Worst city in Iowa?
- Thread starter Cfinnerty16
- Start date
Davenport's now rougher than Detroit, got it. This thread is hilarious.
Every time I see one of these threads I shake my head. I was born in central Iowa and when I was young my folks moved us to Denver. I graduated high school there and hated it. Came back to attend Iowa State and have never left. Married and raised a family here. I still work in a town that many have mentioned as one of the worst and many my family still live there. I wouldn't live anywhere else and am thankful my kids have stayed here and are raising my grandchildren here.
Travel the rural Midwest anywhere south and east of Iowa, and you’ll quit whining about Iowa. Southern Illinois/Indiana, almost all of Missouri, eastern Oklahoma, pockets of Kansas, just far worse than anywhere here.
I’m surprised they even let the masses of unclean non Dutch people look at their tulips and eat at their amazing bakery.If you're not Dutch you aren't much.
Finally! I read through this whole thread, and this is the first mention‽ My only thought is that it has degraded so much that it’s not considered a city any more.
Dubuque is not. Their restaurant scene is very underrated. Also have a legit film festival, a symphony, get many concerts, etc. Underated city.
Fort Dodge is rough in many spots. Their saving grace is they have a Taco Tico.
Webster City is pretty bleak.
In Ottumwa, you will never see as many adult males riding BMX bikes and grandmas with bad tatoos as you do there. I agree the area around Indian Hills probably knocks them out of contention for worst city.
Keokuk is also really bleak. It is difficult to find the "nice" part of town there.
Clinton is a little tough but it is sort of like Ottumwa. It has a couple decent neighborhoods that would knock it out of contention.
The best part of Marshalltown is around their high school and the block or so around the Flying Elbow restaurant. The rest of town seems a little rough.
Davenport seems like it has really fallen off. Collapsing apartment complexes did nothing to help its perception either.
A couple other notes, Gary, Indiana is a crime ridden $hit box and easily the worst city in Indiana. I had a sales manager plan a sales meeting there at one of the casinos. We were specifically told by the casino staff not to walk outside.
Cairo, IL is possibly one of the saddest towns/cities in America. I spent a fair bit of time there while in college in the late 1990's. My boss had pretty simple instructions, get in and get out. Note, it is pronounced Kay-Roe, not Kie-Roe like the city in Egypt.
Webster City is pretty bleak.
In Ottumwa, you will never see as many adult males riding BMX bikes and grandmas with bad tatoos as you do there. I agree the area around Indian Hills probably knocks them out of contention for worst city.
Keokuk is also really bleak. It is difficult to find the "nice" part of town there.
Clinton is a little tough but it is sort of like Ottumwa. It has a couple decent neighborhoods that would knock it out of contention.
The best part of Marshalltown is around their high school and the block or so around the Flying Elbow restaurant. The rest of town seems a little rough.
Davenport seems like it has really fallen off. Collapsing apartment complexes did nothing to help its perception either.
A couple other notes, Gary, Indiana is a crime ridden $hit box and easily the worst city in Indiana. I had a sales manager plan a sales meeting there at one of the casinos. We were specifically told by the casino staff not to walk outside.
Cairo, IL is possibly one of the saddest towns/cities in America. I spent a fair bit of time there while in college in the late 1990's. My boss had pretty simple instructions, get in and get out. Note, it is pronounced Kay-Roe, not Kie-Roe like the city in Egypt.
Rural Florida is a sight to behold also, it might be confused with Haiti if you didn't know any better.
Mersim's was good but it didn't hold a candle to the place down on 9th and Mitchell that shares a parking lot with the Hometown foods grocery store.
Very true. But my observations in those regions and Iowa is that those places had a head start. A lot of the other rural areas outside of Iowa decayed 30 years ago. Iowa’s have had a later and slower decline. Most of Iowas small towns are significantly worse than they were 20-30 years ago. Other than a handful of exceptions like Decorah and those with bedroom community locations small towns in Iowa are going to keep declining. It’s just really hard to maintain a small town once the schools are gone.
This works both ways. I recall “dutchy” being a highly derogatory term among the old German Catholics.If you're not Dutch you aren't much.
I lived in the QC for a portion of my life and Davenport is a shell of what it use to be. Comparing it to Detroit is stretch, but Kimberly/Brady are a fraction of what they use to be. Since I have lived in Waterloo and Davenport both towns have lost to their next door neighbor Bettendorf/CF. Those towns have benefited greatly in the down fall of the bigger city
A someone that didn't grow up in Iowa but lived there for 21 years I always find it interesting how people from Iowa claim it's the greatest place in the world and then turn around and rip on every town about how awful it is.
