Cute small towns outside of Fort Wayne (Indianapolis, Huntington: how much, homes)

[wigirl23]

Hi!
Need some help here. My hubby has been working at the GM plant now for two years and traveling back and forth here to Wisconsin for weekends. Needless to say he has just about had it and now my girls (12 and 15) are ready for the big move. I want something similar to what we have here... Small town (you run into the local principal at the grocery store). My girls barrel race and pole bend with their horses, so finding others in town who also know at least what this is....a big plus. Oldest is a big runner in cross country so a school that has a strong program would be nice as well. Hubby doesn't want to drive more than 30-40 minutes to work. Any suggestions?

Indiana Bound....

[qwertyasdf]

"Cute" small towns in Indiana? I will be interested in which towns anybody would admit that their town is considered "cute". Definitely not a hs football powerhouse town.

[wigirl23]

O.K ........ adorable? Norman Rockwell? Not gross? Picturesque? Historical? I have girls, could care less about a powerhouse football team.

[qwertyasdf]

That sounds better. LOL! I don't know any Hoosier men who would ever in a million years call their town "cute".

[ischyros]

So it seems you don't want to actually be in Fort Wayne. The closest bigger towns to the GM plant are Huntington and Bluffton. Both have pretty classic midwestern downtown areas, though I tend to prefer Bluffton's just due to the fact that it actually has trees. I don't know that either of them have that much going on downtown. Huntington has its own small university and it still has a working drive-in theater that has recently expanded to include a second screen. There are some nice city parks in Huntington as well. It's a pretty quick drive up US 24 to Fort Wayne which is a 4-lane divided highway. The Huntington Dam southeast of town has created a nice lake that has a public beach with swimming. Bluffton is smaller and even though the Wabash River flows right through downtown, they haven't done much with it other than a paved trail. It is right next to Oubache State Park which has several miles of hiking trails and a public pool as well as a lake for canoeing and paddle boats.

If you want to go even smaller, you can look into Ossian or Roanoke. Roanoke is as close as you can get to the GM plant without being completely country living. It's closer to the plant than almost all of Fort Wayne is. It has a cute downtown but there isn't much to it. It's right on US 24 and if you needed some city shopping, you could be to Jefferson Pointe mall in Fort Wayne in less than 20 minutes. Ossian is kind of the same way in that it has a small downtown but not a whole lot else. It sits about halfway between Fort Wayne and Bluffton.

I don't have much experience in Roanoke or Ossian other than driving through. My experience with both Bluffton and Huntington, I'd choose Huntington just because it has more to do. And it has charming areas like the drive-in and the Sunken Gardens. It's also very well connected by highways (US 24, US 224, SR 9, SR 5, SR 16) so it's very easy to get to other cities and towns in the area.

[dxstv23]

Posted 10/29/2008
I just moved here about 3 months ago, besides the fact that I don't really know many people overall the city its self is ok. I do like the part of Fort Wayne that I live in. I live in the south west area or Aboite. It is really nice, a newer area. The Homestead school system is really nice and in a good area. There are a lot of private schools to choose from as well. There are a lot of youth organizations and an awesome library. There is like 6 YMCAs in this area as well. However I grew up in Martinsville which is 45mins south of Indianapolis about an hour away from camp aderberry ( I believe that is how you spell it) it is a smaller town more of a farming community but just a short drive from many major cities. I loved growing up down there and there are sooo many great towns to choose from. Plus the scenery is WAY prettier!

[MB37]

I'm also planning a move to that side of FW. I just got back from a trip up to check out the south side of the city and surrounding communities - I'll be working in Bluffton. I think the city is more our speed, but Bluffton seemed very family-friendly and liveable. The Wabash river is really pretty, and there's an ampitheatre on the river where they do shows in the summertime. The downtown was alive with many small businesses. They have a Walmart, a Lowe's, a grocery store, meat market, and several independent restaurants in addition to fast food chains. There are three school districts - if you live in the city proper, your kids would go to Bluffton, but the northern and southern outlying areas go to school with kids from the other smaller communities nearby (and have a longer bus ride, probably). We drove through Yoder, which was barely a town at all, and Ossian which is much smaller than Bluffton. Ossian at least had a few businesses and a tiny downtown. Good luck with the move, I imagine your whole family is sick of that commuting arrangement!

[katkat05]

Originally Posted by wigirl23

Hi!
Need some help here. My hubby has been working at the GM plant now for two years and traveling back and forth here to Wisconsin for weekends. Needless to say he has just about had it and now my girls (12 and 15) are ready for the big move. I want something similar to what we have here... Small town (you run into the local principal at the grocery store). My girls barrel race and pole bend with their horses, so finding others in town who also know at least what this is....a big plus. Oldest is a big runner in cross country so a school that has a strong program would be nice as well. Hubby doesn't want to drive more than 30-40 minutes to work. Any suggestions?

Indiana Bound....

ROANOKE INDIANA, Just west of Fort Wayne.

[tkhk3746]

I would suggest: Harlan. Leo, Auburn, Grabill.

[Coogles]

How much of a drive can he live with? There isn't much appealing to me about most of the smaller towns directly outside of Fort Wayne. My favorites that are close(ish) are probably North Manchester, Wabash, and Bluffton.