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Ok, midwesterners, here's you're chance to educate a young southwestern man who's never been to the midwest before as to what the big 'ol center of the country is like! What are the different sub-regions of the midwest? How does the culture and physical landscape vary between these different areas. Here are some regional terms I've seen thrown around before-- perhaps you can educate me:
Upper Midwest?
Lower Midwest?
Great Plains (where does the Great Plains begin and end... and what's the difference between the Great Plains and just "Plains" or Prairie?)
Ozarks-- is that the Midwest or is that more the south?
Corn belt?
Amish country?
Also, how would you group the various cities of the midwest? In particular, what city most compares to St. Louis? (there's a possibility I could end up living in St. Louis for a year-- so I'm curious about that city in particular)
You've got the rustbelt, the cornbelt, and the Dakotas
Rustbelt and cornbelt intersect in Wisconsin, Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, and even Iowa, although the general definition of the rustbelt ends with a couple of arms around Milwaukee and Rockford.
St. Louis is somewhat unique in that it feels southern, although Indianapolis is "southern" for me as well.
Amish country is found mostly in Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Iowa. Maybe Missouri?
Upper Midwest are the states like Wisconsin, Minnesota, North Dakota, and Michigan and Iowa to some extent. It is more Scandinavianie and more prosperous in relation to the remainder of the midwest. Also more insular.
Lower Midwest are more the Great Lakes states, Ill., Ind., O., parts of Mo.. IMO anyways. Have more medium-sized cities. More dense, older. Milwaukee has a lower Midwest feeling, but is in a generally Upper Midwest state.
Great Plains are N. Dak., S. Dak., Neb., Kan.. Oklahoma is not a midwestern state. The Great Plains are a social group. The plains extend into Minnesota, Illinois and other states. The "Plains" are a more geographic and agricultural term. The Great Plains are pretty conservative. No real large cities.
The Ozarks are southern, IMO.
Corn belt is Iowa, Minn., Neb., into Ill.
Amish Country is not a specific place. There are strong populations in SE Minn. and Wisconsin. Ohio is prob. the largest group.
Missouri is confusing. Saint Louis is more midwestern than Hannibal to the north of it. Kansas City is midwestern, Springfield and Branson are not. It is a pretty odd mix.
Saint Louis groups with, nothing. Most like Cinti., IMO. It is physically similar to Cleveland, Milw., et. cetera. But Saint Louis has a more conservative, southern tint to it. It is one of my favorite cities. I suggest it. Cities are hard to group. Economically, Mpls., Chicago and Milw. are good. Physically, Mpls. is pretty different from Chicago. Cincinnati is more like Saint Louis than Cleveland. Kansas City is very western. Saint Louis is surprisingly eastern. They should have put the arch in Saint Charles. I noticed a lack of large cars in St. Louis, as opposed to Mpls. It is the little things like that mostly. Indianapolis and Columbus are larger than Cleveland, but really aren't, they are just newer cities that grew within the boundaries of their Cities Proper. Omaha is the same. Saint Paul is eastern, Mpls. is Western. I could go ad nauseum. Hope my incoherence got you somewhere
----Minnehahapolitan
The Rust Belt, lest I forget
It is more spotty than it is perceived to be. Milw., Chicago, Saint Louis, Cleveland, Detroit, Buffalo, Duluth, Flint, Akron, Wheeling, Pittsburgh are all Rust Belt. You can't jusge a place by the moniker. Chicago, Milw., Pittsburgh and Duluth are great cities. Madison, Kansas City, Columbus, Grand Rapids, Rochester, Minn., and many others are really not Rust Belt. It cannot be applied to states.
Location: Uniquely Individual Villages of the Megalopolis
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Originally Posted by Minnehahapolitan
The Rust Belt, lest I forget
It is more spotty than it is perceived to be. Milw., Chicago, Saint Louis, Cleveland, Detroit, Buffalo, Duluth, Flint, Akron, Wheeling, Pittsburgh are all Rust Belt. You can't jusge a place by the moniker. Chicago, Milw., Pittsburgh and Duluth are great cities. Madison, Kansas City, Columbus, Grand Rapids, Rochester, Minn., and many others are really not Rust Belt. It cannot be applied to states.
Minnesota especially but also a number of bright spots in Wisconsin are still moving along quite well for the UMW. The two states business and technology wise seem to share a number of resources, outlooks and talents in a number of fields and have a lot of interplay with the rest of the country. Even South Dakota is so prominent in the banking, credit, finance system.
Citibank might be a New York bank but it has a lot of operations there.
ah... the yooper accent, I heard that full-on for the first time when I visited the UP a few years back. Fun stuff.
Oh, I adore it, actually! I used to have a bumper sticker that took the old state slogan, "Say Yes to Michigan," and turned it into Yoopanese: "Say Yah to Da U.P., Eh!"
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What are the different sub-regions of the midwest? How does the culture and physical landscape vary between these different areas. Here are some regional terms I've seen thrown around before-- perhaps you can educate me:
