Edwardsville, Troy, or O'Fallon??? (Belle: neighborhoods, shop, housing)

[sixtwobaldguy]

Yes my points in favor of Edwardsville were poorly elaborated. The University atmosphere really extends through Edwardsville. O'Fallon is an OK place don't mean to knock it but e-ville has the bike trails, the university, and just seems like an all around better place to me. Ultimately, I would think u should visit both places before deciding. O Fallon is just not in the same league imo but I can't quantify why I feel that way or point to facts you could verify and analyze. I suppose it boils down to a personal decision. Belleville, yuck. Further away the better as far as I am concerned. I actually lived there before, I suspect the people who think it's an OK place probably have not.

and to the guy who thinks o'fallon is closer to the west side of belleville, I guess that depends on what part of west belleville you are in and what part of o'fallon. I did some mapquesting and its the same either way just depending on your begin and end points. If I map SW o'fallon to NW belleville I come up with a little over 8 miles. It's actually probably closer to the far ends of the east side but it just depends on the routes and the specific points you're looking at.

[IDASpaceman]

Thanks Six Two, I'll be flying solo for a couple of months prior to the family relocating. This should give me a bunch of Sat's/Sun's to check both places out. Weather won't be that great...but I should still be able to get a good feel even in the Winter.

I appreciate everyone passing along some great info.

[shelby scott]

My husband may be transferring to Scott AFB within the next year, or two. I have one daughter in college, one that will be a senior in High School next year and a 3 year old little boy. So, I need a little help in all areas. Great schools? Great colleges? Great Elementary in two more years? Also, the best shopping, safest area to live since I am a single mother most of the time, my husband deploys a lot! Also, how are scholarship programs there? We live in Ar. and all money made off of the lottery pays for our children's college! It's amazing! How is the base in general? Is the commissary and BX fairly new, is the housing nice etc? I have so many questions. Please help! Thank you!

[billiken]

I'm pretty unfamiliar with the IL side of the greater St Louis area, but in terms of colleges--you have the option of one of the best public universities in the country. U of Illinois--Champaign Urbana is a great school, but it's also pretty competitive to get into, and on the expensive side for public universities.

[IDASpaceman]

Well...since I started this mess...here's my 12 mons+ opinion:

1. Location: We built a home and chose Fairview Heights...and love it
2. Schools: Kids love O'Fallon Township High, one graduated early...other is still chugging along. Have heard great things about TRIAD (Troy) and Mascoutah as well.
3. Colleges: Impressed by SIUE...middle daughter chose SWIC to start. Older daughter went back to her old school out of state to finish up.
4. Base is AMC's showcase...to me a base is a base. But overall I'd rate this one of the better ones.
5. PX/Commissary: Same stuff as every other one. We shop at the Commissary, always cheaper than the local economy in general. Overall, better than average.
6. Shopping: Fairview Heights has everything you need. St Louis has even more. Again...a mall is a mall...and there are three big ones within a 25 mile radius. Our favorite is the St Louis Galleria.

I have nothing negative to report. People have been great. Of course, coming from AZ...you will need to adjust to the weather, other than that--best of luck, it's a great assignment and we have absolutely no regrets. If you folks love sports...this is as good as it get's minus Boston, NY, or LA.

[aragx6]

^Glad you've gotten settled and are happy!

[IDASpaceman]

Thanks!!

[moforeynolds]

I come to this site fairly often for info (tonight's inquiry was about STL public school districts), but finally registered tonight after reading this thread. I grew up on the IL side and go over there often to visit my parents and friends, so I hope that my experience can give you a little insight.

I grew up in O'Fallon, from the early 80s until graduating high school in the mid 90s. I graduated from SIUE and continued living in Edwardsville until 2002 or so. I moved around a little (Chicago, Kalamazoo) and eventually found my way back to the St Louis area, albeit this time on the MO side.

Edwardsville and O'Fallon really have a lot to offer you (for reasons already mentioned), and Troy and Shiloh have really come in to their own within the last 10-15 years. Because you mentioned that your husband will be at Scott, O'Fallon would really make a great choice. The schools are absolutely fantastic, it's a 10-15 minute sprint to SAFB, and a mere 15-20 to downtown St Louis. Fairview Heights has all the shopping and restaurants that you could ever ask for, and is practically next door. I believe FH is O'Fallon school district; my parents built a house a few years ago in a very nice golf community, and I believe their neighbor's daughter attends O'Fallon HS (Spaceman, can you enlighten us?). The farther north areas of O'Fallon are going to be the newer/nicer areas, but also more expensive. You will have a MUCH higher concentration of military households in O'Fallon as opposed to Edwardsville.

That's not to take anything away from Edwardsville; by the merits of the towns alone, I think Edwardsville/GC is nicer overall. MUCH more community feel, whoever said that the "college atmosphere" spills over in to the town hit the nail on the head. Beautiful town and lots of fun. MUCH better outdoor activities and community events than O'Fallon, and their schools are very comparable. Edwardsville was recently voted as one of the best places to live in America by...Family Circle, I believe? They have had rapid growth in the past 10 years with all new strip mall/shopping areas, but you will still have to drive to Fairview Heights for the closest department store-type shopping center. There is no main highway to get you straight there, and realistically it's 20+ minutes with traffic. It's also going to be much farther away to SAFB for the same reasons, and your husband would be looking at a real-world 45-minute commute. About 30 minutes to downtown St Louis.

The two towns are very comparable in cost of living, safety, schools...and both have astronomical taxes but the SAFB connection would make O'Fallon an easy choice for me. I do think there is a bit of "snob appeal" carried by O'Fallon residents (and this is coming from someone who grew up there), but who knows where that comes from. As for your questions about the base--my dad was in Intel most of the years I spent in O'Fallon (retired as a GS16), so I was on the base extremely often. It is a well-kept and busy base, nice BX/comm, but the housing is a little lacking (not really much different than any other base I've been to). Wonderful air shows and events.

I hope that helps.

[IDASpaceman]

^ This entire post is spot-on, it's a true statement the majority of Fairview Heights teens go to O'Fallon Township High School. The only thing I would add is...the "new" base housing is beautiful.

Best of luck and thanks to all who have contributed to this thread--I know the inbound military families will be appreciative!

[Kassad]

Correct me if I'm wrong, because I do not live near the SAFB area (yet), but isn't a potential selling point for FH the fact that it has a metro rail stop that goes to St. louis and SAFB? I suppose Belleview does too, but if you are wanting to be as close to St. louis as possible but still in a nice town and need the metro rail isn't Fairview heights your best option?