Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Upper Midwest is Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and N & S Dakota
Quote:
Originally Posted by GraniteStater
In a broad scope sense, I generally think the Midwest is comprised of five separate subregions. You have the Great Lakes portions of the Midwest, the agricultural core of the Midwest, the Great Plains of the Midwest, the Upper Midwest, and the Lower Midwest
The Upper Midwest subregion of the Midwest includes:
northern Wisconsin
central and northern Minnesota
central and northern Michigan
Upper Midwest is Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and N & S Dakota
OK, East River is the "agricultural" Upper Midwest then. I still think that most of West River is much more Western overall. My relatives have a ranch in rural NW Kansas and I have never considered that area Midwestern. I have always just thought of it as the "frontier West."
My perspective as a forecaster follows along with most of the posts. I agree the east and west of the Missouri in the Dakotas differentiates quite a difference with the more populated farming towns in the east with more row crops versus the drier more ranch land areas west of the river.
In my talk I consider Upper Midwest Minnesota- Wisconsin and the eastern Dakotas. I consider the western Dakotas...the plains of Montana and the plains of Wyoming the Northern High Plains.
I do think that once you hit about 98-100W longitude you are in the West and not the Midwest. Once you get to this longitudinal line the landscape begins to change, the grasses get shorter, ranches become much larger in size, and corn can not generally be grown without needing irrigation. Dryland agriculture is more common in the West and also in a good chunk of the Central and High Plains regions. I don't really consider western Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota, or North Dakota to be Midwestern. They feel much more "western" overall.
Defining a section of the country as the "Midwest" has nothing to do with the landscape or the agriculture. It does, however, have everything to do with the fact that when the term came into use, the western border of the U.S. was the Mississippi River and everything west of that was "theWest", hence, those states immediately east of the river were considered the midwest. As the country grew and was extended to the west coast, the change in the physical location of the "midwest" was never addressed.
"The midwestern United States (in the U.S. generally referred to as the Midwest) is one of the four geographic regions within the United States of America that are officially recognized by the United States Census Bureau. The term "Midwest" is a misnomer, as approximately 80% of this region lies in the eastern half of the United States."
History of the term "Midwest"
"As this region lies mostly in the eastern half of the United States, the term "Midwest" can be misleading if one does not understand American history. The term "West" was applied to the region in the early years of the country. In the early 19th century, anything west of the Mississippi River was considered the West, and the Midwest was the region east of the Mississippi and west of the Appalachians. In time, some began to include Minnesota, Iowa and Missouri in the Midwest. With the settlement of the western prairie, the new term Great Plains States was used for the row of states from North Dakota to Kansas. Later, these states also came to be considered "Midwest" by some."
Defining a section of the country as the "Midwest" has nothing to do with the landscape or the agriculture. It does, however, have everything to do with the fact that when the term came into use, the western border of the U.S. was the Mississippi River and everything west of that was "theWest", hence, those states immediately east of the river were considered the midwest. As the country grew and was extended to the west coast, the change in the physical location of the "midwest" was never addressed.
"The midwestern United States (in the U.S. generally referred to as the Midwest) is one of the four geographic regions within the United States of America that are officially recognized by the United States Census Bureau. The term "Midwest" is a misnomer, as approximately 80% of this region lies in the eastern half of the United States."
History of the term "Midwest"
"As this region lies mostly in the eastern half of the United States, the term "Midwest" can be misleading if one does not understand American history. The term "West" was applied to the region in the early years of the country. In the early 19th century, anything west of the Mississippi River was considered the West, and the Midwest was the region east of the Mississippi and west of the Appalachians. In time, some began to include Minnesota, Iowa and Missouri in the Midwest. With the settlement of the western prairie, the new term Great Plains States was used for the row of states from North Dakota to Kansas. Later, these states also came to be considered "Midwest" by some."
Quoted from Wikipedia Free Encyclopedia
Good post. And up until the latter part of the 20th century, many considered MN to be part of the "Northwest". Again, I think this originated back when the Louisiana Purchase was consumated, before statehood for the states we call Northwest today (WA, OR, ID, etc.)
Here in the Twin Cities many businesses had (and sometimes still have) "northwest" in their name: The Northwestern Life Insurance Co., The Northwestern Bank (later "Norwest Bank", and then bought out by Wells-Fargo), Northwest Opticians (where I bought my glasses!), Northwestern Bell Telephone Company (renamed "Qwest") and the now defunct Hamm's Beer ("The beer that grew with the Great Northwest")
OK, East River is the "agricultural" Upper Midwest then. I still think that most of West River is much more Western overall. My relatives have a ranch in rural NW Kansas and I have never considered that area Midwestern. I have always just thought of it as the "frontier West."
But more importantly, what do your relatives consider NW KS? Midwest, or frontier?
But more importantly, what do your relatives consider NW KS? Midwest, or frontier?
The obviously think of themselves as "western" in just about every way possible.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
