Arnold, Missouri

A blue collar town on the southern edge of St. Louis county. You can find Arnold by driving 55 south until you see the big mint green water tower, the likes of which I have only seen in Boliver, Mo, however theirs is powder blue. If you do see Arnold, it is likely that you are on your way somewhere else. Beware of the photo inforced intersections and do check out the new Hobby Lobby.

There are many parallels between Arnold, Missouri and Granite City, Illinois such as: Everyone in sourrounding areas considers themselves superior to Arnold, often making it the butt of classist jokes. The high school has the exact same school colors and Mascott. People are reconed to have fancy pickup trucks and fly the stars and bars, but not quite as much as in unincorporated Jefferson county. And the favored shopping mecca of both cities, Wal to the Mart. Only Arnold is just in the process of building their Super Center and Granite has had theirs.

Having lived both places, Arnold is on the way to somewhere and many people pass through it and business and expantion are on an upswing. Granite, on the other hand is somewhere that most people try to avoid. There is no downtown area in Arnold and there is a trailer court across from the high school, whereas Granite has a beautiful 30+ year old strip mall.

Arnold is also much, much cleaner than Granite. Annual flooding of the banks of the Marimac tends to spruce things up a little each spring.

People from just about everywhere say, OH..and change the subject upon discovering that you are from either place, but for the most part the people who live in these towns are pretty are nice. Unless you sit and tell them about how awful the place is that they live and then they may understandably express frustration and offence.