Retirment in Rolla? (St. Louis, Kirksville, Fort Leonard Wood: appointed, real estate, 2014)

[Hazel W]

What is it like in Rolla for retired person? Is it expensive because of the university? Is there public transportation? Good hospital? Anything else?

[recycled]

I some time in the Army stationed at nearby Ft Leonard Wood many decades ago. FLW is probably the biggest economic driver in that part of MO. It has become a key Army training post for Basic Combat Training, Engineer and Military Police units. Lots of military and civilian employees at FLW live around Rolla, which is about 16 miles from FLW. Rolla has a low cost of living because there are no big payroll private employers in that area.

I've been back to central Missouri several times in recent years. Rolla has not changed much. It's a quiet small city with enough grocery stores and big box stores for day to day living. Big city amenities are in St Louis, about 90 minutes northeast on I-44.

Lake of the Ozarks is about an hour west of Rolla, popular with fishing and boating people. There are lots of national forests in central and southern MO, popular with outdoor and hunting people. Rafting and canoe / kayak fans like the small, clean rivers in central MO.

[Hazel W]

Originally Posted by recycled

I some time in the Army stationed at nearby Ft Leonard Wood many decades ago. FLW is probably the biggest economic driver in that part of MO. It has become a key Army training post for Basic Combat Training, Engineer and Military Police units. Lots of military and civilian employees at FLW live around Rolla, which is about 16 miles from FLW. Rolla has a low cost of living because there are no big payroll private employers in that area.

I've been back to central Missouri several times in recent years. Rolla has not changed much. It's a quiet small city with enough grocery stores and big box stores for day to day living. Big city amenities are in St Louis, about 90 minutes northeast on I-44.

Lake of the Ozarks is about an hour west of Rolla, popular with fishing and boating people. There are lots of national forests in central and southern MO, popular with outdoor and hunting people. Rafting and canoe / kayak fans like the small, clean rivers in central MO.

I didn't realized Fort Leonard Wood was that close to Rolla. So, the university isn't driving up rental costs? If Rolla is that small, then there probably is no public transportation, is there? Maybe things are within walking distance. Thanks much for the information.

[BethP]

I'd recommend taking a look at Rolla's city website to start: City of Rolla, Missouri It has quite a bit of info and links. The city site also has links to things like the hospital website and the Health Dept's site, among other things: City of Rolla, Missouri You can also look at Welcome to the RollaNet GRAPEVINE! which also has info on Rolla, though a lot of it might be a repeat of what the city site has and some of the info might not be very current. And the local Chamber of Commerce has a website: Rolla, Missouri Area Chamber of Commerce

As for public transportation, no, we don't have buses like larger cities have. Depending on where you would end up living, some things can be within walking distance, though most of Rolla is hilly. You would likely get a good workout walking to and from the store. However, we do have SMTS: SMTS, Inc. - Transportation for Everyone I don't really know anything about it, other than what is on their website and the fact that I see their vans around town fairly often.

Fort Wood is closer to 25 miles from Rolla, though it's still not that far away. There are quite a few people who work at the fort and live in Rolla, though. As far as rental prices go, I have no idea what is considered high rental costs and whether the university's presence jacks them up or not. You can look at some of the area real estate websites and get an idea of how much rentals are (if they manage rentals). You can probably find those sites through ones I linked to above or do a Google search for "Rolla real estate agencies" and find them that way. Hope this helps some!

[Hazel W]

Thank you, Beth, for the details. That helps. Maybe I'll take a visit down there. I've always wanted to.

[ozarksboy]

Hazel,
Beth has given you good resources to check.
Now, I want to give you a warning. This is a small town, and although we claim to be "the middle of everywhere" we are really out in the middle of "nowhere." Many people move here because living is fairly cheap, but when they get here, they are surprised and disappointed it isn't like living in a city. There are some cultural activities brought to town by the university. Arts Rolla puts on monthly exhibits of local visual artists. The night life consists of some student bars that have turned downtown Rolla into Pottersville. And we have a problem with crime, thanks to urban thugs from St. Louis bringing in heroin and worthless white trash cooking meth. Even the chief of police showed a little discouragement recently: Chief Chat: Tired of destruction that drugs cause - Opinion - The Rolla Daily News - Rolla, MO - Rolla, MO .
I've lived here since 1984, but I came here from another smaller Missouri town. I grew up out in the sticks in Southern Missouri. I moved my family up here to the Ozarks back in '53 from a small town in Georgia. I am a good ole boy from the country. I work hard in a lumberyard. I like to fish and hunt. I go to church every Sunday. For fun, I go to high school football games or basketball games. For musical entertainment, I go to the annual high school band festival and bluegrass jam sessions.
I am a typical Southern USA/Missouri Ozarks redneck. I am even missing a couple of teeth. I never encourage people to move here, because almost every transplant I know is sorry he/she came here. Heck, lots of the people who moved here hate it, but I find that i love it.
Nevertheless, i caution you to be careful about choosing to live here.

