Relocating: Yardley vs. Morrisville? (Penn: sale, insurance, crime)

[Kimba235]

Just wondering what general opinions are of Morrisville? I know that certain sections of Morrisville are in the Pennsbury school district. I understand that Yardley has a certain cachet, but I'm wondering if perhaps you can get a little more for your money in Morrisville, yet still enjoy good schools? We haven't visited it yet, but just wondering if Morrisville has a nice downtown area? Is the overall area nice, safe, etc., or should we skip it?

Thanks!

[Phish Head]

Yardley is quaint, wealthy, and safe, with a nice downtown and beautiful areas. Its suburban/rural.

Morrisville is directly across the Delaware river from downtown Trenton. It is connected to a very bad section of Trenton by a steel two lane bridge with a pedestrian walkway. The locals call this the "Trenton-Morrisville Gangplank". Needless to say, people from Trenton walk across the bridge all day long. Many of them carry drugs into Morrisville. There are certainly many break-ins in Morrisville. Few of these savages make it 5 miles up-river to Yardley, although I fear that this may happen one day.

Other than that, this is why you will see MANY cheaper, cute Cape Cod style homes in Morrisville. The housing stock there is very nice.

[Kimba235]

Once again, Phish Head, thanks for your quick, informative reply. I knew there had to be a reason why homes were less expensive in Morrisville!

[Suzen14]

Hi Kimba

I just wanted to give you a bit of a different perspective from Phish Head, seeing as he clearly has not spent any time in Morrisville and knows little of the benefits of living in our town.

I was born and raised in Morrisville and graduated from the public high school at the top of my class. Currently I am enrolled in graduate school at an Ivy League University. Granted, money doesn't flow in Morrisville the way that it does in Pennsbury and that is reflected in some of the testing scores and turnover rates in the schools. However, during my time as a students and as an employee of the school district for two years, I found that if parents are involved in the education of their children and make this a known fact to the staff at the school, it is very difficult for a child to fall through the cracks and disappear because of the very small size of the school in comparison to the monstrous size of the Pennsbury school district.

As for the crime, no, there isn't nearly as much as Phish Head would have you believe. Yes, we do live right across the river from Trenton. Yes, drugs traffick across the border, just as they do in any town connected to an urban environment, just as they do across the bridge in Yardley. The only difference is that those drugs drive across the 95 bridge instead of walk across the Morrisville Bridge. As I said, I've been a resident of Morrisville my entire life and never once heard the phrase "Trenton-Morrisville Gangplank."

Morrisville is quaint with a lot of small-town appeal. As neighbors we know each other and look out for each other. Kids can ride their bikes to any friends house that they attend school with and there are a lot of activities during the summer for children to be involved in. Many apologies to Phish Head, but he strikes me as someone who is classist, racist, and makes judgements without having any actual experience or knowledge to back them up. If I were you, I would definitely give Morrisville the opportunity that it deserves.

Respectfully,
Suzen

[victoriahorrocks]

The snob who posted the negative description of Morrisville is way off base. Morrisville grew as a working class town because Morrisville Steel provided jobs. The steel company is closed, but Morrisville -- and its down-to-earth inhabitants -- live on. NOBODY calls the bridge between Morrisville and Trenton the "Trenton-Morrisville Gangplank." We all call it the Calhoun Street Bridge. It leads to Calhoun Street (a pretty sad area of Trenton) AND State Street (right to the NJ State House, State Library, State Museum, Planetarium, Reolutionary War Barracks, and the State Offices). MANY Morrisville residents work for the State of NJ, and traffic across the bridges in and out of Trenton can be pretty congested during A.M. and P.M. rush hours. Two other bridges connect Morrisville and Trenton -- the Route 1 (toll) bridge and the "Trenton Makes" bridge. Silly name? Well, the bridge has a HUGE lit-up sign stating, "Trenton Makes, The World Takes" dating from the days when Trenton was a manufacturing city. We all shorten the name to "Trenton Makes" -- and even the radio traffic reports call it that. Morrisville residents can use the bridges to attend Trenton Thunder baseball games at Waterfront Park and Trenton Titan hockey games, the Ringling Brothers Circus, concerts, and other events at the Arena (can't remember which bank sponsors it). Trentonians like to cross over to Morrisville to enjoy two great supermarkets and the lower prices they offer. We all go BOTH ways to enjoy good restaurants. So, shut up, fancy pants. Morrisville is fine.

[PJCampo]

Where do people who live in Yardley grocery shop?

Might seem like an obvious question with an obvious answer but are the houses that got destroyed by flooding "100 year flood plain" (require flood insurance?) homes or less...or more?

I noticed someone saying something about the rising sewer costs in Yardley as a result of the flooding - are many homes in Yardley city sewer and not septic?

[KatWag]

I love downtown Yardley, but I've seen it flood too many times over the years to live there. Check out some of the homes along the Makefield Road corridor. A number are in Falls Twp with a Morrisville address. You'll get a bit more "bang for the buck" there in some cases.

Have to agree with the posters about Morrisville Borough. It's gotten a bit of a bum rap over the years. But it has some really lovely homes and some very nice areas. Taxes are on the high side and that, to me, would be the single biggest downside to living there.

[Mechanolatry]

Morrisville is pretty decent, but you want to look for places a bit away from the bridge to Jersey. I have to say though, I grew up in Morrisville and it just depends on where you choose to live there. I had no trouble with living there. (I was around the Morrisville post office area BTW.)

[Yardleyresident]

The first poster is accurate about the lower area of Morrisville closer to Trenton. The upper part of Morrisville closer to town and Main street are better. Yardley is a great little affluent town. 91% white. Most people work in Princeton, NJ, NY or Phila. Most people shop at McCaffreys or the Giant next door on Stoneyhill Road.

[sheairs]

Morrisville has some of the lowest home sale prices in the area (compared to Yardley, etc.). You could probably pick up a home for less than $180K.

Check on realtor.com and plug in 19067 for the zip.

I'm acutally selling my home in the area, so I'm a bit biased in my opinion above. 1206 Ohio Avenue. I'm not moving out because of any type of crime -- we've been there 7 years with no theft or violence -- I have a job in south Jersey and I want to move closer to where I work.