Midwest (long)

[Frank Abate]

A few points re the recent thread on the definition of Midwest, based on
settlement history and state admission research I've been doing:

1. One loose definition is the northern states west of the Alleghenies,
which was the barrier that prevented easy land passage from New England and
the mid-Atlantic states to the west, in the days of white pioneer
settlement.  Hence, Pittsburgh (and western PA) has a much different
character (and dialect) from Eastern cities.  I would not call it part of
the Midwest, as I consider PA NOT to be part of the Midwest, as one of the
13 original colonies/states, though state boundaries do not tell the whole
story.  But for ease of defining, PA is out.

2. Midwestern cities such as Cleveland and Detroit have or had distinct
ethnic enclaves.  It is simply not the case that this is an Eastern city
phenomenon.  As a former Clevelander, I can personally vouch for distinct
Polish, Italian, and Hungarian regions on Cleveland's East Side (not the
suburbs, but in the city proper), and the same for Detroit, each long
maintaining immigrant culture and languages.  These regions undoubtedly are
fuzzier or different these days, but they were quite well defined as late as
the late 1960s.  In Ohio, Columbus and Cincinnati are quite different, but
that has to do with why and when immigrants came to these cities.  Cleveland
was part of the industrial urbanized area now considered part of the "Rust
Belt", which the other two decidedly are not.  Local dialects reflect this.

3. "Midwest", as a regional name, developed later in the 1800s and then
shifted west over time.  In early America, anything west of the Alleghenies
to the Mississippi was "the West", and this long was the prevailing notion.
It was not until the areas west of the Mississippi were explored and then
more settled, mostly after the Louisiana Purchase (1803), that the concept
of "the West" shifted to some of the areas that are still today considered
the West.  As "the West" shifted west, the need to call the western region
not as far west developed, and along came the terms "Middle West" and
"Midwest".

4. In simple state boundary terms, "Midwest" starts with those states formed
from the Northwest Territory (the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 defined this
region): OH, IN, IL, MI, and much of WI.  Geographically, this is the area
east of the Mississippi and northwest (hence the name of the territory) of
the Ohio River.

5. (partly speculative) As the states of OH, IN, and IL have large areas of
relative flatland that led to settlement for agriculture, and the states to
their west, up to the Black Hills and the Rockies, were much the same, the
entire region considered "Midwest" increased to include IA, NE, ND, SD.
Settlement of MN was from Northwest Territory areas, so it was included,
too.  Plus, all of these were non-slave states when admitted.

6. KS and MO are, in terms of settlement and history, different cases.
They, esp. KS (influenced by its agriculture and myths such as in Wizard of
Oz), are often considered part of the Midwest, but there are reasons to
think otherwise.

7. Nothing south of the Ohio River or associated with the Confederacy is
generally considered Midwest.  WV and KY are out.  Rocky Mountain states are
out (CO, WY, MT).

8. That gives the following for Midwest: certainly OH, IN, IL, MI, WI, MN,
IA, NE, SD, ND.  Probably KS, and (perhaps less) probably MO.

Frank Abate