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plains states/westward midwest (Kansas City, Wichita, arguably Tulsa even and upper plains with rapid city and Omaha and arguably Des Moines) vs great lake cities (Chicago, Milwaukee, Cleveland, Buffalo) vs Southern element Midwest cities (St Louis, Cincinnati, arguably Louisville and arguably Indy) ......
Well it's all very diffuse identity wise, the uniting factor being the lack of legit mountains with the exception of Rapid City and Cinci being in shooting distance to the smokies....
And things generally being far apart (with the West being even further apart generally but having tons of topography and a lot of cities that are presently booming)
The Federal government calls the states that lie between the Alleghenies and the Rockies north of Oklahoma, Arkansas and the Ohio River the "North Central" states.
The Mississippi River further divides them into five "East North Central" states and seven "West North Central" states.
Even though you will find industry and agriculture in sufficient quantity in both, I tend to call the Great Lakes states (East North Central) the "industrial Midwest" and the Plains and near-Plains states (West North Central) the "agricultural Midwest."
The cities of the former are closer to one another than the cities of the latter are. And the Great Lakes themselves (Superior excepted) are pretty much ringed by cities, with some breaks for things like the Indiana Dunes.
State boundaries or great rivers are not a clean method to differentiate "plains" states from "rolling prairie" states - they are only an easy and convenient method. With that, Des Moines is NOT situated on the "plains". Arguably, Omaha may not even be situated on the plains, or at least, it is on the boundary. The rest of Nebraska is definitely appropriately categorized as the "plains". Look at a map of U.S. precipitation and humidity zones, which really differentiates these areas in climatological terms.
State boundaries or great rivers are not a clean method to differentiate "plains" states from "rolling prairie" states - they are only an easy and convenient method. With that, Des Moines is NOT situated on the "plains". Arguably, Omaha may not even be situated on the plains, or at least, it is on the boundary. The rest of Nebraska is definitely appropriately categorized as the "plains". Look at a map of U.S. precipitation and humidity zones, which really differentiates these areas in climatological terms.
The Missouri River valley from St. Louis to Omaha is an extension of the Eastern deciduous forest, with the principal difference being that much of the land in it is still actively farmed while much of the formerly farmed land in the East has either been urbanized or returned to forest.
Kansas City, downriver from Omaha, also sits on the edge of the Plains. It's perhaps noteworthy that there is only one sizable city that's actually in the Great Plains: Wichita, Kan. Denver (the "Queen City of the Plains") also sits on its edge. (Wait. Since the Great Plains actually extend into Oklahoma, there is a second city in it: Oklahoma City. (Tulsa lies in the piney woods of eastern Oklahoma that are a cross between the Ozarks and East Texas.))
The Missouri River valley from St. Louis to Omaha is an extension of the Eastern deciduous forest, with the principal difference being that much of the land in it is still actively farmed while much of the formerly farmed land in the East has either been urbanized or returned to forest.
Kansas City, downriver from Omaha, also sits on the edge of the Plains. It's perhaps noteworthy that there is only one sizable city that's actually in the Great Plains: Wichita, Kan. Denver (the "Queen City of the Plains") also sits on its edge. (Wait. Since the Great Plains actually extend into Oklahoma, there is a second city in it: Oklahoma City. (Tulsa lies in the piney woods of eastern Oklahoma that are a cross between the Ozarks and East Texas.))
OKC sits on the east edge of the plains as it is bordered by the crosstimbers forest to the east.
It is truly amazing how there are hardly any cities actually IN the great plains. Lubbock, Amarillo, some might consider Billings, MT to be in the plains. There are plenty of smaller towns but nothing in the way of large cities.
I have lived in 5 states and for me the west coast is the most beautiful. Then I would pick the east coast. I lived in Wisconsin for 32 years and it’s pretty and Lake Michigan is beautiful. The ugliest place I have lived is Wichita Kansas. The people are nice but the weather really sucks.
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