome. We only have our current city to compare to (Mt. Vernon, Illinois), and we can't imagine it can get any worse than where we currently live. I've also seen some negative posts about Ironwood, but everyone has their idea of what an ideal place for them would be. My husband and I wanted small, less humid with more snow, and we don't really care about being close to a big town. Actually, we were excited to see they have a new soccer complex (we've been trying for years to get one in our current town with no luck). Every town has the possibility of corruption, and the one we live in is no exception. Overall, we really wanted an atmosphere that we would want to perhaps stay in when we retire. We love to hike and bike; we are really excited about getting involved in some winter snow sports as well. We also talked to a great realtor there...Mark Silver is his name...very helpful, very friendly. We are going back at the end of October to finalize some things, and we hope to be settled in there by December Hope this helps a bit

Stop in at the Holiday Stationstore when you gas up, go in and say to Matt (one of the Mgr's) that his old friend Ryp (pronounced "rip") said "hi". That would make his day.

Hope you enjoy the area....the west end of the UP is fantastic if you love scenery, outdoor fun and love the remote feel of it.

[SoontobeYooper]

[quote=Perferator;25682577]Stop in at the Holiday Stationstore when you gas up, go in and say to Matt (one of the Mgr's) that his old friend Ryp (pronounced "rip") said "hi". That would make his day.

Lol I remember getting gas there We stayed at the AmericInn that wasn't too far from that gas station, had some great meals at the Breakwater restaurant and at Don & GG's. We are really excited about moving north after spending fifteen years in Southern Illinois. I can't handle the heat of the south anymore. (Not intending to offend anyone with the following comment)--We have been truly miserable here as "Yankees", and have to move to a more northern way of life. Fortunately my husband's work can take him anywhere, leading us up to Ironwood.