South West
The south west side of town has some old log cabins that have been sided over and many newer homes built in the 80's and 90's.  Many of the streets are curvilinear and about the only straight streets are the sub-arterials of Watson and Preston.   It is isolated like the south east side from other residential districts in Mt. Pleasant. 

It stretches from M-20 (High Street) on the north to Broomfield on the south. Its west of campus and runs to the countryside on the west.  The Chippewa River does limit its westward growth to a degree but in the southwest corner it is free to run.  The railroad tracks are along the east edge as well.  The three or four trains will whistle as they go through town.  In the summer there is more train traffic because of the excursions trains.  But the train that comes through just before eleven each night whistles good night to the town.   
Houses can be very expensive in some pockets especially near the river.  Average sold prices in the west half over the last three years have been about $194,000 while the mid decade prices were a tad over $200,000 with several selling in the upper $300,000 price range.  There are some large two story homes in the west part of this district.  East of Watson Rd. houses more commonly are ranches and the average selling price east of Watson is about $116,000 over the last three years compared to the $136,000 average for the mid decade years.  Watson is the long straight red line starting in the middle of the north edge.  

Apartment complexes and student housing are common along the south edge.  In the photo the south east corner dispays the high rise dorms on campus.  Other apartment complexes are just to the west of that and in the southwest corner is a condominium development that is about 20 years old.  Just north of that is one of the newer single family subdivisions in town.  Vite's Woods or Cathedral Woods is just north of that along the west edge.  It is about a 40 acre parcel that the University owns and is used for field work by the University classes and is highly uses by the public.  It is full of walking trails and takes one down to the Chippewa River.  Along the east side river to the north are a number of beautiful homes.  Across the river to the west is Chippawater Park and the plan is to connect the university property and the city park by putting a pedestrian bridge across the river.  The park continues to the north of the district and is known as Mill Pond Park  There is an entrance to Mill Pond Park at Watson and a pedestrian pathway parallels M-20 west to Chippawater Park.  

Over the last several years about 16 houses a year sell in this neighborhood.  Over half will have 3 bedrooms and about 30% will have 4.  Almost 25% will have more than 3 baths and over 20% will have 2.5 bathrooms.  The median selling price for the last three years of the decade  sits at $135,000 down from the $148,000 of the previous three years.   Twenty-seven were under $150,000 and 7 were over $200,000.  Almost all the homes in this area that sold in the last few years were built between 1950 and 1995.  Lest than 10% were older than 1950 or newer than 1999.   The total finished square footage is commonly over 2000 sq. ft. but 15% were under 1300 sq. ft.  and about 25% were between 1300 and 1700 sq. ft.  

Sixty percent of the homes sold over the last few years were ranches and almost 15% were tri-levels.  Two story homes were third with 12%.  Most had basements (80%) since the soils are condusive to fairly good drainage on this side of town compared to other areas.  Over half of the homes had fully or partly finished basements.  Garages were found on over 95% of the homes with two and two and a half stall garages comprising two-thirds of the garages.  One garage had more than 3 stalls.  Half of the homes had brick on the exterior to some degree with vinly siding on a third and aluminum siding on 25% with wood on 20%.  A lot of homes had more than one exterior covering. 

Air conditioning is found in only 60% of the homes but fireplaces were in over 80%.  I guess people like heat more than cool.  Eighty-five percent of the homes had some type of outdoor hard surface living area with decks at 45%, patios at 40% and porches at 25%. 

This section of town has the most ups and downs in the streets and if you want exercise this is the section of town to walk or bike.  You can get a few streets that will give you some downhill speed.  There are three large churches in this part of town and one elementary school (Vowels).  A few of the homes are near the river but in the big flood of 1986 only one had flood waters from the river.  Upton Drain (an attractive name for a stream) cuts through the area.