Blending Regional Identites: Louisville vs. St. Louis vs. Indianapolis vs. Cincinnati (houses, move to)
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These are my thoughts on how these "boarder cities" blend regional identities. I'm pretty well familiar with Louisville and Indy, but less so with St. Louis and Cincinnati.
How well do you agree with these observations?
Louisville is a definitively Southern city with minimal Midwestern influence in terms of culture and minimal Mid-Atlantic influences on architecture (Georgian-style mansions reminiscent of Maryland, Delaware, and Virginia).
St. Louis is definitively a Midwestern city with minimal Southern influence in terms of culture and moderate East Coast influence in terms of architecture.
Indianapolis is definitively a Midwestern city with no East Coast or Southern influence in terms of architecture, but there is some Southern influence in terms of culture.
Cincinnati feels entirely East Coast in terms of architecture. In terms of culture, Cincinnati feels Midwestern with minimal Southern influence.
I have personally asked people from both Birmingham and as recently two weeks ago Charleston, SC and they did not consider Louisville Southern. At the time I have met people dome St. Louis and Cinncinatti who put Louisville in the same family of cities as their own.
There is more Midwest to Louisville than the OP is implying. Lots of industry, lots of 19th century Germans, Catholics, Lutherans.
Louisville and its diverse, industrial people pushed kentucky towards the union.
What about Washington, D.C./NOVA area? Many claim it is a southern city(mainly just mid atlantic people who have a rivalry with DC and like to talk down about it). Technically they are located in the south, but I feel that they both have an overwhelmingly east coast feel(except for the black people there who have a heavy southern dialect/way of life/appearance in my opinion).
Also Oklahoma City- not sure if that's even really considered a "southern city" or Midwest city, I haven't been there so I can't really speak on it.
Last edited by i'm not a cookie; 11-04-2015 at 05:29 PM..
I chose these cities since they border the South and the Midwest, so they'd be easier to compare.
Ahhh, I see. OKC or Tulsa might have been options as well, and even Charleston, WV to an extent.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Happiness-is-close
I have personally asked people from both Birmingham and as recently two weeks ago Charleston, SC and they did not consider Louisville Southern.
They were more than likely Deep South purists; there are people from Alabama who don't even consider NC to be Southern.
Did any of those people ever visit Louisville at some point?
From what I've read and seen, most Louisvillians consider themselves Southern but also readily acknowledge their Midwestern influences.
Quote:
At the time I have met people dome St. Louis and Cinncinatti who put Louisville in the same family of cities as their own.
There is more Midwest to Louisville than the OP is implying. Lots of industry, lots of 19th century Germans, Catholics, Lutherans.
Louisville and its diverse, industrial people pushed kentucky towards the union.
A good bit of Kentucky is Appalachia which, as a whole, was more unsympathetic to the cause of the Confederacy in all Southern states because they didn't have much in the way of a slave-based agrarian economy.
These are my thoughts on how these "boarder cities" blend regional identities. I'm pretty well familiar with Louisville and Indy, but less so with St. Louis and Cincinnati.
How well do you agree with these observations?
Louisville is a definitively Southern city with minimal Midwestern influence in terms of culture and minimal Mid-Atlantic influences on architecture (Georgian-style mansions reminiscent of Maryland, Delaware, and Virginia).
St. Louis is definitively a Midwestern city with minimal Southern influence in terms of culture and moderate East Coast influence in terms of architecture.
Indianapolis is definitively a Midwestern city with no East Coast or Southern influence in terms of architecture, but there is some Southern influence in terms of culture.
Cincinnati feels entirely East Coast in terms of architecture. In terms of culture, Cincinnati feels Midwestern with minimal Southern influence.
What are the southern culture influences in Indy and Cincy?
Cincinnati feels entirely East Coast in terms of architecture. In terms of culture, Cincinnati feels Midwestern with minimal Southern influence.
Cincinnati does not feel East Coast at all to me, and most certainly not in terms of architecture. Not even in its oldest, densest parts, which is a pretty small portion geographically and in terms of population of the city. It feels exactly like what it is, an old midwestern river city of some past prominence. But I don't know a soul who would confuse it for Boston, Providence, New York, Philly, DC or even Baltimore.
I have personally asked people from both Birmingham and as recently two weeks ago Charleston, SC and they did not consider Louisville Southern. At the time I have met people dome St. Louis and Cinncinatti who put Louisville in the same family of cities as their own.
There is more Midwest to Louisville than the OP is implying. Lots of industry, lots of 19th century Germans, Catholics, Lutherans.
Louisville and its diverse, industrial people pushed kentucky towards the union.
Spot on. A few people with accents who move to an area from rural surroundings or rural KY do NOT make an area fully southern. Louisville is a hybrid. If it wasn't a hybrid, no one would argue it!
Cincinnati does not feel East Coast at all to me, and most certainly not in terms of architecture. Not even in its oldest, densest parts, which is a pretty small portion geographically and in terms of population of the city. It feels exactly like what it is, an old midwestern river city of some past prominence. But I don't know a soul who would confuse it for Boston, Providence, New York, Philly, DC or even Baltimore.
Portions of Over-The-Rhine (which is really, besides a few pockets here and there, the major portion of late 19th century Cincinnati which survived urban renewal) look a lot like Philly or Baltimore. Very few true rowhouses though - the attached buildings are mostly tenaments, while the brick single-family houses, even though they have zero setback, tend to not be built flush to their neighbors.
Overall, I think it's more similar architecturally to Saint Louis than any other city, but after that I'd say the similarity is strongest architecturally to Mid-Atlantic cities.
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