Small town USA

[Michael1980 0]

Hi, what defines a typical US small town of pop. around 5k.<br />How much industrial and commercial is it likely to have?<br />Residential, all low density with some med. density in the middle?<br />Some pictures of a small American towns and general advice would be really welcome

[packersfan 666]

I live in Phillips, WI; Population: 1600. We have the headquarters of Phillips Plastics (looks like a high tech industry), Marquip (high tech/manufacturing), Plating (Manufacturing/high tech), Georgia Pacific (manufacturing/dirty). Houses are mostly 2-story or 1-1/2 story houses. A few small apartments. Row stores like from the 1890s. A small airport with one or two runways. Lots of woods around with clearings and some farms and lots of lakes. Rhinelander, WI has about 7000 people and has a few more apartments, few more industries, and department stores (Walmart, K-Mart, etc.) and chains (Pizza Hut, Dominos, McDonalds, Burger King, Culvers, KFC, etc.). Some of these might be more than the typical 7000 person city due to its location.

[Michael1980 0]

So, for your town and Rhinelander, what is the proportion of residential to industrial and commercial (say 90% resi, 5 % I, 5% C?).

Thanks

[rodent1989 9]

most rural cities in the midwest (where I live) have maybve 5-6 thousand people, TONS of farms and have a few central industries (like a grain or textile mill)

[ThePeoplesPerson 3]

I live in a small town of 5k in Ontario. We've got one wood mill for our industry and thats about it. The rest is commercial such as small shops down mainstreet, a couple car dealerships on the outskirts and a couple grocery stores.

[ript73 0]

Attached is a pic of the town I live in. Population is approx. 4000. Median age is 40 with median household income around $33k. We've got an Agricultural Equipment manufacturer as one of our major employers. There are a couple of mid density residential apartments (1 is probably 5 stories).

[Michael1980 0]

Great, thanks!

[iDavid 2]

At the main intersection in town, is where to place down town. Have plenty of houses, (a lot of times I make them historical to keep those ugly 12 person houses from ruining the town). Place some commercial, and industry on the outskirts of town. Then build forests, and farms around the town.

[Michael1980 0]

Damn, the first try of building a small town was funny. I put some Comercial zones in, but only some dirty stuff developed (like sex shops, gun shops - courtesy of SG). Next thing I know there is a riot . BTW, are there any rural police stations? Could not find on STEX...

[ThePeoplesPerson 3]

Actually, search for  "smalltown" on the STEX and you'll get a number of wall to wall buildings. Every town I've driven through has its downtown comprised of these for normally 2-3 blocks.

[handykapp 0]

I am from a small town in Oklahoma. The best idea of a small town I can give you is a place called Stigler, Oklahoma. You may look it up on Google Earth. It is the prime example of a nice small town. 2 Main streets crossing each other, Main St. & Broadway and it's laid out in nice old time town fashion, with a little commercial between east and west residential areas.

[summersa74 0]

Small. Heh.

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I grew up in a town of 400 people.

[jmjselect 0]

historic cities in my county(6 around 3-7thousand each) are all located on rail lines(we have 2 thru our county)

the smaller ones have 1-2 big industries, for example buford, ga: had a huge leather company that built some of the best saddles during the cowboy era.  the bigger ones has alot

the center of the cities is centered around the industry and businesses, industry on the rail and commercial right next to it(sometimes on the rail along with industry, sometimes next to away from the rail).  the road layout was pretty much griddy and lots were very VERY small, like one block would hold 4-6 houses each and the streets are very narrow.  lots of streets.

but it would be commercial and industry in the cities center surrounded by residential, then past that farms.

[atilla5 6]

Small towns in my area of South Dakota. Have usually between probally range from 50-2,000 or 3,000 people. A town with lets say 5,000 people is classified a city. Most small towns have a railroad going through the town, a large grain elevator, 1 to 2 1/2 story houses, and main streets have a few business's, like a grocery store, bank, city hall, or a volunteer fire department. When you drive through South Dakota or anyother Midwestern state you notice alot of farms. A "small town" is basically driven off of these farms. The farmer will drive into town for his basic needs like feed or anyother escential for his farm. Then there are some towns that basiclly disappear due to the competition with a larger town in the area.

The town I live in is Booge which only has 6 people living there (just east of the city of Sioux Falls on the Minnesota border). In the past Booge had 2 grain elevators, a general store (which is still their but use as rental property), a ice cream store, and a train depot. The town had a peak population of 11 around the WWII era. On weekends their were alot more people in town, since they held dances and stuff and the old store. Once the TV arrived the town pretty much dwindled.

So in all small towns in my opinion range anywhere from 50-2,000 people. Anywhere higher than that I usually call it a city ex. Brandon, SD has about 7,000 people.

[City2TheMax 3]

It seems like everyone here comes from a small town. I grew up in a city of about 250k, and moved to another city about the same size.

When I think of small towns I think of:

farms

small, tight-knight communities

a mainstreet with vintage shops

some large industry, usually manufacturing in the area

maybe a College, possibly with a football team

and that's basically it. I don't know what the small town's like, but this is just what i think of. Remember, with a small town you don't expand. It basically stays the same for years.