I was thinking of Lake Mills too. It, Northwood, St Ansgar, and Osage make a nice little string of thriving small towns.
Best towns in Iowa
- Thread starter awd4cy
- Start date
Decorah -- Eating Mabe's Pizza while watching a Luther football game in the height of autumn is probably the best experience a human being could have
First thing we did while stopping in Decorah was getting Mabes. Then we canoed down the Iowa river
Sounds awesome! I’ve seen pictures of the football field up there in the fall. Surrounded by color with the trees.
Iowa Falls was amazing to live in, would gladly move back to that town in a heartbeat. Small towns with endless activities outdoors are my jam though.
The towns with a state prison don’t seem to make anyone’s good list except Iowa City, and Oakdale is in Coralville so maybe that doesn’t count.
Mitchellville is a nice community. One that is starting to grow fast too. Not a fan of Fort Madison. Not sure about other prison communities.
Mitchellville's elementary school is regarded as one of the best in the state, part of SE Polk district.
Based upon a quick check of Google maps. It looks like Vinje consists of a bar. That's a winner to me.
Maybe women inmates are perceived to be less of an escape risk.
Anamosa and Fort Madison have had their prisons for a long time. Newton has had the minimum security a while but I think built the medium in the 1990’s. Probably had way less impact than losing Maytag. I think Clarinda and Mt. Pleasant lost mental health facilities when they were closed and then got prisons. Fort Dodge was probably declining before they got their prison, which I think was also the 1990’s. Rockwell City has minimum security but in a former life was a women’s reformatory so they have had a prison for a while.
No woman is going to risk breaking a nail to tediously dig through a poured concrete wall.
