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Old 02-05-2008, 07:29 AM
 
1 posts, read 2,149 times
Reputation: 10

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I also had to register to relpy to this post. I grew up in Kersey (a suburb of St Marys), graduated from St Marys in 87. I still go there quite often (my inlaws are in Ridgway). It is a small town with good schools (public, can't speak of the quality of the Catholic school). It used to be the carbon capital of the world but now is a depressed area with most of the plants closing down and moving out of the area. There is a big light bulb company still there and some smaller powder metal plants around. There has been a lot of stores going in lately, several gas stations, Walmart, Tractor Supply, etc... I do hear that there are some drug problems there. I would consider it a good place to raise a family but would be a poor choice to be single. The out lying area is very rural and country. There is no malls but there is one in DuBois about 35-30 min drive and State College 1 hr drive, Altoona 1 hr drive.

I personally would not trust the local hospital to take out a splinter let alone anything slightly major....go to DuBois.

I do not see much in the way of sustainable jobs there.
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Old 09-13-2010, 08:07 PM
 
Location: st marys
12 posts, read 18,352 times
Reputation: 16
I moved from brookville pa to st marys. I love the school here. The town offers more then there.
The elk you see them in the valley area. They built a new welcom center.
I have learned so much on the areas around us too. working for crown it has opened my eyes to how people here are different then the ones in dubois. They are only 32 miles apart.
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Old 09-13-2010, 09:49 PM
 
Location: Hooterville PA
712 posts, read 1,959,638 times
Reputation: 304
I worked for Micale Construction Services for a year and Industrial Steel and Pipe supply for 6 months and Doug Anthony Construction for a couple of months and Fred Lentz Jr construction, Elk County Heat Treaters. So as far as the town of St. Marys goes - I think I know a thing or two about it. I even worked construction at the Straub Brewery when they put in the new vessels back in 1993...
Helped build Qualidie, Contact Technologies, the Fire house in Ridgeway, the sludge house at the water filtering plant in Ridgeway, Mascotech, Motion Control, the new paper mill in Johnsonburgh, probably a half a dozen other places. My one sister even taught school up there for a while.

Yes there is a drug problem and a alcohol problem at times - there is always one or two town drunks to any town. But as a whole - St. Marys is 1000 times better compared to someplace like Dubois or Punxsutawney or Brookville. St. Mary's was another little town like Punxsutawney where the business people kept the other industries and businesses from opening there until it was too late.

There is no way though that you could drive to Altoona in one hour.
It probably takes 30 - 45 minutes either way to get to Dubois and it takes another hour from Dubois to get to Altoona - and that is if you are flying - not the speed limit.

The hospital in St. Mary's is not that bad. You don't understand bad until you have been to Clearfield, Punxsy, Indiana or Phillipsburgh...
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Old 09-14-2010, 08:09 AM
 
Location: Just East of the Southern Portion of the Western Part of PA
1,272 posts, read 3,690,933 times
Reputation: 1511
Small town, cheap to live in, not alot of good jobs, Camo is the preferred fashion, somewhat isolated.
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Old 09-14-2010, 08:43 AM
 
Location: Hooterville PA
712 posts, read 1,959,638 times
Reputation: 304
Its not cheap to live in, the only thing that made it more affordable was when Walmart came to town about 18 years ago...

Because it is so isolated, they tend to charge more for everything up there.

Add to that the fact that at times they are the only place that is / was hiring, it makes it more desirable to live there - hence it costs more to live there.
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Old 09-16-2010, 10:35 PM
 
Location: Montgomery County, PA
16,563 posts, read 15,110,993 times
Reputation: 14583
Riding to St. Marys was my summer adventure. Beautiful ride, especially coming back. Had to go see Punxsutawney, of course. St. Marys was my last stop before I turned back. Stayed there one night. Here are some pictures. The area is beautiful of course. The town has one pretty square(pictured) with a theatre. Looked like a popular hang out. As PA towns go it is relatively large. There is one main drag with Tractor Supply Company as the main attraction. I was there in July and it dropped into the 40s at night.





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Old 09-17-2010, 03:27 PM
 
Location: Hooterville PA
712 posts, read 1,959,638 times
Reputation: 304
There is the park on the one side of the town - a street that runs parrellel to the RT 255 coming into town along the Million Dollar Highway and then there is the diamond in the middle of town.

Places like the tire shop and Industrial Steel and Pipe Supply, one of my former employers was removed and replaced by high end condo's a while back.

They made plans for a parking garage where Industrial Steel once stood and then changed their minds and now all that is left is a empty lot = across from the Unemployment office.
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