2nd worst town in Kansas

[bones129]

Now I just want to see photoshops of city limit signs and post cards with awkwardly true assessments of the nominated town.

There is a sign on I-70 that says "WaKeeney: It's Affordable". Always struck me as a pretty sad boast.

So, WaKeeney is for sale? 

[nicname]

Small towns, at least the ones that aren't completely dying, seem to get better the farther west you go. 

[Shoeless Joe Jackson]

Now I just want to see photoshops of city limit signs and post cards with awkwardly true assessments of the nominated town.

There is a sign on I-70 that says "WaKeeney: It's Affordable". Always struck me as a pretty sad boast.

 

"We're Poors"

Lehigh - "Small, but it's home."

Lincoln - "Free Land"

A place so horrible they give you a free piece of land to put your trailer on.

[jmlynch1]

They have post rock history ahole!

[felix rex]

DNR entire thread but I'm sure Emporia got some good play

everyone focused on much smaller towns. i think we need to break it down into town sizes and state quadrants personally but felix apparently wants nothing to do with it.

No. I am board with this. Four quadrants and a 4A system?

[Shoeless Joe Jackson]

Actually many of the towns listed in this thread just give away land.  Do other states do this?

Kansasfreeland.com

[Rage Against the McKee]

What a treat of a thread. Thanks for this, Felix.

It's great because so many of us who have been around Kansas know exactly the feeling...when you're in some little (or medium-sized) town somewhere in Kansas and you suddenly think to yourself: "Dear lord. There are people who actually live here. I couldn't imagine...in a million years..."

Those co-op towns that are DQ'd tend to depress me the most because there used to be more going on there and now there are zero businesses, but people still live there in old houses that sell for $15,000, and you wonder, "what do these people do to make money?" Sure, some of them farm, but there are more houses in there. Greeley is a good example of this. I guess maybe folks go into Osawotamie or Garnett to work. 

SEK does seem to be the worst in a lot of ways, though. How about those KDOT signs along highways like US 169 that say "attractions" and then list things like "Sleep Inn" or "Dairy Queen"?  Oof.

There are some good jobs in small towns, and small town life really isn't that bad if you have enough money to live large. Something I have noticed, at least in southeast Kansas, is that most of the people who have good jobs live a few miles outside of town.

[bones129]

What a treat of a thread. Thanks for this, Felix.

It's great because so many of us who have been around Kansas know exactly the feeling...when you're in some little (or medium-sized) town somewhere in Kansas and you suddenly think to yourself: "Dear lord. There are people who actually live here. I couldn't imagine...in a million years..."

Those co-op towns that are DQ'd tend to depress me the most because there used to be more going on there and now there are zero businesses, but people still live there in old houses that sell for $15,000, and you wonder, "what do these people do to make money?" Sure, some of them farm, but there are more houses in there. Greeley is a good example of this. I guess maybe folks go into Osawotamie or Garnett to work. 

SEK does seem to be the worst in a lot of ways, though. How about those KDOT signs along highways like US 169 that say "attractions" and then list things like "Sleep Inn" or "Dairy Queen"?  Oof.

There are some good jobs in small towns, and small town life really isn't that bad if you have enough money to live large. Something I have noticed, at least in southeast Kansas, is that most of the people who have good jobs live a few miles outside of town.

That was a good post, Nuts. I must agree with it. Especially the "live large" part. Accurate, very accurate.

[star seed 7]

Quinter.

this is weird.  just 5 minutes ago my mom wanted to know if i wanted to go see some traveling peter pan play in sacremento and that she got tickets cause her secretary's cousin is from quinter kansas and is in the play.

never heard of quinter before this.  did not accept the tickets.

[Asteriskhead]

Herington, Nichols and McVeigh holed up there while they were planning the bombing. Terrible, nasty Dairy Queen.

Any town located within Osage County. Scranton probably takes the cake. The Trop, woof.

St Marys, with the ex-communicated catholics and that weird clothing donation thing on the north side of 24.

[felix rex]

So, NE, NW, SE, and SW divisions too much? Seems like it. Maybe just a NE, SE, and West division. What's the population division? 1A-under 2.5k, 2A-2.5k to 10k, 3A-10k to 25k, 4A, 25k plus?

This seems like a lot of work. Someone else do it and post.

