Okay, I've been to Emporia and back today. I did do a drive-by and here's what I saw. Uncle Harry Hall is now Burch Telecom. The dormitory that sat in the middle (I can't remember the name now) is Christian Day School complete with playground equipment. The church is now Bethel Baptist Church. And somewhere in one of the buildings is the National Teachers Hall of Fame. One of the links you provided mentions it - "Behind the NTHF is a park with a paved walking path that loops around a small pond." Wonder if that's the pond we swam in and the swans lived (Priscilla and Aquilla, I think). I didn't drive the circle because I wanted to get to the quilt shop before it closed :)-->
Yes, Emporia is a college town but not near so much as Lawrence where my son goes to KU. Of course, KU has over 20,000 students whereas ESU is much smaller - only about 6,000 I think. It doesn't cost near as much as KU either! But ESU is the only school in a 12 state region with a graduate program in library and information management so many grad students fly in from across the country for the program.
But Emporia is also very much a cow town with lots of pickup trucks and cowboy boots. One of my coworkers lived there for several years and commuted to our office. He complained about the lack of entertainment and having to travel to Lawrence or Kansas City for entertainment and decent shopping. That's one of the reasons my son transferred from ESU to KU - he thinks Emporia is way too boring!
I haven't noticed an Iowa Beef smell when I've been there so they must have done something about it. Gawd, that was awful, wasn't it? And yeah, I'm sure you're right that housing is cheaper. Up here by Lawrence the tax appraisal on our home has increased $45,000 since we bought it 11 years ago. And we sure haven't done that much renovation. We're out in the country and in recent years people started moving out of the city and building these unbelievable houses that have increased land values. Sorry for the economic lesson on NE Kansas. Anyway, we came back to our roots here in Kansas 18 years ago and haven't regretted it.