The difference between upper midwest and lower midwest (Louisville, Columbus: houses, live)

[er5603an]

I have heard a lot about upper midwest and lower midwest, Can someone tell the difference between them and similarity between them.

[censusdata]

Upper Midwest = Great Lakes (lots of Polish, Italians, Scandinavians)

Lower Midwest = along Ohio River, Mid Mississippi River (mostly German, Irish), more Southern influenced architecture (shotgun houses, etc)

Personally I'd say St Louis, Louisville, Indianapolis, Cincinnati, & Columbus are Lower Midwest. Minneapolis, Chicago, Milwaukee, Cleveland, Detroit, & Buffalo are Upper Midwest

[timelesschild]

How can Buffalo be midwestern anything? It's in New York!

Honestly, I think even Ohio is too far east to be called midwest.

Other than that, I mostly agree with censusdata's observations though. I think the patterns of immigration make a LOT of the difference.

[mdawg]

Oh God are we going to start debating where Louisville belongs again? It is in the South.

[rnc76]

Originally Posted by timelesschild

How can Buffalo be midwestern anything? It's in New York!

Honestly, I think even Ohio is too far east to be called midwest.

Other than that, I mostly agree with censusdata's observations though. I think the patterns of immigration make a LOT of the difference.

You consider Ohio NE? Ohio screams midwest to me. Buffalo has a lot of midwestern qualities. It has a lot more in common with Cleveland, Detroit, Milwaukee than with NYC or Boston. The Great Lakes, a post industrial economy that is hurting, a lot of German and Polish influences... You get 10 miles outside of Buffalo and it is corn fields and dairy farms as far as you can see.

[missymomof3]

Originally Posted by mdawg

Oh God are we going to start debating where Louisville belongs again? It is in the South.

Amen!

[missymomof3]

Maybe this should be in the General US forum, you'd get more answers there.

[missymomof3]

Originally Posted by censusdata

Upper Midwest = Great Lakes (lots of Polish, Italians, Scandinavians)

Lower Midwest = along Ohio River, Mid Mississippi River (mostly German, Irish), more Southern influenced architecture (shotgun houses, etc)

Personally I'd say St Louis, Louisville, Indianapolis, Cincinnati, & Columbus are Lower Midwest. Minneapolis, Chicago, Milwaukee, Cleveland, Detroit, & Buffalo are Upper Midwest

Take Louisville AND Buffalo off this list.

[Central Illinois 1]

I would leave Buffalo on the list as it seems very similiar economically and culturally to cities like Cleveland, Toledo, and Detroit. I would take Louisville off the list as it seems more similar to places like Nashville than it does to any other cities on the list of "midwestern" cities.

[mdawg]

Cleveland shouldn't really be on the list either, it felt more New Englandish when I lived there, rather than Midwestern.