Is Mount Vernon "just" another small town? (California: sex offenders, crime)

[helen1]

Originally Posted by nroden

As far as businesses Mt. Vernon does pretty well cover the basics. It has Summer Fresh, ALPS, Pamida (like ALCO if you know what that is or its like a small town K-Mart), Family Dollar, Dollar General, O' Reilly Auto Parts, True Value hardware, lumberyard, and a pharmacy. There is a few restaurants that are good on a regular basis but at times you will get bored and head out of town!

If you're expecting a small town with a feeling of community this isn't it. I think perhaps its because so many people have moved here. Maybe it never had that community feel. Of course there and some friendly people here just like anywhere else you go. Most people won't just introduce themselves if they know you're new like some small towns I have visited. There doesn't seem to be a lot of community pride and it reflects in how houses and buildings are taken care of.

From what I understand the schools are OK but again... they don't have a feeling of community where parents are involved and the teachers really get involved with the students. Again, there are exceptions.

The biggest plus to Mt. Vernon is that it is between Springfield and Joplin. If one spouse works in Springfield and the other in Joplin this is this place. Republic, Aurora, & Monett are also nearby.

For Missouri towns with populations of 2000-5000 I'd give Mt. Vernon a C.

Are you wanting Southwest Missouri or are you willing to venture elsewhere into the state?

WOW, are we in the same Mount Vernon? The schools are VERY good and the parents and teachers are very much involved with the students and the community. The town itself is quaint but there is so much surrounding areas that are being developed (just outside of the town). Perhaps you should try introducing yourself - that is what I do and I am very much part of the community and most everyone is very friendly. Just my opinion, but a C is a very low grade for Mount Vernon. There school system alone brings it up to at least a B+.

[helen1]

Originally Posted by GSD353

I think Mt. Vernon is kind of a dirty truck stop town. It does have a cool old time square and Apple Butter Days in October is neat. They make the BEST apple butter in the world!!! Its about 30 min from Joplin and 30 min from Springfield. Mostly a little farm town. Not bad but certainly not my first pick. If I was looking for a small town in SWMO, I would pick Ozark, Webb City, Nixa, Carl Junction or something like that that is really growing and has a lot of community support.

I certainly would not pick Ozark or Nixa since both are in Christian county with very high real estate taxes. Webb City and Carl Junction - I don't know a lot about either of these towns - have been through both of them and haven't seen a lot to write home about but have not visited them to learn about them either.

[DocGSD]

Originally Posted by helen1

I certainly would not pick Ozark or Nixa since both are in Christian county with very high real estate taxes. Webb City and Carl Junction - I don't know a lot about either of these towns - have been through both of them and haven't seen a lot to write home about but have not visited them to learn about them either.

Carl Junction has the Briarbrook area. Its a 36 hole golf course / country club. It has a booming housing market. A lot of the wealty community from Joplin live here. Mostly new housing here with some in the 150k range but more in the 300k to 800k+.

[Gayle MO]

Actually, I was born and raised here. (well, born in St Vincent's Hospital in Monett but it's now Cox Monett) But my family lived here in town and had for several generations.

I moved away in 1969 and back in 1983. Have never been sorry! Mt Vernon has excellent schools, in my opinion. We are building a new elementary school right now. I happen to know all the administration and a good many of the teachers, personally, so I can speak from experience. Two of my 3 daughters graduated from MVHS and my husband and I attended here as well.

It's been my experience that if anyone wants to get involved in the community, there are plenty of opportunities. There are a number of churches in town and just outside of town and I have friends in many of them.

Shopping is the only real downfall I see to living in Mt Vernon. As has been stated, we have a Summer Fresh and an Alps grocery store. I shop at both. Summer Fresh is a full stop store but Alps has great prices and great meat thanks to TERRY SHIVELY, the butcher! There are no clothing stores or shoe stores but most people like to run to Springfield to buy that stuff, anyway.
We go to the Walmart Supercenter in Republic, 20 mins straight 174 towards Springfield. It's the cleanest and nicest one, but we do have 3 within a 20 minute distance from MV. (Aurora - not a SuperCenter yet, and Monett, which is a SuperCenter)

We have Bamboo Garden Chinese on the Loop in MV. It's not really true Chinese as the owner, Kim Mulligan, is Korean. People come from all over to eat there, though! It's very good and I think she has the best Cashew Chicken anywhere!

Estelle's on the square in Mt Vernon is fabulous! They're open for lunch daily except Sunday and open Thurs, Fri and Sat nights for dinner. The lunch menu is really good and offers among other things, my favorite: Salmon BLT Sandwich - (TO DIE FOR) Fish Tacos, great salads, sweet potato fries and other delicious items. The owners have MV ties and moved here from Portland, OR a couple of years ago. They brought with them Seattle's Best Coffee and many trend setting offerings for lunch and dinner. (and wonderful Creme Brulee!!)

There are 2 other coffee shop type diners here and also Mazzio's, Taco Bell, McDonald's, Taco Palace, Subway, and Country Pride (at the truck stop). We also have a new BBQ place just off the square but I haven't tried it.

There is Hawg Wild BBQ 15 minutes away in Aurora - the best BBQ around! Seriously. People come from all over to eat there.

