How do you define the Midwest?

Started by hotdogPi, August 17, 2018, 07:12:42 AM

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hotdogPi

Thread split. Replies in this thread should probably be moved here by a mod or admin.

Pennsylvania: None. I've changed my mind on this; the Northeast and Midwest do not touch, and Pittsburgh and Erie are in between in an "Appalachian" category.
Ohio: All
Michigan: All
Indiana: All
West Virginia: None (goes in the "Appalachian" category along with western and central Pennsylvania)
Kentucky: I-71 corridor, but not the rest of the state, which is in the South.
Illinois: All. An exception could be made for south of I-64, but I'm still including it.
Michigan: All
Wisconsin: All
Minnesota: All
Iowa: All
Missouri: North of I-70, plus all of the Kansas City and St. Louis metro areas.
North Dakota: None. Great Plains.
South Dakota: None. Great Plains.
Nebraska: None. Great Plains. (Yes, the Omaha area is split.)
Kansas: Kansas City metro area only. The rest is the Great Plains.

Side note: In a trivia game at a restaurant I went to, the host asked a question beginning with "Which Midwestern state contains...". The answer was Idaho. While he normally makes his own questions, this question came from an app that asked "which of these", which obviously only works in multiple choice format. Our team regularly went for over a year; he didn't make too many blunders like that other than mispronunciations of names.
Clinched, minus I-93 (I'm missing a few miles and my file is incorrect)

Traveled, plus US 13, 44, and 50, and several state routes

I will be in Burlington VT for the eclipse.


Henry

For me, the Midwest is the following states:
IL, IN, IA, KS, MI, MN, MO, NE, ND, OH, SD, WI
Go Cubs Go! Go Cubs Go! Hey Chicago, what do you say? The Cubs are gonna win today!

TXtoNJ

Bounded by a line running roughly:

- From Youngstown to Cincinnati
- Then following the Ohio River to Evansville
- Then running to St. Louis
- Then northwest to Des Moines
- Then north to St Cloud, MN
- Then east to Green Bay
- Then southeast to north of Grand Rapids
- Then east-northeast to Lake Huron in the vicinity of Saginaw/Midland
- Finally, following the western shore of Lake Huron, St Clair River, Detroit River, and southern shore of Lake Erie to the OH/PA border.


Max Rockatansky

Everything between the Rockies/Appalachians and north of the Mason Dixson line.  An alternate definition which I think more people would go by is the states of original Big Ten Schools. 

SP Cook

Comments:

Kentucky - Lexington and the Bluegrass bill the area as "where midwestern sensibility meet southern charm" and that is correct, in a cultural context.  More broadly, Kentucky, a border state, and more particularly Louisville, after the war chose a public image that is far more "southern" than it really is.  Western KY, which is least populated part of the state, is the most "southern".  In Midwestern terms, the counties that touch or nearly touch the Ohio are clearly "midwestern".  Roughly the 3rd and 4th congressional districts.

Ohio - 99 people out of 100 when asked to name "the midwestern states" will say "Ohio", generally first or second.  And that is the easy answer.  However the (grossly over broad, IMHO) legal definition of "Appalachia" includes SE Ohio, even to the edge of the Cincy and C-bus suburbs.  While not exactly the same, the SE corner of Ohio is more like WV and KY, than it is like the rest of Ohio on a cultural basis. 

Pennsylvania - Again, we have the really bad ARC definition.  But Appalachia must be subdivided as well.  Pittsburgh, and the rural areas across parts of five states that it influences are vastly different from the rest of Appalachia.  The ARC sub-divides the region in the 5 parts, but to me it works out better in 3, northern (steel economy), central (coal economy) and southern (substiance agriculture and some textiles).  But I have heard both Pittsburgh and Buffalo called "midwestern" in some contexts.  Nah.

Illinois - Again, the average joe will automatically say "Illinois" when talking about the midwest, but the "Little Egypt" region is quite border state ish if not outright southern in many respects.  SIU's main campus is closer to the campus of the University of Mississippi than it is to Chicago. 

WV - I don't know anyone who would make WV a "midwestern" state.  The tragedy of WV, as a political entitiy, is that the parts are much more like the other states they border than they are like one another.  The only connection WV has to the midwest is fierce loyalty to the Reds  in the Ohio valley region, and beyond to some degree.  But likewise many "southern" and "Ozark" places follow the Cardinals similarly.

Rothman

My mother is from KY and I have relatives in the Lexington/Winchester area.  They all uniformly place KY in the South.
Please note: All comments here represent my own personal opinion and do not reflect the official position(s) of NYSDOT.

TheHighwayMan3561

#6
MN, WI, IA, MI, ND, SD, NE, KS, MO north of US 50, IN, IL

I've never considered the Plains to be a region, rather just a subregion within the Midwest like the Great Lakes (excluding PA and NY) and Corn Belt.

OH is weird because it's in the transition zone between east and west.
self-certified as the dumbest person on this board for 5 years running

NWI_Irish96

I consider the true Midwest to be bounded roughly by I-79 on the east, I-70 on the south, I-29 on the west and Canada on the north.  Immediately outside of these areas are what I consider to be "transition zones" to other regions. 
Indiana: counties 100%, highways 100%
Illinois: counties 100%, highways 61%
Michigan: counties 100%, highways 56%
Wisconsin: counties 86%, highways 23%

Mrt90

Wisconsin and Michigan plus any state that borders Wisconsin and Michigan.





