We call the Midwest home ... what do others call it?
We call the Midwest home ... what do others call it?
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We call the Midwest home ... what do others call it?
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Post #1 - January 18th, 2013, 11:44 amHi,
I have been searching for other names for the Midwest, I found:
Prior to 1900:
The Old Northwest
Out West
Inter-Ocean
The prairie's edge
Apparently Midwest or Mid-west has been in use since 1900. Other names for our region: Heartland, Prairie, "between the coasts,' 'fly over country' and based on a post on this board, 'beans and corn.'
Have you heard of any others?
Regards,Cathy2
"You'll be remembered long after you're dead if you make good gravy, mashed potatoes and biscuits." -- Nathalie Dupree
Facebook, Twitter, Greater Midwest Foodways, Road Food 2012: Podcast
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Post #2 - January 18th, 2013, 11:54 amHi Cathy,
You could add "Mid-America" to your list. Here's what Wikipedia says:
The term Midwestern has been in use since the 1880s to refer to portions of the central U.S.[5] A variant term, "Middle West", has been in use since the 19th century and remains relatively common.[6] Another term sometimes applied to the same general region is "the heartland".[7] Other designations for the region have fallen out of use, such as the "Northwest" or "Old Northwest" (from "Northwest Territory") and "Mid-America"."Your swimming suit matches your eyes, you hold your nose before diving, loving you has made me bananas!"
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Post #3 - January 18th, 2013, 11:56 amI've heard Back East on many occasions.Steve Z.
“Only the pure in heart can make a good soup.”
― Ludwig van Beethoven
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Post #4 - January 18th, 2013, 2:23 pmThe boundaries may be argued, but I define the Midwest as Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Missouri and Iowa, and I always simply call it "the Midwest" (or "back home", if appropriate).
I don't use or like any other terms - calling it "the Heartland" is being either ironic or phony, "Mid-America" is only used by newspaper writers and politicians, "Out West" means cowboy & cattle territory & so does "the Prairie" (where the coyotes howl and the wind blows freeee), I've never heard anyone under the age of 150 refer to our part of the country as "the Old Northwest" ....fine words butter no parsnips
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Post #5 - January 18th, 2013, 3:22 pmNot the same as the midwest but the Great Lakes Region. This only encompasses the eight Great Lakes states that are in the basin. Also the third coast but this I think refers to Chicago. The flyover zone, I have heard that. The Heartland. The Silent Majority (?) not the same thing but it came to mind...now I am going back to Nixons time I think. Yikes.Toria
"I like this place and willingly could waste my time in it" - As You Like It,
W. Shakespeare
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Post #6 - January 18th, 2013, 3:45 pmHi,
When I cooked up the name for Greater Midwest Foodways Alliance some years ago, I very purposefully stated 'Greater.' It is acknowledging the two greats in our region: Great Lakes and Great Plains.
I never heard of 'Old Northwest' until earlier today.
I'm glad you mentioned Mid-America.
Had anyone else heard of inter-ocean? I found in the Encyclopedia of Chicago, there was a paper in Chicago named the Inter-Ocean:The morning Chicago Republican (1865), sporting the motto “Republican in everything, Independent in nothing,” was edited briefly by Charles A. Dana and, in 1872, after passing through several hands, was renamed the Chicago Inter Ocean, an upper-class arbiter of cultural tastes. The Inter Ocean went into decline after 1895, when it became the property of Chicago traction boss Charles T. Yerkes, who used it as a tool in his political wars.
Regards,Cathy2
"You'll be remembered long after you're dead if you make good gravy, mashed potatoes and biscuits." -- Nathalie Dupree
Facebook, Twitter, Greater Midwest Foodways, Road Food 2012: Podcast
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Post #7 - January 18th, 2013, 3:52 pmstevez wrote:I've heard Back East on many occasions.
To Californians, everything east of lake Tahoe is "back" east, but to New Yorkers we are "out" west (eventhough we are more than twice as far from LA as we are from New York).
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Post #8 - January 18th, 2013, 4:18 pmCathy2 wrote:I never heard of 'Old Northwest' until earlier today.
Remember that Illinois was part of the original Northwest Territory, and is also the origin of the name of Northwestern University.What is patriotism, but the love of good things we ate in our childhood?
-- Lin Yutang
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Post #9 - January 18th, 2013, 4:30 pmThe "Heart of America" used to be a slogan of KC. I remember it being on signs up on lightpoles.
I've always thought of the Midwest as the states you've named. No Great Plains states, which have a bit of an identity crisis, not really Midwest but shunned by the Far West. Growing up in KC, We always considered Chicago our LA or NYC, the go to place for big city fun.
The straw that stirs the drink, so to speak.
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Post #10 - January 18th, 2013, 4:45 pmOne that hasn't been mentioned is "Rust Belt." (Which I mainly associate with Ohio for some reason, but I think it encompasses the whole midwest region where manufacturing was once king and now isn't.)
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Post #11 - January 18th, 2013, 5:40 pmI think of the Rust Belt as those same states included in the Great Lakes region. Hard to place land locked (excepting the Mississippi and other major rivers) Iowa and Missouri in the Rust
Belt.