Also about 20 mins away, in Monett, we eat Chinese at Lai Lai, out on Hwy 60 just west of the Walmart Supercenter. Excellent!

Mt Vernon is still a RELATIVELY SAFE place to raise kids! Not 100% but no where is 100%! Drugs are everywhere these days and MV is no exception.

When I grew up here, it truly was just like Mayberry. In fact, one of our markets then was Mayberry's Market and descendants of the Mayberry family still live here.

Mt Vernon is has a lovely new Veteran's Home and we also have Missouri Rehabilitation Center for head injury patients. There are a number of drs offices and clinics in town.

There is a classy tango/stained glass studio (Murray's Vintage Venue) that just started here a few years ago and there was an outdoors tango contest at Gibb's Park last week. I read that several hundred people came in for that.

This weekend is the Ernte Fest in Freistatt, the German community about 6 miles SW of town on H Hwy. People come from all over for this festival each year.

In Oct we have Apple Butter Makin Days where the whole town gets involved. It's on the courthouse square in MV the 2nd Fri, Sat and Sun of October each year. We have many 1000's of guests over that weekend each year.

You can find nice housing in Mt Vernon and many, many homes still under 100k in price. Of course there are the high $$ estates, also. Rental homes are harder to find but available. They just built some new low-income homes also, but I don't know anything about them but that they are north of town.

We have 3 golf courses in the area. One in Mt Vernon on Hwy 174 and two between Mt Vernon and Aurora.

We are only about 30 minutes from Springfield and also from Joplin so it makes getting to the larger town easy. But if you are looking for quaint 'small town life' Mt Vernon is great!

I'm sure there's more but if you want to know more or have any questions, feel free to email me.

Gayle

[bentaxlecrew]

That all sounds great to me. Our schools here in So Cali Im not so proud of. I think some teachers realy try to help but are so limited to what they can do. Thier classes have up to 32 students at a time. How many students on average do you think are in the classrooms now. Elementary specificly.

[nroden]

There are no clothing stores or shoe stores but most people like to run to Springfield to buy that stuff, anyway.

Pamida does have an OK selection of clothes similar to Wal-Mart. They're supposed to be getting the shoes pictured in their ads (Reebok, Adidas) that their larger stores have.

As Gayle has posted, for a good selection of name brand clothes you will end up going to Springfield or Joplin. These days, a town usually has to have a population of 9-10,000 to really support a good clothing store. Mt. Vernon is not unusual in that aspect.

One plus I have to give Mt. Vernon is how well our January 07 ice storm pulled the community together. There was a calm feeling over the town and people really came together to help. Everyone was getting to know their neighbors. It gave everyone a chance to slow down and appreciate the little things in life.

A lot of the people who live in Mt. Vernon haven’t lived in similar sized towns with 4,000-5,000 in population. They’re usually coming from larger cities or more developed areas so of course Mt. Vernon seems friendly. They say “this is small town life” or “country living”.

I'm not saying that Mt. Vernon is bad for everyone. I have lived in and visited towns from Lafayette County (Higginsville, Lexington, Odessa) on down I-70 and the Missouri River to St. Louis and personally they're a better fit for myself. Something simply draws me to that stretch across the state more than the Ozarks area. Mt. Vernon is a very conservative town and perhaps that reflects in the personality and lifestyle of the town. I'm more on the liberal side of the spectrum but I do respect conservatives and their views. (isn't part of being liberal respecting each others differences and finding unity) I have several conservative friends but am always more comfortable in a liberal crowd.

Mt. Vernon isn't a bad town in the Springfield/Joplin area and you can't beat it for small towns along I-44 between the two cities! Maybe come and spend a Thursday through Sunday in Mt. Vernon. Get to see the town during the workweek and on the weekend. For these purposes I wouldn't recommend visiting during Apple Butter Making days because this isn't your usual Mt. Vernon weekend and there is tons of out of town folks!

Gayle and Helen, I appreciate and respect your posts. You have spent more time in Mt. Vernon and this is your home, not mine. You have added value to this forum

Serminator, Good luck!

[Wanderer0101]

I grew up in the area and I'd have to say that Mt. Vernon is a very decent small town with about the same amenities that most of them have. Very similar to Monett and Aurora in the same area. You have really good access to Springfield or Joplin when you need more shopping or higher end restaurants. Easy to get to St. Louis or Kansas City if you need big city stuff or want to watch major league sports.

[Serminator]

Just happened to search for my "User Name" and out popped this thread. Kind of funny that I'm "wanted" here.

Bottom line: our reason for potentially moving was city specific and went "poof" faster than I apparently did.

I'm very glad that some folks finally starting answering though; thanks. Sounds like it could have been very nice.

[JDGreen]

Like Mount Vernon or not, one thing the folks in Mount Vernon can be proud of is according to city-data's Mount Vernon's page: Quote: According to our research there were no registered sex offenders living in this city in early 2007.

I've been searching for a place to move and doing a lot of research, most towns with a population of 300 will usually have at least one if not two.

[amandabrozo]

My family and I are moving to Mount Vernon this spring, end of March. I was wondering about the churches in town, and the schools. Thanks for all the other info in your posts.