Also, Pecan Capital of Kansas is the current leader for best fanningbrag. "It's affordable" is tops in "lowest self-esteem/will probably sleep with you on first date".

[nicname]

Now I just want to see photoshops of city limit signs and post cards with awkwardly true assessments of the nominated town.

There is a sign on I-70 that says "WaKeeney: It's Affordable". Always struck me as a pretty sad boast.

 

"We're Poors"

Lehigh - "Small, but it's home."

Lincoln - "Free Land"

A place so horrible they give you a free piece of land to put your trailer on.

There is a certain goEMAW poster that will NOT enjoy your post

[star seed 7]

Does anyone know if Potwin is a crappy place to live?  I know they have a large feedlot just southwest of town.  Could qualify under chunkles rule.

there is a VERY cool neighborhood in topeka called potwin.  it's got like brick streets and tons of beautiful houses from the 1800's.  would totally live there.

[Institutional Control]

Greeley is a good example of this. I guess maybe folks go into Osawotamie or Garnett to work. 

Greeley had an all-nude strip bar for a while. Probably lost a lot of jobs when it closed down.

[Institutional Control]

In Oswego there are signs that say the city will pay you $3000 to build a house there.

[Saulbadguy]

all of Jackson county

[_33]

Small towns, at least the ones that aren't completely dying, seem to get better the farther west you go.

It's because they have to be self sufficient because there are no large towns to feed off of out there.

[slobber]

dear god, sorry you all have wasted so much of your day.  I couldn't post until just now.  Anywho:

JFC IT'S LARNED

does your 2nd worst town have two feedlots on either side of it, producing a fine dusting of crap smell no matter which direction the wind is blowing? 
What is missing in your oh so horrible, yet non-crap smell town? 

El Dorado, LOL (lived there. it smells, but not like crap) has a community college and an awesome lake. NOPE.
Rush Center is pud but doesn't smell like crap.  NICE TRY ASSHOLES
Those swedish towns have these cathedrals that are like a mile tall that people enjoy. They also don't smell like crap.  OUT.
Great Bend is called Great Bend because of the river that bends within the town.  It has a river.  Smells shitty sometimes... river auto-disqualifies.
Ark City is bad.  Blackface mayor guy from a few years ago, desperately tries to be in Oklahoma, yet no discernable crap smell. eff OFF THEN.
Dodge City.  Very tempting choice.  Pig crap smell is worse than cow crap.  Still, history and new cultures are fun, right?
lest we forget Kansas City Kansas is in Kansas.  Raceway/legends is basically Edwardsville, so eff off.  That said, no unavoidable crap smell.

Larned.  Nothing to see there.  Fort Larned is like other boring forts, except when you're done visiting you just go back to smelling crap all day in a boring crap-smell town.  Funfact: Larned has no funfacts because it is goddamn full of shattered dreams and constant crap smell.

Horton disagrees with you.

[slobber]

SE quadrant is the worst overall. I don't think it is even close, although the fact that Horton is in the NE quadrant made me hesitate.

[dmartin]

I'm surprised nobody has nominated Salina yet

Rankings of mid-sized Kansas Cities without major colleges. 

Best to worst:

Salina > Hutchinson > Garden City > Dodge City

I was going to make an argument on Hutch being in front of Salina, but the Salina Mall vs the Hutch Mall /Empty Ghost Mall is probably worth enough points to push Salina back in front. But there is a large gap between Hutch and Garden City.

[dmartin]

osawatomie.

like 3 mcdonald's in the history of the world have failed. and osawatomie was home to one of them.

Didn't the McDonalds in Lyons fail as well?

[Institutional Control]

SE quadrant is the worst overall. I don't think it is even close, although the fact that Horton is in the NE quadrant made me hesitate.

No way. Western KS is terrible.

[slobber]

SE quadrant is the worst overall. I don't think it is even close, although the fact that Horton is in the NE quadrant made me hesitate.

No way. Western KS is terrible.

Western KS smells like money. SE KS smells like ass.

[Rage Against the McKee]

Smell matters, but I can hardly see how it could be the deciding factor for worst city when 25% of Kansas smells exactly the same.

[_33]

SE quadrant is the worst overall. I don't think it is even close, although the fact that Horton is in the NE quadrant made me hesitate.

No way. Western KS is terrible.

You need to make a distinction between NW and SW. NW is ok (pburg), SW is total garbage and the worst place on earth.