Moving to Terre Haute (Indianapolis, Evansville: crimes, houses, job market)

[Tom Goad]

I would to hear from people about Terre Haute, Indiana. Post here or email.

[jman07]

I'm sorry to hear that.

[Toxic Toast]

Terre Haute is a pretty typical small city..............I have never found it to be as un-appealing as the outside masses seem to think it is.

[induchman2]

Pretty typical if you have a fertilizer plant on the outskirts. I lived there while going to school about 45 years ago and have returned for reunions and visiting friends who were "trapped" there. It's a rough town nowadays. Check https://www.city-data.com/crime/crime-Indiana.html

[Tom Goad]

I'm learning a lot about TH. Some good, some......well...? I'm glad for the comments here. I check on this thread and other postings daily about Indiana cities.

[EugeneOnegin]

I'm from near there and lived there for about 8 years. It's really not as bad as people say. Yeah it's a little old and run down, mostly in the center of the city, but the outer parts are fairly nice. There are only maybe a couple places where I might be worried about crime/safety. Parts of Gilbert street and Liberty Avenue, that's really about it. 99% of the city I would not at all be afraid to walk through at 2:00 AM (and have).

There are quite a few nice independent restaurants and a whole lot of crappy chains. Not a great selection of grocery stores. 2 Wal-Marts, a Sam's Club, 3 Krogers, a few Auldi's, and a Baesler's. The Wal-Marts there are at least a lot bigger and nicer compared to bigger city Wal-Marts, which are usually small and ghetto. The Sam's Club is fairly nice. The Krogers are terrible and overpriced. Baesler's is really nice, but really overpriced. Unfortunately, there are no Meijer's, Trader Joe's, or Costco. I would recommend checking out the Blue's Festival and Oktoberfest there, they're pretty fun.

Not as much manufacturing as there used to be. There's still a large Sony plant, a GE Aviation plant, Kellog's, ThyssunKrupp Presta, Beamis, Coca Cola, and others. The famous Coca Cola bottle was created there. Most of the manufacturing is on the north side. The north side is more blue collar, the south side is more white collar, and then there's West Terre Haute (which actually is its own city) that is a little country, to say the least. There are two colleges- Indiana State and Rose Hulman. Rose Hulman is one of the best engineering schools in the country. Indiana State is Larry Bird's alma mater, he is still huge there. Indiana State is going to erect a 15-foot bronze statue of him in the near future.

There are TONS of trains. Expect to get stopped by a train aka "railroaded" on a regular basis. Several times per week at a minimum. They often block the entire city and stop right in the middle of the city for 10 or 15 minutes at a time. That is by far the thing that I miss the least about Terre Haute. If the term "railroaded" is not in your vocabulary, it soon will be.

The people there can be a pretty cliquish. There is a lot of old money there and seemingly a lot of crony capitalism type of stuff going on there between the local government and a few wealthy families.

If you have any questions let me know, I know the area pretty well.

Definitely not the most modern or upscale city, but really, it's not that bad, especially the outskirts. It's a whole hell of lot better than where I currently live (southeast Michigan).

[Tom Goad]

Thanks so much. What you said is right on with what I have learned. Thru different site, chats, and a few friends from TH. It's not the best, but does have a lot to offer to an older person. Housing is VERY cheap. You can live there very comfortably on a medium income. The Hospitals a excellent...I'm still looking into Doctors and Dentists. There is some concern about service industry there, but I'll work that out too. There people I have talked to ..and tried to chat with are very closed. They do open up after a while. I find the Adults and Professionals very open and friendly....once they get to know you. The younger people are very bitter..not having any good jobs there. The drugs are kinda out of hand, but it's IND. It will taken care of in the near future. God bless them...they will work it out. The main problem with TH that I found ...and a short visit ..is the attitude that hangs over the city. My GOD..they have problems, but nothing compare to the cities in the Midwest. Ghetto Trash from Chicago( and other cities ) moving in and taking over good size town & cities. I mean all races too...not just one. The I have lived in this place for 15 years and it"s losing it. It use to be a friendly..hard working ...college town. Now the jobs are gone and everyone trying go for education. The officials bend over to certain crimes...you know what I mean. The is a lot meaner and unstable. I won't even get into the state politics ...unbelievable !!!!
Best Wishes,
Tom

[EugeneOnegin]

No problem. Union is a good hospital, my sister is a nurse practitioner there and my daughter was born there. The other hospital, Regional...not so much.

The job market there definitely isn't the best, but you can live on the outskirts of town and have a reasonable commute to other cities where good jobs are more plentiful, in either Indiana or Illinois. Illinois is only about 15 minutes from the west end of town. Blooming and Indianapolis aren't too far of a drive. They're both about an hour away. Not a whole lot of high-paying jobs there, but like you said, housing is very affordable so that makes up for it to some extent. If you're able to get a good job there, and you buy a house that's not in the downtown, it's not at all a bad place to live.

The city is a little gloomy and depressing, particularly in the winter, but again we're mostly talking about the downtown parts of the city. The outskirts are pretty nice, lots of nature and lots of room if you're looking to buy land. Lots of space between cities, unlike southeast Michigan, where I live now, where you can't tell where one city ends and the next begins, and where it's extremely hard to find a halfway decent house with more than a half acre of land for under $300,000. And where practically every house is in a subdivision and practically stacked on top of all the other houses. Where you wait in traffic and wait in line everywhere you go, and can't turn left anywhere most of the day without a traffic light. It's probably more depressing than Terre Haute. So in that respect, Terre Haute is a lot better than many places. Many of the residents can't wait to leave there, but a lot of them realize the grass isn't always greener when they move to other places. Then again, many of them leave and say it's the best decision they ever made.

There used to be a paper factory there that made the city smell really bad at times. Sometimes the wind would change direction and it would hit you right in the face, it kind of smelled like rotten eggs. Terre Haute kind of developed a reputation for smelling bad because of that factory, but fortunately it closed down and the smell is gone.

[Tom Goad]

EugeneOnegin,
That's for writing back. I only wanted to clear up what I posted earlier. Houses...not housing ...are cheap and can be found in stable neighborhoods in TH. Look to the East of 18th Street and south of Wabash Avenue. I have ...well.. several choices on my list.
If anyone would like to talk more about TH. I have a Facebook account set up. There are "friends" there who may chat with you about the town more.
F B Tom Goad

[sbayphilly]

I am an older single/divorced mom,(54 look about 40ish) (4 girls, 2 at home) looking to move to IN, I am a nurse (LPN) and a Navy veteran. I currently attend on line Ivy Tech Community College and my home campus is Evansville.
Evansville was my first choice but now I am leaning more towards Terre Haute, as I will finish classes in the next year in Human Services at IVY and transfer to a 4 year college. Indiana State seems to be the best choice for me so that is why I am thinking of TH instead. I am African American, Native American and Caucasian ethnically and my daughters and I are very liberal and open minded. I wish to buy a inexpensive house (a fixer upper is what i am looking for since I do home repair and have experience with older homes and rehab)that is fairly big as we have 2 large dogs and relatives that visit often.Can you tell me how race relations are in the city. We have always lived in pretty rural areas, where we were very much a minority, but do want to live somewhere now where my girls are not the only bit of color(lol) in the whole school.