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Metro East reminds me a lot of the Northern Kentucky extension of Cincinnati. Both feel quite different from the surrounding rural area, but are no question influenced by said rural area.
I don’t think the reason why a lot of St. Louis metro suburbs have French-sounding names is because of any direct settlement from France.
St Louis was founded by French fur traders.
St Charles was founded as Les Petites Cotes by Louis Blanchette (French fur trader)
Florissant officially was founded in 1785 when Missouri was Spanish, but French/French Canadians lived there
Belleville was founded by an American with an English name after a dude with another English name (John Bell)
Lots of the area was French, but it seems like anything with "-ville" names aren't French.
But back to the OP:
To midwesteners, St Louis and Missouri is Southern. To everyone else, I guess it's midwest.
St Louis was founded by French fur traders.
St Charles was founded as Les Petites Cotes by Louis Blanchette (French fur trader)
Florissant officially was founded in 1785 when Missouri was Spanish, but French/French Canadians lived there
Belleville was founded by an American with an English name after a dude with another English name (John Bell)
Lots of the area was French, but it seems like anything with "-ville" names aren't French.
But back to the OP:
To midwesteners, St Louis and Missouri is Southern. To everyone else, I guess it's midwest.
Anywhere south of I-70 starts to become much more southern influenced overall. Between the I-70 and I-80 corridor it is generally the Lower Midwest with some noticeable southern influences.
Anywhere south of I-70 starts to become much more southern influenced overall. Between the I-70 and I-80 corridor it is generally the Lower Midwest with some noticeable southern influences.
I strongly disagree with this boundary having any prominant Southern influence whatsoever (with one exception being Central and Northeast Missouri). Instead I think this region is truly the cornerstone for the Midlands, that is, the most purely Midwestern (and for that matter, 'American') region in the country.
I also don't see why interstates play that much of a key role in determining cultural borders when you consider the fact that they've only been in place for the past 60 years.
Last edited by Doughboy1918; 12-19-2022 at 09:53 AM..
But you don't have to go very far from it to start picking up a heavy Southern influence. I think the Ozarks are equal parts South and Midwest, and the Missouri Boot Heel IS Southern, straight up.
Do you think the Illinois-side suburbs of St. Louis are Southern influenced?
Quote:
But you don't have to go very far from it to start picking up a heavy Southern influence. I think the Ozarks are equal parts South and Midwest, and the Missouri Boot Heel IS Southern, straight up.
Admittedly I don't know too much about the Ozarks, but I think most of Missouri outside the two largest metro areas (KC and STL) is to an extent Southern influenced, even as far north as places like Hannibal or Chillicothe, where Evangelicals are largely the majority.
Do you think the Illinois-side suburbs of St. Louis are Southern influenced?
Admittedly I don't know too much about the Ozarks, but I think most of Missouri outside the two largest metro areas (KC and STL) is to an extent Southern influenced, even as far north as places like Hannibal or Chillicothe, where Evangelicals are largely the majority.
I've never been to the Illinois suburbs. I think a significant portion of rural southern Illinois has a major southern influence, but I don't know about the STL burbs. From what I know of that area from artists like Jay Farrar and Jeff Tweedy (musicians from Belleville) it seems very Midwestern, like St Louis itself.
I feel like even some areas north of the St. Louis metro have southern influences based on their speech patterns.
I have friends from southwest Iowa who's accents always sounded almost Southern to me, but otherwise were very much Midwestern. I just think to people with northern accents, that lower Midwest area sounds southern.
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