Why your town sucks #5: Marshalltown

cyfanatic

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Oct 18, 2006
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Cedar Rapids, Iowa
Is that an abandoned hospital east of downtown Marshalltown? Killed some time during a youth basketball tournament this winter and drove around the town for a bit. If that is what it was...yikes...it is a big structure that looks like people had infiltrated it while it was empty? Thought it would be a great set for a horror movie. Are they going to tear it down?
 

Clonefan32

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Nov 19, 2008
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There are some really nice parts of Marshalltown, it just sucks that the older parts continue to degrade and get worse. After the tornado they have started to rebuild some of the downtown area and it is actually getting a bit nicer. Sub City is the best sub sandwich shop I've ever eaten at anywhere. I even like it better than West St Deli, which is saying something.

I will refuse any Marshalltown slander just because of Sub City. Elite.
 

dmclone

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Oct 20, 2006
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Never lived there, but I have a few connections.

In high school, I lived close to the guy that started Sub City in Cedar Falls. Not sure if he sold it before they opened in marshalltown.

My grandfather-in-law owned a grocery store in Marshalltown for a long time, along with a bunch of local convenience stores. He LOVED marshalltown, so you could never say anything bad. When I first met him, he took us to Maid Rite and I ordered fries, I'm surprised he allowed me to marry his granddaughter after that stunt.
 

dmclone

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Oct 20, 2006
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The best burgers in Marshalltown are at the Flying Elbow, a funky diner in the North part of town. It has won several prizes from the Iowa Best contest.
Good hot dogs, and decent beer selection too!
 

907CY

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Jan 30, 2010
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Northern Polk County
They will make your smash burger any way you want it. There are many good beers on tap. Sadly, they don't have the Iowa State beer in cans or on tap.
 

WISCY1895

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Nov 25, 2009
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Think that one part has continued to hurt Marshalltown is a lot of the young people that have taken office jobs commute in from places like Ames and Des Moines. Young people looking for more things to do.

There are some younger people in the community trying to make it better but it’s got a long way to go to be anything other than bad
 
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Acylum

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Nov 18, 2006
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Never lived there, but I have a few connections.

In high school, I lived close to the guy that started Sub City in Cedar Falls. Not sure if he sold it before they opened in marshalltown.

My grandfather-in-law owned a grocery store in Marshalltown for a long time, along with a bunch of local convenience stores. He LOVED marshalltown, so you could never say anything bad. When I first met him, he took us to Maid Rite and I ordered fries, I'm surprised he allowed me to marry his granddaughter after that stunt.
My daughters asked for ketchup. I wanted to crawl under the booth. And now I think they actually have it.
 
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AuH2O

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Sep 7, 2013
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I'm just Google Street Viewing out of curiosity, and it looks to me like the downtown area is in a lot better shape than many other similarly sized towns in Iowa. Ft Dodge, Ottumwa, Clinton, etc.
Not some expert, but I've spent a little bit of time in M'town, FD, and Ottumwa. M'Town's main street/downtown is a lot better than Dirty Dodge.

Have been to Ottumwa a couple times in the last year or so, and hadn't been for probably 20 years prior to that. It's 1000x better than it was. Main St. itself in Ottumwa has been fixed up a lot. Now, the side streets and blocks around it not so much, but the Main St. of Ottumwa is quite a bit better than M'Town and both are miles better than Ft. Dodge. Not saying Ottumwa is nice, but they have done a good job cleaning up their main street and getting businesses in there over the past 20 years.
 

VTXCyRyD

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Sep 2, 2010
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There are some really nice parts of Marshalltown, it just sucks that the older parts continue to degrade and get worse. After the tornado they have started to rebuild some of the downtown area and it is actually getting a bit nicer. Sub City is the best sub sandwich shop I've ever eaten at anywhere. I even like it better than West St Deli, which is saying something.
I stop at Sub City anytime I'm near Mtown near lunch. It is the best sub sandwich place I've been to.
 
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Cybone

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Apr 11, 2006
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I grew up in Marshalltown. I have fond memories of walking to the mall, playing video games, buying some comic books and enjoying a slurpee from the Walmart, which used to be an anchor to the mall. I drank for hours in that Diamond Dave’s in the mall after learning of a high school classmate and close friends death 30 some odd years ago.

Renting video games from the only rental store in town in the center of that mall parking lot. Friday nights in high school was renting a movie, buying a pizza, lots of Mtn Dew and playing cards. That is what we did in the early 90’s.

Calvin Rockets was good before it flooded. Think it was call Fields or something golf themed before that.

I had a friend from college tell me that Marshalltown was the only place in Iowa he had ever been where he felt in danger the entire time.

It bothers me what has become of my home town. Poke and joke all you like, but know it wasn’t always like this.
 

AuH2O

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Sep 7, 2013
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Think that one part has continued to hurt Marshalltown is a lot of the young people that have taken office jobs commute in from places like Ames and Des Moines. Young people looking for more things to do.

There are some younger people in the community trying to make it better but it’s got a long way to go to be anything other than bad
That's a heck of a commute, but I could see it.

But I do find it common in Iowa and a bit odd that people from small towns in Iowa, a lot of which are pretty dumpy, talking about places like Marshalltown or Ottumwa, when their main streets are nicer than a good number of smaller towns in Iowa.

My bar might be low, because pretty much all the small towns where I grew up, went to school, had friends and family are pretty much all complete dumps now.
 

NWICY

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Sep 2, 2012
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Never lived there, but I have a few connections.

In high school, I lived close to the guy that started Sub City in Cedar Falls. Not sure if he sold it before they opened in marshalltown.

My grandfather-in-law owned a grocery store in Marshalltown for a long time, along with a bunch of local convenience stores. He LOVED marshalltown, so you could never say anything bad. When I first met him, he took us to Maid Rite and I ordered fries, I'm surprised he allowed me to marry his granddaughter after that stunt.
What is the story about fries and MaidRite
 
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