Where to live around Scott AFB area

[SDF2BUF2MCO]

Looks like I may be relocating to the Scott AFB area. Can anyone recommend areas/schools? Also what areas to stay away from (besides East St. Louis). Thanks.

 

[Birdstrike]

We did three years there and loved it. Schools in O'Fallon and Belleville are fine. Stay away from Mascoutah. Downtown St Louis has everything anyone could want; new stadium, Little Italy, Veiled Prophets (VP) Fair, KMOX, and, of course, Union Station.

 

[GVFlyer]

While I don't have the experience in the area that Birdstrike does, I spent three weeks with the 1375th doing my C-21 transition. Yeah, I know - two weeks at Simuflite followed by three weeks at Scott for a Learjet qualification kinda borders on using a tactical nuke for vector control.

Belleville has a nice pastoral setting and is probably a good place to raise a family, but it's sorta quite there. Plan on spending a lot of time in St. Louis and don't get off the highway as you transit East St. Louis.

GV

 

[Kikuchiyo]

Did my 3 yrs there, also, but must point out that I left in '98, so some of this may be OBE.

We lived in Swansea, a bedroom town north of Belleville, and south of Fairview Heights (but you'd never know you left one for the next given the amount of development.) FH is the shopping area: mall, big-box stores, etc. Very few people live in FH. Belleville is mostly older homes, a "cute" downtown (so sayeth She), and long established local businesses. Plenty of folks lived in Swansea, it's more convienient to the shopping of FH and I-64 (the route into STL).

That said, Birdstrike is right, lots of folk live in O'Fallon, good schools, houses a little pricier than Swansea/Belleville. Still good access to I-64 and closer to the base than Swansea.

Shiloh is very close to the base (we'd go there for lunch sometimes). Lots of strip-the-land developments, and 1 restaraunt. Don't know about schools. Mascoutah is farther east of the base, much farther to I-64, STL, etc. It's a "country" town. If you must have large acreage, and can afford it, then maybe it's for you. Personally I'm a big-city guy, so like Birdstrike, I avoided it.

As to schools, there is a historically large Catholic community there, with many Catholic schools. So many so that they had room for my kids, even tho we're not Catholic. Swansea public schools had ranked well, but we went private after disagreements with the administration. This is not an ad or endorsement for or against Catholic schools or the Church, just a statement on the availability of said schools in the Belleville area.

Good luck to you.

 

[SDF2BUF2MCO]

Thanks for the info everyone. While both my wife and I are from the Midwest neither of us are that familiar with the area. Just looking at the homes via the web, Momma likes Edwardsville. She is concerned with resale and thinks Edwardsville is the more "desirable" area. Homes and taxes seem to be higher. After living in Orlando, I'm ready to get back to a "normal" Midwest way of life. O'Fallon, Troy, or Shiloh would suit me just fine.

 

[stlpilot]

Thanks for the info everyone. While both my wife and I are from the Midwest neither of us are that familiar with the area. Just looking at the homes via the web, Momma likes Edwardsville. She is concerned with resale and thinks Edwardsville is the more "desirable" area. Homes and taxes seem to be higher. After living in Orlando, I'm ready to get back to a "normal" Midwest way of life. O'Fallon, Troy, or Shiloh would suit me just fine.

I’m a lifer from the "other side" of the river but know plenty about the Scott area. All those areas are growing especially O'fallon, for the better from what I see and hear. You can always come over to St Louis but with the construction on I-64 it’s a pain right now, and of course housing is much higher. Id say you're a safe bet with any of those areas you mentioned but if you have more specific questions feel free to PM me I know we have at least 10+ folks in the squadron from those areas. Id be glad to put you in touch with them.

 

[Foxcow]

I agree with the genearl consensus. I would live in either O'Fallon, Bellville, or St. Louis. I live in University City and work at St. Louis Downtown airport and only drive about 30 minutes to work. St. Louis is small and there is not much here but its an allright city.

 

[Purple Haze]

10 years ago, the schools we were most pleased with were Wolf Branch School (K-8) in Swansea and Belleville East High School. Wolf Branch was the best school my kids attended throughout our travels.

www.wolfbranchschooldistrict.org/