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Dallas came to be the city (and metro) it is due to three major influences—cotton, cattle, and oil, facilitated by a railroad infrastructure and enhanced by transactional finance and real estate interests.
Minneapolis grew and thrived initially from timber, but later and more importantly as being at a confluence of three separate “belts:” wheat (and other grains), corn (no affront to Iowa), and dairy (no affront to Wisconsin), and it’s needed processing/milling/curing.
Both cities have significantly diversified since then.
The question to which has a strongest linkage to their respective coastal regions can likely be determined from their commercial heritage. I don’t know the answer, but I could posit that Dallas could have a stronger linkage sourcing its power from a region that is more centered on the gulf coast (esp. cotton and oil, initially), whereas Minneapolis sourced it more from the regions West of the lakes (less milk), and then transferring the processed goods back to cities easterly, such as Milwaukee and Chicago)??? Push vs pull, so to speak... I’m genuinely interested in others’ thoughts.
Minnesota doesn't have much of a Great Lakes shoreline..only 189 miles. Much of the state is flat farmland, west of the Twin Cities. Unless one is up north near Duluth, there isn't much (at all) of a Great Lakes feel in Minnesota. I would guess the same would be true of Dallas...too far away from the shore.
As you can see on the map, Minneapolis is color coded as part of the Great Lakes Region, while Dallas is color coded as part of the Texas Triangle region but NOT the Gulf Coast Region. Click on the link for the Great Lakes Region on the left, and you'll see Minneapolis listed as one of the principal cities. Click on the link for the Gulf Coast Region on the left, and no mention of Dallas.
Interestingly, Houston is the ONLY metro area shown on the megaregions map that belongs to TWO megaregions. Houston is a principal city in both the Texas Triangle and the Gulf Coast. Which makes Houston an utterly unique city.
Not necessarily "treeless" but fewer trees than a full on forest. I see it more about the type of grass than amount of trees. Though for what it's worth, while the Twin Cities does have a lot of trees, it's not full on wooded either. The general environment is much more grassy and open. Northern Minnesota is a different story. https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...tates_2011.jpg
Personally, I see "plains" different from "prairie." Prairie to me would be the general grassy landscape of much of Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, southern Michigan and western Ohio. Not thick as forests like New England or the Southeast, but not the vast open plains of Nebraska or Kansas either.
MSP is not full-on forested anymore because the pioneers cut down the trees to farm, much like the other farming regions of the Great Lakes States. Areas that were difficult to farm because of topography, weather, or soil in the Great Lakes region are still forests. Anywhere in the twin cities or Eastern Minnesota that wasn't farmed is thick forests. The further North you go, the better preserved the forest is because that area wasn't good for farming. The natural state of the land is forests. If people stopped farming, in 100 years it would all be forest. That is not true of the plains and praries in Western MN and the Dakotas. There isn't enough rain there.
As for the original question, Minneapolis may not exactly be a Great Lakes City, but it is tied to the Great Lakes Region. Dallas is neither a Gulf Coast city nor that tied to the Gulf Coast Region. In normal traffic, Dallas is a 6 hour drive to the Gulf, vs 2 1/2 from Mpls to Lake Superior. The only Gulf city Dallas has ties to is Houston. It has very little ties to New Orleans, Mobile, Pensacola, Beaumont, Corpus, etc.
Minneapolis isn't on the prairie/plains but it's awfully damn close. 30 miles west or southwest and it's pretty much flat farmland with few trees unless you're in a river valley. Minnesota Highway 56 is basically the line between the prairies/plains and the more heavily wooded terrain.
As a milling center, Minneapolis was historically tied to the farming areas of southern/western Minnesota and the eastern Dakotas. Des Moines, Omaha, and KC all have lots of commercial ties to Minneapolis, but all are more "on the plains" than Minneapolis.
Dallas is similarly linked to the southern plains cities like OKC and Wichita (and somewhat to KC, which is halfway between Minneapolis and Dallas).
I don't think of Minneapolis being that linked to Great Lakes, but it's definitely more so linked to that area than Dallas is to the Gulf Coast. Minneapolis is right in the historical transition from the North Woods to the Great Plains.
Minneapolis isn't on the prairie/plains but it's awfully damn close. 30 miles west or southwest and it's pretty much flat farmland with few trees unless you're in a river valley. Minnesota Highway 56 is basically the line between the prairies/plains and the more heavily wooded terrain.
Yes, once you go west beyond the Lake Minnetonka area (which is very heavily wooded with rolling hills), that's where it really starts to open up into prairie and farmland. Historically that area was still deciduous forest but almost all of it was cleared for farming. Unfortunately there are only a few pockets of untouched Big Woods old growth forest left.
Yes, once you go west beyond the Lake Minnetonka area (which is very heavily wooded with rolling hills), that's where it really starts to open up into prairie and farmland. Historically that area was still deciduous forest but almost all of it was cleared for farming. Unfortunately there are only a few pockets of untouched Big Woods old growth forest left.
The transition from the Big Woods to the natural prairie isn't far from the Twin Cities, although I'd agree that the Twin Cities metro was built in a place that was more dominated by trees than grass. By the time you get to Glencoe or Owatonna, you're into areas that were historically predominant grassland. They weren't clearing forests there.
Can't comment on MSP since I've only been a few times, but Dallas is not a gulf coast city. I lived there for 10 years and never actually saw the gulf. It may have economic & cultural ties to Houston as the state's two flagship cities, but that's about it. It is definitely closer in physical form to OKC, albeit more cosmopolitan and slightly warmer.
And while we're at it (and even though you didn't ask), San Antonio and Austin are also not gulf coast cities, despite being closer to the actual gulf of mexico.
Can't comment on MSP since I've only been a few times, but Dallas is not a gulf coast city. I lived there for 10 years and never actually saw the gulf. It may have economic & cultural ties to Houston as the state's two flagship cities, but that's about it.
You missed out on Galveston! Sad to see that you were not able to visit Houston while in Texas--a much different vibe from staid white-bread DFW.
Duluth is only 150 miles away from MSP. That's about the same distance between Houston and Austin, the Texas capital city.
DFW is 300 miles away from Galveston and 250 miles from Houston, double the MSP to Duluth distance. Texas is a big state, DFW is only 100 miles from OK so the Heartland influence of the Great Plains is much stronger than the cosmopolitan Texas Gulf Coast.
Badger, you're making up your own definitions for actual terms.
Look up "tall grass prairie." Even if you say Minneapolis isn't full on in that ecosystem, parts of the metro certainly are, and I'm talking metro not just city.
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