Missouri...Southern or Midwestern? (Kansas City, St. Louis: universities, mall, stats)

[Versatile]

Originally Posted by kshe95girl

You posted the exact same post in another thread.......we got it the first time!

And without any punctuation at all. I thought i was the world's worst! lol Now there maybe hope for me.

Not laughing at you at all. Just laughing with you.

[krock1dk]

Originally Posted by ajf131

And since the U.S. Census Bureau considers Missouri Midwest, I think that pretty much confims it. Also, politically Missouri has a history of being a swing state like Indiana and Ohio. Political attitudes in these three states are fairly similar.

Indiana is NOT a swing state. It has been overwhelmingly Republican since 1964, when it last supported a Democrat (LBJ) in the Presidential race. Even though Obama won Indiana by just 800 votes (winning in the inner-city of Indianapolis) this time, Indiana is in no way a swing state. Sorry, but Republicans are pretty solid here. But OH is definately a swing state.

[krock1dk]

As a native Midwesterner myself (indiana), I always consider Missouri a Midwest state. Most of the population lives in the Midwest markets of St. Louis and Kansas City. However, I can understand the 'southern' identification being a slave state, Branson now being now the place to be for country music, the Ozarks Mts. and the like. Missouri isnt alone in its identity crisis, however. Texas doesnt seem to know wheather its southern or southwestern, and Virginia doesnt know wheather its southern or eastern.

[ArkIll]

Oklahoma shares Texas's identity problem.

[rxpwas]

I'm from Ky. and my take on Missouri is south of the Missouri River, kinda like how the Ohio River further to the east does, more or less Southern in nature. The accent isn't as southern as Ky. or Tenn. or Arkansas, but still I can notice it. I feel very at home in South Missouri Ozark area, I'm from Appalachian East Ky. myself, kinda reminds me of Ky. (but no coal mines!). The people somewhat remind me of Eastern Ky. or Southwest Va., but the landscapse reminds me of South-Central or Pennyroyal portion of Western Ky., the Ozark hillsides somewhat look like hills around Stanton or Clay City, ky., or possibly, Cave City or Park City, Ky. The karst topography and limestone look like many areas of Ky. or Tenn., or possibly Southern Indiana. Maybe in extreme western or Northwestern Missouri might have characteristics of the Plains and prairies to the west, but generally looks more like states immediately east of Miss. River. The area around Sikeston and Poplar Bluff before you get to the Ozarks looks like the Miss. Delta area of Mississippi or Eastern Arkansas or Westerm Tenn.. even has cypress trees in swamps and creeks like further south and cotton fields there ... very southern atmosphere there. I somewhat disagree with whoever wrote that Missouri is basically praire vegetation. I live in Ky., and most of the trees I recognize, and most areas are heavily wooded, at least in most of Missouri I've seen. To easterners, prairies are places like Kansas or Nebraska or the Dakotas where trees are scarce and grass is the predominant vegetation. Missouri to me is the last state going west that most things look familiar to me. Even in Mansfield, hometown of Laura Ingalls Wilder, I didn't see anything (landscape-wise) that looked like Little House on the Praire. I saw familiar oak and maple and dogwood and sycamore trees like I would see in Ky. or Tn. Even along the creeks and rivers, the trees were mostly sycamore and river birch like further east, I know further west cottonwoods predominate in the riparian areas, in fact, cottonwoods sometimes only trees you see on prairies.

[Linn County MO neighbor]

North central Missouri seems to be midwestern, FWIW

[kcmo]

midwestern in most of the state. areas south of st louis down along 55 toward the boot heel and areas south of Springfiled have a more southern influence, but for the most part it's midwesterns, especially in the built up parts of the state, metro areas etc.

[Smtchll]

I paid close attention on my last couple of trips from Memphis to St. Louis. The last truly Southern town going North on 55 is Sikeston. Cape Girardeau is the transition from Southern to Midwestern. From there, everything still looks and seems Southern all the way up to St. Louis County. Just by looking out of the window, you wouldn't know that you had left the South. Even if you go into a gas station and see the people, you wouldn't know. Rural culture is still dominant. You'd have to listen & talk to the people to know you weren't in the South anymore. The main indicators were the accent (very Midwestern by Perry County), and the attitude. Cashiers are polite, but don't make much small talk like they do in the South. People are nice, but not overly friendly like Southerners, more reserved instead.

[MoPlanner]

I haven't read ALL the posts but to tie much of what has been said together, I've always felt that Missouri is the quintessential “transition” state. Why?


- St. Louis has a very eastern attitude to it – Kansas City is more western
- The climate runs from fairly dry in the NW to fairly wet in the SE; and the crops and people somewhat reflect this.
- The Bootheel is very much a Mississippi Delta type region; very southern in attitudes and crops. Poplar Bluff, right on the edge of the area is very much like many towns in Arkansas
- The Ozarks are of course very much like Kentucky and Tennessee. Unglaciated rugged hills, thin soils, lots of trees and clear streams means the crops are more timber, mining, and subsistence farming.
- Northern Missouri is glaciated, rolling hills with deep soils. They are very productive and the crops and people are again reflective of the conditions.
- There is the area often referred to as “Little Dixie” which is generally centered on Moberly. It had very pro-southern leanings in the Civil War and it retains a degree of this today.
- SW Missouri is more like Oklahoma and Kansas. NE Missouri is much more like Illinois or Iowa.
- The plains run across northern and central Missouri but they transition from the dryer short grass plains of Nebraska to Oklahoma into the tall grass plains of Illinois and Indiana.


This is undoubtedly why Missouri has been such a mixed bag politically – we don’t “track well” with any one other state – we’re more a mix of all the states around us. This could also be the root of the Show Me personality. Its not that we’re hard headed so much as we assimilate what others are doing around us – which necessarily happens AFTER someone around us is already doing it!

[m.melcher09]

midwestern no arguement