Is Colorado partially in the Midwest? (Denver, Fort Collins: transplants, colleges, living)

[callmemaybe]

Do you think cities like Fort Collins, Boulder, etc have similarities to places like Lincoln or Cedar Rapids, as much as they do with say, Carson City or Twin Falls?

[Neditate]

Boulder has no similarity to any of those cities. CO is the mountain west not the midwest.

[jazzlover]

Originally Posted by callmemaybe

Do you think cities like Fort Collins, Boulder, etc have similarities to places like Lincoln or Cedar Rapids, as much as they do with say, Carson City or Twin Falls?

I do not. The Front Range and Eastern Plains is more akin to the western Great Plains, of which it is a part. There is somewhat of a cultural divide even between the western and eastern areas of Kansas, Nebraska, and the Dakotas. Like western and southern Colorado and the rest of Colorado, east and west may be part of the same state, but are very different in culture, geography and demographics.

As for the rest of Colorado, much of the Western Slope (aside from the "cartoon" resort areas that culturally really have no relation to the rest of Colorado at all) has more in common with Utah than it does the Front Range. The areas of southern Colorado heavily populated with long-time native Hispanics have a greater cultural connection with New Mexico than it does with the rest of Colorado. The far southeastern part of Colorado has more cultural connection with western Kansas, the Oklahoma Panhandle and Texas Panhandle that it does with the Front Range. Colorado's northeastern plains are more akin to western Nebraska and Kansas than with the Front Range. The Front Range cities used to share a somewhat common connection with the rest of Colorado because a lot of the population had migrated there from rural areas of Colorado in order to make a living. That migration still occurs, but the Front Range has been swamped with a flood of transplants from elsewhere. The Front Range is increasingly just a polyglot blob, with no real cultural roots anywhere. It's a big-box, franchise food, strip mall saturated glop of humanity with no real identity of its own, anymore. On a smoggy day, when the mountains are obscured, it could be mistaken for any one of dozens of US cities.

[Ark90]

People always have weird definitions of the Midwest. I've heard interior states like Tennessee included because it was geographically close to the middle of the country (although it's in the southern middle of the country). Some people just group everything between the coasts together and say it's technically Midwest. There's not a very good consensus. But it's safe to say that Colorado does not belong in this definition.

[GoneNative]

Colorado certainly does have a midwestern vibe along and east of the Front Range.

[Josseppie]

Pueblo does. In fact I have heard Pueblo described as a midwestern city that meets the southwest. That is primarily due to our manufacturing history especially the steel industry as Pueblo has been called the Pittsburgh of the west.

Here is a article from the Pittsburgh Post Gazette about the similarities between Pueblo and Pittsburgh and the difference, our southwestern flair.

PUEBLO, Colo. -- In some respects, Pueblo is like a pint-sized, Rocky Mountain Pittsburgh. It's a steel town that was once more prominent than it is today with strong ties to the Old World -- something that's still obvious when you visit Pueblo's Italian and Slovenian bakeries and markets. The town's Arkansas River once served as the U.S.-Mexico border in the mid-1800s, and Pueblo was a prime Colorado business center before the decline of the American steel industry in the 1970s and '80s resulted in tough economic times. (Pueblo retains a smaller steel industry with one operating steel plant that's now owned by a Russian company.) With that sort of rise and fall -- in clout, in a booming economy -- it's easy to see parallels to Pittsburgh's past, but those similarities evaporate when you consider Pueblo's most famous food item -- the Pueblo green chile pepper.

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/...#ixzz1xbPiStgA

[Prodigal Native]

Originally Posted by GoneNative

Colorado certainly does have a midwestern vibe along and east of the Front Range.

My folks are from the Midwest and a lot of the people who migrated to Colorado around that time were from the Midwest as well, so I think it is safe to say there is a significant Midwest influence, but as time has gone by it, like most of America has been tempered by the influx of people from other parts of the country. In Colorado's case I would argue that is primarily Texas (late 70s to mid 80s) and California (late 90s to the present).

Perhaps it is because of my family, but I know I see a lot of similarities when I am back in central Illinois; but I see very few when I am in Tucson.

[brightdoglover]

I once saw a map of the U.S. re-drawn to reflect how the geography and economics actually work- it was drawn into 13 districts. I don't remember how Colorado fared, as I wasn't attentive to it then, but the New England area was one district, with Boston as its center. Southern Connecticut was allocated to the NYC district. New Jersey was abolished (an idea I have long supported from growing up there!) and northern/central went to New York, and southern Jersey went to Philadelphia, which is actually how things work.
I imagine Denver would be the center of a "Mountain West" area for purposes of economics, media coverage, geography. The states are pretty arbitrary, especially the "Four Corners" states. Sort of like the British Empire scribbling on a map for today's contentious "countries."

[callmemaybe]

I do think Colorado is definitely primarily a western state, however I kind of feel like you'd almost have to be blind to think towns like Sterling, Limon, and Fort Morgan have absolutely nothing in common with the Midwest.

[davidv]

As a geography teacher, I let my students struggle with the question of, "To which region does Colorado belong?"

Inevitably the kids will place Colorado in the West, Mountain West, Midwest, Southwest, Rocky Mountain, and in some cases a "Colorado" region. All of these answers are correct.

The reason for the wide disparity is the fact that the students (and most adults) seem to think that the regions must be drawn according to state borders, so they lump Colorado in with California, Nevada, and Utah (West), or Nebraska and Kansas (Midwest), or New Mexico and Arizona (Southwest), or Wyoming, Utah, and Montana (Mountain West/Rocky Mountain). The reality is that Colorado is split among all the regions. The plains are distinctly Midwestern, the Southern and Western parts of the state are Southwestern, the Northern mountains and Western Slope are Western, and the mountains are the mountain west.

Look to the areas colleges for how they perceive the state:
CU's Buffaloes and Mesa State's Mavericks are very western/plains in nature
CSU's Rams, UNC's Bears are mountain animals. Other mountain mascots include: grizzlies, and mountain lions
Metro State's Roadrunners are from the desert southwest and the skyhawks and the thunderwolves conjure images of Native American culture.
We also have pioneers, mountaineers,and miners.

Our pro sports are just as schizophrenic with nuggets, broncos, rockies, rapids, and avalanche.

On a national level, check out Joel Garreau's book, The Nine Nations of North America. His take on regions puts parts of Colorado in the Breadbasket (midwest), Mex-America (southwest), and the Empty Quarter (which extends in the mountains into Canada and has Denver as its capital).

Most importantly, though, is the fact that we are discussing what geographers call perceptual or vernacular regions which means that the boundaries of a region are defined by individuals. While people often agree on the central parts of the region (for example, few would argue against putting Mississippi in the South) the edges of the region (where Colorado lies) are often disputed.