[Hazel W]

Originally Posted by ozarksboy

Hazel,
Beth has given you good resources to check.
Now, I want to give you a warning. This is a small town, and although we claim to be "the middle of everywhere" we are really out in the middle of "nowhere." Many people move here because living is fairly cheap, but when they get here, they are surprised and disappointed it isn't like living in a city. There are some cultural activities brought to town by the university. Arts Rolla puts on monthly exhibits of local visual artists. The night life consists of some student bars that have turned downtown Rolla into Pottersville. And we have a problem with crime, thanks to urban thugs from St. Louis bringing in heroin and worthless white trash cooking meth. Even the chief of police showed a little discouragement recently: Chief Chat: Tired of destruction that drugs cause - Opinion - The Rolla Daily News - Rolla, MO - Rolla, MO .
I've lived here since 1984, but I came here from another smaller Missouri town. I grew up out in the sticks in Southern Missouri. I moved my family up here to the Ozarks back in '53 from a small town in Georgia. I am a good ole boy from the country. I work hard in a lumberyard. I like to fish and hunt. I go to church every Sunday. For fun, I go to high school football games or basketball games. For musical entertainment, I go to the annual high school band festival and bluegrass jam sessions.
I am a typical Southern USA/Missouri Ozarks redneck. I am even missing a couple of teeth. I never encourage people to move here, because almost every transplant I know is sorry he/she came here. Heck, lots of the people who moved here hate it, but I find that i love it.
Nevertheless, i caution you to be careful about choosing to live here.

I know. I have lived in a couple of small towns in the Ozarks. Your picture is almost perfect. It's missing one fact but I'm on my "be nice" streak today. So, I'll keep it to myself. But, you are right, of course. Small town living ain't for sissies.

[Silvermouse]

Originally Posted by ozarksboy

Hazel,
Beth has given you good resources to check.
Now, I want to give you a warning. This is a small town, and although we claim to be "the middle of everywhere" we are really out in the middle of "nowhere." Many people move here because living is fairly cheap, but when they get here, they are surprised and disappointed it isn't like living in a city. There are some cultural activities brought to town by the university. Arts Rolla puts on monthly exhibits of local visual artists. The night life consists of some student bars that have turned downtown Rolla into Pottersville. And we have a problem with crime, thanks to urban thugs from St. Louis bringing in heroin and worthless white trash cooking meth. Even the chief of police showed a little discouragement recently: Chief Chat: Tired of destruction that drugs cause - Opinion - The Rolla Daily News - Rolla, MO - Rolla, MO .
I've lived here since 1984, but I came here from another smaller Missouri town. I grew up out in the sticks in Southern Missouri. I moved my family up here to the Ozarks back in '53 from a small town in Georgia. I am a good ole boy from the country. I work hard in a lumberyard. I like to fish and hunt. I go to church every Sunday. For fun, I go to high school football games or basketball games. For musical entertainment, I go to the annual high school band festival and bluegrass jam sessions.
I am a typical Southern USA/Missouri Ozarks redneck. I am even missing a couple of teeth. I never encourage people to move here, because almost every transplant I know is sorry he/she came here. Heck, lots of the people who moved here hate it, but I find that i love it.
Nevertheless, i caution you to be careful about choosing to live here.

Good points as usual, OB.

[ION1010]

We've been looking for retirement places in MO for a couple few years now from Kirksville to Cape. Stayed last summer in Rolla since we remembered it from camping around there in the 80's. It's not the nice, quiet town it was back then. Lots of crime (what, over 100 heroin overdoses in one week last spring) a really grungy downtown and too much traffic. Man, there were a lot of turtles walking the roads. St. James is still nice.

[ozarksboy]

We have a serious drug problem in Rolla, the result of increased diversity as St. Louis residents move here.

The university enrollment set another record this semester; over 8,000 students, mostly engineers with noses in their calculus books. They are a quiet bunch.

We just recently had the Celebration of Nations parade and festival, which showed the diversity in nationalities we have. We have so many Muslims that we have more than one mosque, so that might be a welcoming feature for those seeking a multi-cultural experience.

I don't know what to say about the abundance of turtles. We do have an abundance of wildlife here. We generally leave the turtles alone, although we do shoot the deer, squirrels and turkeys, and we chase the raccoons with dogs.

We have many retirees here. Most of them are wealthy and can afford to go shopping and spend the weekends in St. Louis like the university professors, the hospital doctors and the lawyers and all their wives do. That empties out the town on the weekends, so the rest of us can have some peace and quiet and less traffic as we drive to Walmart.