Missouri...Southern or Midwestern? (Kansas City, St. Louis: buildings, cheap, rain)

[aragx6]

^Way to ignore the two posts that questioned your stance on anything.

[kshe95girl]

Originally Posted by aragx6

^Way to ignore the two posts that questioned your stance on anything.

I expected nothing less.

[onegoalstl]

Here is a good read. However I wish the author would go into detail about different areas of Missouri instead of lumping the state as a whole. The culture in far northern MO by Iowa is totally different than New Madrid, Hayti, or West Plains that are truely southern and little midwest about them.

http://libinfo.uark.edu/aas/issues/1961v15/v15a8.pdf

[GraniteStater]

Its becoming more divergent with the Midwest over time. The southern shift in the state (growth) and the evangelical component are big factors. The Ozarkian and upland South component is more prevalent and infleuntial compared to any state in the Midwest. The agrairian Midwest counties in northern MO have been rapidly losing population- so only a very small percentage of the population in MO actually resides in the "rural Midwest" anyway.

[imperialmog]

Originally Posted by GraniteStater

Its becoming more divergent with the Midwest over time. The southern shift in the state (growth) and the evangelical component are big factors. The Ozarkian and upland South component is more prevalent and infleuntial compared to any state in the Midwest. The agrairian Midwest counties in northern MO have been rapidly losing population- so only a very small percentage of the population in MO actually resides in the "rural Midwest" anyway.

I have thought the same way in terms of noticing that it looks to be diverging from the rest of the Midwest in recent times with it seemingly happening faster the last few years. The trends of state politics seems to be an example of this with it becoming more pronounced with redistricting of the state legislature which will shift seats towards the southwest corner of the state.

One thought is what would the state resemble politically in the future considering trends. It sure seems to be resembling the Great Lakes Midwest a lot less in recent years. One aspect of this would be if the percentage of Hispanics starts to really rise in the state which the first signs point to that, particularly in the western edge of the state.

[onegoalstl]

Well it's not just that but other factors when it comes to voting and this is with the other southern states as well.

A big reason why MO leaning more Republican is because your conservative Democrats are siwtching to Republican at the state level. From the civil war up to about 10 years ago many areas in MO were democrat.

Southeast MO is a good example.

Peter Kinder even commented how civil war politics and voting for the democrats is coming to an end.

One term Bob is a prime example. He really hurt the conservative Democrats in the southern part of the state when vetoing ccw, and removing the battle flags.

I wouldn't lump MO in with great lakes states. Those states are more northern, yankee.

MO was more southern 100 years ago even. Southern Democrats controlled Missouri politics in the early 1900s.

[imperialmog]

Originally Posted by onegoalstl

Well it's not just that but other factors when it comes to voting and this is with the other southern states as well.

A big reason why MO leaning more Republican is because your conservative Democrats are siwtching to Republican at the state level. From the civil war up to about 10 years ago many areas in MO were democrat.

Southeast MO is a good example.

Peter Kinder even commented how civil war politics and voting for the democrats is coming to an end.

One term Bob is a prime example. He really hurt the conservative Democrats in the southern part of the state when vetoing ccw, and removing the battle flags.

I wouldn't lump MO in with great lakes states. Those states are more northern, yankee.

MO was more southern 100 years ago even. Southern Democrats controlled Missouri politics in the early 1900s.

What I am picturing is that Missouri is just a pendulum in a way between Southern and Midwestern. It was founded as a Southern state, and started becoming more Midwestern around 1850 with it being a more Midwestern than Southern around the year 1900 or so. Only in the last say 20 years and especially the last 10 it has started to swing the other way.

I am curious on this, is migration playing a role in this? I am curious as to where is it people who move to Missouri tend to come from? It would be interesting to see if maybe who leaves and who arrives in the state might have some role in this.

[onegoalstl]

Originally Posted by imperialmog

What I am picturing is that Missouri is just a pendulum in a way between Southern and Midwestern. It was founded as a Southern state, and started becoming more Midwestern around 1850 with it being a more Midwestern than Southern around the year 1900 or so. Only in the last say 20 years and especially the last 10 it has started to swing the other way.

I am curious on this, is migration playing a role in this? I am curious as to where is it people who move to Missouri tend to come from? It would be interesting to see if maybe who leaves and who arrives in the state might have some role in this.

Similar thing in Virginia as well. The northern half of the state is becoming more northern and having less in common with the south.

One reason why it's possible MO lost some of the southerness is possibly because in the early 1900s many people migrated to Oklahoma. Could be why little dixie lost some of the southerners as they migrated to OK to farm.

The southern half of MO I wouldn't say is a lot of Midwestern except for Ste Gen for example. Especially when you get down to places like Sikeston, Poplar Bluff, Kennett, Springfield, New Madrid. Very little at all Midwestern about them and they were very pro confederate missourians.

[imperialmog]

Originally Posted by onegoalstl

Similar thing in Virginia as well. The northern half of the state is becoming more northern and having less in common with the south.

One reason why it's possible MO lost some of the southerness is possibly because in the early 1900s many people migrated to Oklahoma. Could be why little dixie lost some of the southerners as they migrated to OK to farm.

The southern half of MO I wouldn't say is a lot of Midwestern except for Ste Gen for example. Especially when you get down to places like Sikeston, Poplar Bluff, Kennett, Springfield, New Madrid. Very little at all Midwestern about them and they were very pro confederate missourians.

The same can be said to a degree for the metro areas that have experienced rapid growth in the South, of which more metros are going that way. There is also a divergence between areas of the Atlantic Coast Southern states and ones further West as a result.

Also related to this, I am getting the impression that over time the Kansas City area is looking more like say Dallas or Oklahoma City. Also on the Southern half of Missouri part, due to geography both main types of Southern culture shows up meaning the upland type and the lowland type.

Yes, Ste. Gen tends to be Midwestern, it is culturally part of a belt that is tied to St. Louis which is likely due to migration patterns of the mid-19th century. This belt tends to go from about Perryville or so up the river to St. Louis, and then go up the Missouri River (particularly the South Bank of it) to around Jefferson City, with both Jefferson City and Cape Girardeau as border cities of this. It is interesting seeing how there is a transition that can be sharp at times just about 5-10 miles away from the river. Living in Franklin County I can just sense this somehow here, with differences showing up in various things depending on how close to the Missouri River a location is. And strange to think it correlates to German immigration patters of over 150 years ago.

[GraniteStater]

Originally Posted by imperialmog

Also related to this, I am getting the impression that over time the Kansas City area is looking more like say Dallas or Oklahoma City. Also on the Southern half of Missouri part, due to geography both main types of Southern culture shows up meaning the upland type and the lowland type.

Agree 100% with this. Kansas City has a significant southwest shift in terms of prevailing influences over the past few decades. Much of this is in-migration flows from TX and a bit from OK. However, the built environment (particularly) the suburbs like JOCO is definitely taking on much more of a Sunbelt flavor. For what reason I have no idea. KC has very little in common with the Midwest Great Lakes cities anymore.