538's take on the subject...
https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/what-states-are-in-the-midwest/

webny99

Quote from: TheHighwayMan394 on August 17, 2018, 11:28:07 AM
I've never considered the Plains to be a region, rather just a subregion within the Midwest.

Same here. In fact, that's my single beef with the definition outlined in the OP. The Dakotas are very definitely part of the Midwest.

QuoteOH is weird

Agreed.  :-P

inkyatari

I define the midwest as N. Dakota, S Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Missouri, Iowa, and Minnesota.

I define the Great Lakes region as Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan, Indiana and Ohio.
I'm never wrong, just wildly inaccurate.

SCtoKC

OH, IN, IL, MI, WI, MN, IA, MO, KS, NE, ND, SD.

Another good question (perhaps for another thread) is where does Oklahoma fit?  To me, it's sort of midwestern, sort of southern, and even a little southwestern in the Panhandle.

triplemultiplex

Everything northwest of the Ohio River and everything northeast of the Missouri River.
"That's just like... your opinion, man."

noelbotevera

#13
I decided to define the Midwest using this map, based on Native American tribes. All tribes in the pink region, except for the Shawnee, is what I consider to be the Midwest.

adwerkema

Quote from: TXtoNJ on August 17, 2018, 09:34:41 AM
Bounded by a line running roughly:

- From Youngstown to Cincinnati
- Then following the Ohio River to Evansville
- Then running to St. Louis
- Then northwest to Des Moines
- Then north to St Cloud, MN
- Then east to Green Bay
- Then southeast to north of Grand Rapids
- Then east-northeast to Lake Huron in the vicinity of Saginaw/Midland
- Finally, following the western shore of Lake Huron, St Clair River, Detroit River, and southern shore of Lake Erie to the OH/PA border.


I'm curious why you don't consider Northern Michigan as part of the Midwest.

jp the roadgeek

Starting at Lake Erie and the OH/PA border.  Follows the OH border/Ohio River west to the Mississippi.  Briefly follows the Mississippi, then the southern borders of MO and KS.  Turns north at the western border of KS and goes straight up to the Canadian border, then follows the Canadian border back to the starting point. 
Interstates I've clinched: 97, 290 (MA), 291 (CT), 291 (MA), 293, 295 (DE-NJ-PA), 295 (RI-MA), 384, 391, 395 (CT-MA), 395 (MD), 495 (DE), 610 (LA), 684, 691, 695 (MD), 695 (NY), 795 (MD)

GaryV

It depends on how many parts you want to chop the country into.

If you only want 4 parts (plus AK and HI, sorry they don't fit neatly) then the Midwest is from Ohio to Kansas to North Dakota and back.

If you want more sections (e.g. divide the Northeast into more than one, New England, Mid Atlantic, etc) then you can sub-divide the Midwest into Great Lakes, Northern Plains, etc.

Sure, OH and ND are different.  But ME and PA are different too, and they're both in the Northeast.  AK and FL are different, and they're both in the South.  WA and NM are different, and they're both in the West.  That's how it goes when you only get NE, S, MW and W.

hotdogPi

Quote from: GaryV on August 17, 2018, 08:24:18 PM
AK and FL are different, and they're both in the South.

Wait, what?
Clinched, minus I-93 (I'm missing a few miles and my file is incorrect)

Traveled, plus US 13, 44, and 50, and several state routes

I will be in Burlington VT for the eclipse.

bandit957

Northern Kentucky is not in any way, shape, or form in the Deep South.
Might as well face it, pooing is cool

jakeroot

#19
Quote from: 1 on August 17, 2018, 09:04:24 PM
Quote from: GaryV on August 17, 2018, 08:24:18 PM
AK and FL are different, and they're both in the South.

Wait, what?

Obviously he meant AL.

Max Rockatansky

Quote from: bandit957 on August 17, 2018, 09:47:14 PM
Northern Kentucky is not in any way, shape, or form in the Deep South.

I'd agree with that but it isn't quite Mid-West either.  Kind of has that eastern Ohio/West Virginia vibe to it at times.

hbelkins

Kansas, Nebraska, the Dakotas, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio roughly west of I-71. Possibly Oklahoma and the lower part of Michigan.

Definitely not any part of Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, West Virginia or Pennsylvania.


Government would be tolerable if not for politicians and bureaucrats.

Brandon

Draw a line west from the Ohio River that cuts between Dayton and Cincinnati to St Louis, and then just south of Kansas City to the 100th meridian.  Straight up the 100th meridian to the Canadian border.  Follow the Canadian border through the Great Lakes to Ellicott's Line.  Then south along Ellicott's Line to the Ohio River and the point of beginning.  Parts of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota, and North Dakota.  All of Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Iowa.
"If you think this has a happy ending, you haven't been paying attention." - Ramsay Bolton

"Symbolic of his struggle against reality." - Reg

GaryV


Stephane Dumas




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