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If we are talking smaller cities then in the north the east ends at Fargo and Sioux Falls and the west begins in Rapid City.
Agree with this. Draw a line from Fargo to Sioux Falls to Lincoln to Wichita to OKC and Dallas and then on to San Antonio and you have the last line of eastern cities. Also important to notice is that east of these cities you can be in quite a few other decent sized cities in a few hours (for example, Sioux Falls is about 4 hours from Minneapolis, 4 hours from Omaha, even Des Moines isn't that far. Go west though and there aren't any decent sized cities except Rapid City and its not really that large). Once you get west of this line though its a long way to civilization.
Being from KC (GO CHIEFS), but living in Denver for the last decade I have experience here. Lest not forget, KC is where the Western trails departed the river and became Overland (read Overland Park) in the form of the Oregon and Santa Fe Trails. Nobody can argue that during the mid 19th century, anything west of KC (with exception of California) was the frontier. I think we tend to gravitate to what we know....I lived in Phoenix during the late 80s and it’s a melting pot....we can flip this around all day but in the end, the line denoting THE WEST (and subsequent population centers) have been a moving target since we’ve been on this continent, and I submit that calling a region one thing or another is the product of our mindset, and not necessarily a lat/long coordinate.
Kansas City and Omaha are what I like to gateways to the great plains. Prior to the early 20th century, anything west of the Mississippi was considered western despite culture including the great plains. I think the dust bowl played a part to why we associate the plains with the Midwest\the east rather than the west. When the dust bowl hit in the 30s the entire eastern half of the United States was hit, pretty much anything east of Colorado. The great plans were hit the hardest causing many to migrate to California and the Californians mocked and mistreated the dust bowl migrants. 100 years prior to Kansas, Texas, Oklahoma, Nebraska and the Dakotas were the epitome of manifest destiny but as the west started to develop people realize that those states aren't so much different than the states further east: the weather is similar but slightly drier, played a significant role during the civil war with Texas is in the Confederate army and Kansas and Nebraska act fueled the civil war despite not being states yet, Texas and Oklahoma are much influenced by the southeast and gets a bad rep for being too religious, Kansas having strong ties to Jim crow, etc. I think the civil war, the frontier age, and the dust bowl led to the modern definition of the Western United States. Anything west of the 100th medrian while the midwest defention added the plain states once the 100th medrian was discovered and the mountain states were added to the union.
Last edited by mwalker96; 12-04-2018 at 11:45 PM..
Kansas City and Omaha are what I like to gateways to the great plains. Prior to the early 20th century, anything west of the Mississippi was considered western despite culture including the great plains. I think the dust bowl played a part to why we associate the plains with the Midwest\the east rather than the west.
I can tell you though with 100% certainty that the plains parts of Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska and I assume the Dakotas self identify with the west given that the choices are east and west.
And to some degree plains dwellers identify with other plains dwellers almost as much as they do with the eastern parts of their own states. This is due to commonality of weather, scenery, oil, cattle and farming, lack of water, lots of wind, and first and foremost, every western part of these states claim that they are are at a political disadvantage in their state legislature due to being outnumbered.
The mind blowing thing about this huge swath of country is that Lubbock, Amarillo, Abilene and Billings are the only good sized cities in the entire area although I suppose people might include Cheyenne and maybe Rapid City.
I can tell you though with 100% certainty that the plains parts of Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska and I assume the Dakotas self identify with the west given that the choices are east and west.
And to some degree plains dwellers identify with other plains dwellers almost as much as they do with the eastern parts of their own states. This is due to commonality of weather, scenery, oil, cattle and farming, lack of water, lots of wind, and first and foremost, every western part of these states claim that they are are at a political disadvantage in their state legislature due to being outnumbered.
The mind blowing thing about this huge swath of country is that Lubbock, Amarillo, Abilene and Billings are the only good sized cities in the entire area although I suppose people might include Cheyenne and maybe Rapid City.
I can see that, I know a lot of Okies who say their midwestern even though they state is very much apart of the Bible-Belt. Kansas since it's right in the middle of the US I can see it going both directions.
I can see that, I know a lot of Okies who say their midwestern even though they state is very much apart of the Bible-Belt. Kansas since it's right in the middle of the US I can see it going both directions.
It's funny you mention Kansas. In western Kansas you see a lot of Denver Bronco stuff and as you move east it becomes all KC Chief stuff that you see.
Easternmost Western cities:
Denver
Amarillo
Albuquerque
El Paso.
There is still lots of the West EAST of these cities, but no cities of any consequence.
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