Dallas-Fort Worth Babies

Gainesville, TX

Just wondering if anyone lives in Gainesville or has been there?  We are possibly thinking about moving there and was wondering what the town was like as far as the community, weather, scenery?  TIA

Re: Gainesville, TX

  • I used to live about 30 minutes East of Gainesville in Sherman, TX. I traveled through Gainesville numerous times on my way to Stillwater, OK. From the highway its not that great, but I never went far from the highway, so I don't have the best view of the town, ya know? I did go to the outlet mall once, and it was pretty much all shut down at that point with just a handful of shops left. Sorry not much help.

    The weather though is pretty much like Sherman which is much like Dallas lol. Mild temperatures usually, a little more rain I think though. Granted, all my information on the weather is from the local Denison, TX news stations.

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  • Our business is in Valley View which is just south of Gainsville.  I don't know what you're looking for in a town, but it isn't bad. It is somewhat small (from what I've seen) but they do have some stores and restaurants.  The outlet mall is going downhill fast but there are still some decent stores in there and I go probably a couple times a year (Gap, VF, Oshkosh are usually the store I hit).

    I know a couple people who live there and they seem to like it.  To me, it seems small and sort of "country" but I could be completely wrong on that.

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  • It depends on what you are looking for in a town.  If you love night life and having places to go and do something, Gainesville is not for you.  The nearest movie theaters are in Denton, Sherman, or Ardmore (roughly a 30 to 40 minute drive).  The same goes for bowling alleys (much to the chagrin of my DH). For a night out the casino in Thackerville is fun but can get old after awhile. Basically - be prepared to have to plan way ahead for a fun night out. As a previous poster said the outlet mall has declined a lot in the decade it has been open.  Hopefully with the new owners it will get turned around but I am assuming it will take a while to build it back up into something great.

    Something else to think of - the school system is not fantastic.  Most parents will try to transfer their kids to one of the smaller schools (Muenster, Lindsay, Era, Callisburg, Valley View) so that they can get a better education.  Not saying that anyone that graduated from Gainesville is at a disadvantage, just that a lot of parents do not want their children in the system here.  And I say this as a person that transferred out when I hit the sixth grade.  I have a cousin that is planning to transfer her kids out in the fall because of the amount of bullying/gang activity her son has been exposed to in the middle school. Don't let the idea of a small town fool anyone - there is a lot of gang activity in this town! The police department is doing a great job to curb this activity but it's still there.

    One last thing - property taxes are ridiculous. My sister and BIL have their house up for sale because the property taxes are killing them. Using them as an example - they have an 1800 square foot home and pay around $3300 a year for property taxes.  Some of their neighbors pay a lot more.  When I owned my home in Gainesville property taxes were roughly $1200 for an 885 square foot home.

    Obviously there are some positives to living in Gainesville - it's still a fairly small town and very friendly.  Traffic is not bad at all and there's even a Starbucks! 

    ETA - the weather is like anywhere in Texas - really hot in July/August fairly mild in the fall and spring.  A little more prone to ice in the winter because the roads are a little less traveled. There are some parts of Gainesville that are absolutely gorgeous - the historic district comes to mind.  There is lots of pretty scenery outside of town because there are still a lot of farms in Cooke County. The zoo is one of the many positives to Gainesville - the season pass is pretty cheap and the landscaping is very pretty there. Between the community college's drama department and the Butterfield stage there is a lot of community theater events.

    Feel free to PM me if you want more info - it's obviously not all bad or I wouldn't have moved back to the general area.

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