Ohio: The Northeast or Midwest? (Akron, Kent: school, university, metro)

[Desdemona123]

Originally Posted by micrguy

Just a different way of looking at things, but there was a book that came out in the early 80's called the Nine Nations of North America. That book puts Ohio in it's own region of other industrial states that all border Lake Erie.

Nine Nations of North America - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

LOL...I remember this book! We used it in high school economics class!!! Wow....what memories. (In a report I called certain aspects of one region the 'bowels of satan'....my econ teacher got a huge kick out of my terminology....he saw me years later and remembered my report for that one phrase!!)

Yes, Ohio is unique...parts of it fit is several different regions...but as a whole, it's not any one fully.

Lake Erie certainly isn't like the southern portions of the state.

[cincyUK]

What a good thread!

I agree with several others it is neither:

Cleveland (although I have never really been there) seems like Northeastern town.

Cincy and areas along the river are a southern / midwestern mix.

Everywhere else is the midwest (but not like Minnesota or anything)...

[chartbury]

Originally Posted by TerrySRA

Would you say Ohio is in the Northeast or Midwest? I would say it is in the Northeast because it is in the Eastern Time Zone, it is closer to Atlantic Ocean than it is to Kansas, and part of it is in the Appalachians.

I would say Cincinnati is where the South begins and Cleveland is definitely where the Northeast begins -- it's full of New York and Washington D.C. types. Geographically, Cleveland is definitely within the boundaries of the northeastern U.S.A.

As for everything in between Cincinnati and Cleveland, who knows? The area in between is vaguely midwest but there's nothing particularly midwestern in character about Ohio's capital, Columbus.

[SCBeaches]

I agree, as MABCLe stated, that Ohio should have a category of its own - "Great Lakes Region", which it might want to share with Michigan, Illinois, and a few others - if it wanted to.

[NCTarheel07]

northeast ohio is definately northeast. very much like western PA and NY. Southern Ohio is more like the southeast. Very like KY and WV. Northwest/Central Ohio is very midwestern. Wide open cornfields for miles and miles. Has the Indiana/illinois/iowa kinda vibe.

I say personally that MI/OH/IL/IN/WISC should be all grouped into the great lakes region and not a part of the midwest.

[Donna7]

NE OH, where I live, is definitely more Northeast than Midwest. There are towns nearby that are modeled after New England towns.

[SCBeaches]

I grew up in NW Ohio and lived in the middle of soybean fields and cornfields...our town (actually a "village") was a historical canal town. We were about 45 minutes from Lake Erie and lived right on the Maumee River...talk about icy, bone-chilling winters! Br-r-r. (it is currently 82* where I have lived in SC for the past 24 years). I always wondered why we were considered to be part of the "midwest" because we weren't even half way across the U.S. towards the west. I still say that "Great Lakes Region" should be the official geographic label of OH, MI, IL, IN, and a few others.

[RockyMtnr]

I grew up in Ohio (Columbus). It was called The Midwest.
I live in the West now - Ohio is "back East".
Once upon a time, it was called "The West".
"The West" moved and didn't take Ohio with it.
Any claim to New Englanderism is either fallacy or fantasy -
(You might live in Akron if you wish you were a New Englander).
Michigan will not allow it to be "The North".
Kentucky will not allow it to be "The South".
Pennsylvanians would erase it if they could.
New York wonders where it is.
New Jersey knows that Ohio is how you get to Detroit and Chicago.
"Ohio" means "Hello" in Japanese.
I-70 means "Goodbye Ohio" in Automobilese! (so does I-71 and I-75)

[SCBeaches]

Originally Posted by RockyMtnr

I grew up in Ohio (Columbus). It was called The Midwest.
I live in the West now - Ohio is "back East".
Once upon a time, it was called "The West".
"The West" moved and didn't take Ohio with it.
Any claim to New Englanderism is either fallacy or fantasy -
(You might live in Akron if you wish you were a New Englander).
Michigan will not allow it to be "The North".
Kentucky will not allow it to be "The South".
Pennsylvanians would erase it if they could.
New York wonders where it is.
New Jersey knows that Ohio is how you get to Detroit and Chicago.
"Ohio" means "Hello" in Japanese.
I-70 means "Goodbye Ohio" in Automobilese! (so does I-71 and I-75)

Wow, great post! I couldn't have said it better myself!

[YoMikey617]

How about Mid-Eastern US or Great Lakes States for a label.

1. People in Ohio are way too rude, miserable and jaded to be considered part of the Midwest.
2. People on the east coast are suprised to hear that Ohio is considered Midwest.