<p>We have read some good things about Knox College but also heard mixed things about Galesburg. Some say it's a cute little town, others say it's run down and there are issues with crime and crack and meth. Does anyone have any feedback about the town as well as the college in general - type of students, facilities, etc?</p>
<p>I would not call it especially cute or quaint. Pretty much an average older midwestern town that has a college which means it does have a few more cute shops and restaurants than a town without a college. Campus is right next to downtown which is the nicer part.</p>
<p>Thanks Barrons.</p>
<p>That’s a timely question, DoubleM – I just spent about two hours today analyzing Galesburg’s city-data.com crime data from 1999-2009. The bad news is, crime in Galesburg has been going up at a time when the U.S. overall crime rate has been going down. If you look at the actual raw numbers of crimes committed each year, however, in most cases it’s not much of an increase. Burglaries have gone way up. That’s probably a problem in the town, but not so much on campus. [Crime</a> in Galesburg, Illinois (IL): murders, rapes, robberies, assaults, burglaries, thefts, auto thefts, arson, law enforcement employees, police officers statistics](<a href=“http://www.city-data.com/crime/crime-Galesburg-Illinois.html]Crime”>http://www.city-data.com/crime/crime-Galesburg-Illinois.html)</p>
<p>Knox itself, on the other hand, has definitely been on the upswing over those same ten years, with improvements in campus facilities, academic offerings, and the strengths of some of the programs. Outgoing president Roger Taylor was well-liked and successful, and freshman president Teresa Amott seems to be picking up right where Taylor left off.</p>
<p>I’m an '84 Knox grad. Yesterday was Knox’s 175th birthday, and there were local alumni meetings across the country. At ours we discussed changes in the college and the town, including the increase in crime in Galesburg (which is what led to today’s number-crunching). We had alumni representing every decade from the 1950’s to the 2000’s including one who grew up in Galesburg. The bottom line is that Knox is probably better today than it has ever been, and Galesburg is probably worse than ever.</p>
<p>And here’s a free bit of Knox trivia that I only just learned today: Tony the Tiger and the Marlboro Man were both invented by a Knox grad, Don Tennant ('43 I think). :)</p>