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What style is "sunbelt"? The housing options here are endless. You can find anything from modern Victorian-wannabes to Meditteranean style. I find the Midwest's architecture to be a nice blend of everything.
Stucco McMansions are now common in the suburban areas of the Kansas City metro, especially in Johnson County. I don't see that as very Midwestern at all. (Although that trend in suburban housing could be spreading everywhere.)
Last edited by GraniteStater; 04-17-2008 at 05:42 PM..
A southern accent? i have to be honest, southern accents are rare around kansas city. I had no clue there was even a Great Plains accent.
I know several people from KC and they all have drawly southern"ish" accents. Not southern like the Carolinas or Alabama, but definitely southern tinged.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Plains10
A Great Plains city generally consists of fewer trees, and generally a lower population compared with a Midwest city. A Central Plains city has a better chance of being a former "cowtown" as well.
Examples of Great Plains cities are:
Sioux Falls
Omaha
Topeka
Wichita
Fargo
Kansas City
Tulsa
Oklahoma City
Examples of Midwest cities are:
Minneapolis
Cedar Rapids
Grand Rapids
Chicago
Milwaukee
Rochester
Cleveland
Indianapolis
This is just my opinion. I am sure other posters will disagree with my classifications.
Omaha has 400,000 people and lots of trees.
Cedar Rapids has a pop of 120,000
Grand Rapids: 197,000
Rochester a paltry 85,000
[quote=Katiana;3496352]I know several people from KC and they all have drawly southern"ish" accents. Not southern like the Carolinas or Alabama, but definitely southern tinged.
Omaha has 400,000 people and lots of trees.
(Omaha is one of the largest cities on the Plains.
Cedar Rapids has a pop of 120,000
Substitute Des Moines if you want a larger metro.
Grand Rapids: 197,000
Substitute Detroit if you want a larger metro.
Rochester a paltry 85,000
Rochester is one of the largest cities in MN after MPLS and Duluth.
I know several people from KC and they all have drawly southern"ish" accents. Not southern like the Carolinas or Alabama, but definitely southern tinged.
I live in E Kansas and I hear people who talk with "southern-ish" accents every day. I probably have more of a Great Lakes accent due to the fact that I lived in NW Indiana in the past. You have to go north to Cedar Rapids or Chicago before you start picking up the northern cities shift accent. Omaha is a city whose residents have a mostly netural accent.
I have family in KC who definitely have somewhat of a drawl. It's nothing too thick like Texas - but it's noticable in words like "no," and "not." At least compared to people here in Iowa.
I know several people from KC and they all have drawly southern"ish" accents. Not southern like the Carolinas or Alabama, but definitely southern tinged.
Omaha has 400,000 people and lots of trees.
(Omaha is one of the largest cities on the Plains.
Cedar Rapids has a pop of 120,000
Substitute Des Moines if you want a larger metro.
Grand Rapids: 197,000
Substitute Detroit if you want a larger metro.
Rochester a paltry 85,000 Rochester is one of the largest cities in MN after MPLS and Duluth.
I was using the examples you gave. I really don't think there is a big difference in the "midwest" cities and the "plains" cities, culturally or otherwise.
My husband is from Omaha and while his accent seems neutral, if you listen closely, you can hear "shart" for "short", etc. Just like my friend from Texas.
The largest midwestern city is Chicago. Minneapolis is probably the westernmost city of >1,000,000 MSA until Denver.
I was using the examples you gave. I really don't think there is a big difference in the "midwest" cities and the "plains" cities, culturally or otherwise.
I don't think so either - as long as you aren't comparing cities on the opposite sides of the midwest like Wichita with Grand Rapids.
Still, as far as I'm concerned - there are 12 states in the Midwest. Kansas is included. (This simply goes by the US Census Bureau's definition) I think that the plains are a region of the midwest ... not to mention "Great Plains" aren't the only type of plains, there are dissected till plains, drift plains, etc...
That being said, whenever I was in the KC metro - it seemed very hilly!
I know several people from KC and they all have drawly southern"ish" accents. Not southern like the Carolinas or Alabama, but definitely southern tinged.
Omaha has 400,000 people and lots of trees.
Cedar Rapids has a pop of 120,000
Grand Rapids: 197,000
Rochester a paltry 85,000
I guess I would have to hear these people speak. MY dad has many friends from Kansas City who were born and raised there over 60 years ago and they don't sound the least bit Southern to me. I guess we disagree and what a Southern accent is and is not. i can say for certain that whatever Southern-tinged accent exists there also exists in the states that border the Ohio River and are north of it. I've heard several people from Columbus and Cincinnati and Indianapolis speak with Southern-tinged accents if that's what you're talking about. Southern-tinged or not, these accents are still pretty flat overall. They are not enough to be labeled as Southern accents. I would call them Midwestern accents laced with a slightly Southern drawl. I agree that people here do not talk as flat as people from Iowa or with slightly Canadian accents like people from the Great Lakes cities. But to my ear these accents sound a lot more Midwestern than Southern. Strangely enough, most sources say St. Louis appears to be going through this same "Northern Cities" shift. People from St. Louis, Kansas City, Cincinnati, Indianapolis, and Columbus all sound pretty similar to each other to me.
I just don't understand why people want to deny that the Great Plains are part of the Midwest. It's a distinct region of it's own, yes, but it's part of the Midwest. It's part of the "western" Mid-west I guess.
Why is being part of the Midwest a bad thing??
I agree. It's just like the people who try to argue that if a city is in the Rust Belt, it must be Midwest (Hello? Pittsburgh and Buffalo!) It's entirely possible for regions to overlap other regions, depending on what the regional definition focuses on (economic, cultural, historical, topographical, etc.).
id have to say a great plains city. the architecture doesnt look a thing like chicago, indianapolis, cincinatti, or any of them. and the topography is totally different aswell, its not as green as the rest of the midwest, and the way the hills are makes it different too.
the city thats the most like Kansas City is Denver. only mountains in the background, but if you look at the Denver suburb of Aurora, then the KC suburb of Overland Park, they are really simular. i know because i have cousins in Denver area, and i lived in Kansas and been to KC many times.
I'm from Aurora, CO, actually. Never been to Kansas City (everybody in Denver makes fun of Kansas though...). I find this notion intriguing. Even leaving aside the mountains, though, not sure how true that is. I want to take a trip through the midwest, including Kansas City, just to see what it's like.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Plains10
A lot of the newer architecture in the Kansas City metro area is biased toward Sunbelt styles compared with Midwest styles. However, I feel that ugly cookie cutter housing that is "affordable" has taken over many areas of the country that are experiencing rapid growth.
Are you serious? You mean they build subdivisions like this in Kansas City (see attachment-- typical brand new house built on outskirts of Phoenix). I almost want to go there to see what that would be like.
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). I find this notion intriguing. Even leaving aside the mountains, though, not sure how true that is. I want to take a trip through the midwest, including Kansas City, just to see what it's like.