Buddy
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Post #12 - January 18th, 2013, 5:44 pmRoger Ramjet wrote:The boundaries may be argued, but I define the Midwest as Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Missouri and Iowa, and I always simply call it "the Midwest" (or "back home", if appropriate).
I do happen to include North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska and Kansas. However on the fringes of the collar states are often Midwestern culturally also. If you do not observe political boundaries, it extends into Canada.
I found the definition of the Midwest could be found in the Northwest Ordinance of 1787:The Midwest: An Interpretation wrote:The role of government is often as invisible in the history of the Midwest as the presence of Native Americans. The United States Congress created a territorial policy in the Land Ordinance of 1785 and the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 that would provide the template for American expansion throughout the nineteenth century. Land in the Midwest would generally be surveyed and sold in squares, creating the checkerboard right angles that mark most of the region. An orderly process allowed people to form states, starting with Ohio (1803), and moving through Indiana (1816), Illinois (1818), Missouri (1821), Michigan (1837), Iowa (1846), Wisconsin (1848), Minnesota (1858), Kansas (1861), Nebraska (1867), North Dakota (1889), and South Dakota (1889). As important, the Northwest Ordinance ensured that states would have republican governments, that they would encourage public education and religion, and that they would not permit slavery (except in Missouri). While support for education and opposition to slavery were controversial and sometimes more rhetorical than real, they nonetheless came to define the Midwest in the popular imagination.
I also found Thomas Jefferson had thoughts on how these Midwest states should be named:Sylvania, Michigania, Illinoia, Saratoga, and Washington. OK, we can work with those.
But Chersonesus, Assenisipia, Metropotamia, Polypotamia, and Pelisipia?
...
While we may see the reasons for these names, we may be thankful that they did not prevail, Ohio is better than Pelisipia, and Wisconsin to be preferred to Assenisipia.
You may want to clink on the link to see a graphic of the states map with those names.
This has been a good learning day for me!
Regards,Cathy2
"You'll be remembered long after you're dead if you make good gravy, mashed potatoes and biscuits." -- Nathalie Dupree
Facebook, Twitter, Greater Midwest Foodways, Road Food 2012: Podcast
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Post #13 - January 18th, 2013, 10:18 pmOne that hasn't been mentioned is "Rust Belt." (Which I mainly associate with Ohio for some reason, but I think it encompasses the whole midwest region where manufacturing was once king and now isn't.)I think of the Rust Belt as those same states included in the Great Lakes region. Hard to place land locked (excepting the Mississippi and other major rivers) Iowa and Missouri in the Rust Belt.
I agree. My wording was ambiguous. What I meant to get across was, "I think the Rust Belt encompasses that whole part of the midwest region where manufacturing was once king and now isn't."
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Post #14 - January 19th, 2013, 10:44 amCathy2 wrote:Had anyone else heard of inter-ocean? I found in the Encyclopedia of Chicago, there was a paper in Chicago named the Inter-Ocean:
I'm under the impression that there's occasionally a "Third Coast" music festival based in Chicago.
http://thirdcoastfestival.org/about-tciafLast edited by bean on January 20th, 2013, 9:14 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Post #15 - January 19th, 2013, 6:31 pmAssenisipia, huh? Can't say I think much of the name, but I like the fact that the state would have included Chicago, Rockford, Peoria, Bloomington, the Quad cities, Kankakee, Hammond, Gary, Milwaukee, Beloit, Janesville and Madison, but excluded northern Wisconsin and Southern Illinois. It is remarkable that Jefferson was able to envision a state that would eventually include the major population centers of Wisconsin, Illinois and much of Indiana. Obviously, he just cut the area up into more or less equal squares, but I wonder how his plan would have changed the political and cultural geography of modern America.
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Post #16 - January 19th, 2013, 6:39 pmI always associated the Rust Best as including Pennsylvania and Western New York, stretching as far west as the Quad Cities. So many post industrial towns, closed plants, even in towns that have moved on where the stereotype remains. The Quad Cities had more manufacturing jobs (per capita) lost than Detroit. Individual towns referred to as Rust Buckets.
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Post #17 - January 19th, 2013, 9:42 pmI've lived in Kansas for 42 years, and I'm here to tell you that Kansans do NOT think of themselves as Middle Westerners. We're *Westerners*, inhabitants of the Great Plains, highlighted by ranching, cattle, cowboys. So I want y'awl to keep that clearly in mind!
GeoSooo, you like wine and are looking for something good to read? Maybe *this* will do the trick!
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Post #18 - January 20th, 2013, 12:57 amGood point Tyrgyzistan; I'll give you Pennsylvania and western New York as Rust Belt territory. Of course, both those areas are also on the Great Lakes. it's just small minded, geographically challenged individuals like myself who sometimes forget that fact.
Buddy
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Post #19 - January 20th, 2013, 3:18 amIn cases where Illinois is grouped with the Great Plains, I've heard it referred to as (part of) "America's Breadbasket," but you don't really get that in the "Midwestern" states further east of us.
A friend of mine from NYC refers to the Midwest as "cowtropolis," as in, "I'll be headed back to cowtropolis the first week of January."
