The name “Midwest” or “Midwestern” is attached to dozens of Chicago institutions. Midwest Tool. Midwest Foods. Midwest Laundries. Midwest Chiropractic Center. That’s because Chicago, as the Encyclopedia of Chicago itself puts it, is the “capital of the Midwest”—the commercial and industrial hub of a region built on commerce and industry.
But is “Midwest” really an accurate description of Chicago’s place in North America? Do we really belong in the same geographic basket as Des Moines, Kansas City, Indianapolis, Cincinnati and Sioux Falls, cities with which we have very little in common culturally, linguistically, or politically? And more broadly, aren’t the commonly accepted boundaries of the Midwest—west of the Appalachians, north of the Ohio River, south of the Canadian border, and east of the Rockies—too broad to be tagged with a single rubric?
The answers to those questions, to use Midwestern phraseology, are “nope” and “you bet!” We’re not Midwesterners, because there is no such place as the Midwest. “Midwest” was invented in the 19th Century, to describe the states of the old Northwest Ordinance, a term that became outdated once the nation spread to the Pacific Coast.
“Midwest” is applied to a chunk of America that seems unclassifiable to the rest of the country: neither North, South, East or West. Its borders have shifted historically, making them always good for an argument. (Out of nearly 35,000 Vox readers, 95% agree Iowa is a Midwestern state, followed by Illinois at 91%. Wisconsin, Minnesota, Indiana, and Missouri just clear the low 80s.)What we call the Midwest is in fact a set of sub-regions, not all of which are contained in what we’ve traditionally thought of as “the Midwest.”
Here in Chicago, for example, we’re Great Lakers, denizens of a freshwater nation that not only crosses boundaries traditionally applied to the Midwest, but the boundaries of the United States itself. Our compatriots can be found in Milwaukee, Detroit, and Cleveland, all traditional “Midwestern” cities, but also in Buffalo, Rochester and Toronto.
In fact, Chicago was first incorporated into Illinois because of its connection to the Great Lakes. The Northwest Ordinance declared that Illinois’s northern border would run along a line defined by the southern tip of Lake Michigan. Had that plan been followed, what we now know as Chicago would’ve been part of Wisconsin. In 1817, as Illinois was preparing to enter the Union, territorial delegate Nathaniel Pope proposed pushing the boundary north 55 miles. Pope wanted to balance our pro-Southern, pro-slavery population by attracting Yankees migrating westward via the Great Lakes, ensuring Illinois remained a free state.
Those Yankees, mainly from western New York and New England, provided the basis of Chicago’s culture and language. In his book American Nations: A History of the Eleven Rival Regional Cultures of North America, journalist Colin Woodard places Chicago in a region called “Yankeedom,” which stretches across the northern tier of the nation, from Maine to Minnesota. It’s a bastion of political progressivism. As Woodard wrote, “residents in Northeastern states and the industrial Midwest tend to be more comfortable with government regulation. They value education and the common good more than other regions.” The Inland North dialect, basis of the Classic Chicago Accent, also follows the contours of the lower Great Lakes, from Rochester to Milwaukee.
(When I wrote a dialect book called How to Speak Midwestern, I was accused of stretching the region’s boundaries by including Buffalo and Pittsburgh. My reasoning: accents commonly heard in “the Midwest” originated in those cities, and were spread westward by settlers.)
These political and linguistic tendencies make us very different from “Midwesterners” in Iowa or Kansas, differences magnified by the fact that Chicago is a port city with a deep industrial heritage.
Besides the Great Lakes, the so-called Midwest can also be subdivided into these regions, each with its own distinct speech and folkways.
—The Corn Belt: An agricultural area running through the center of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Iowa.
—The North Country: The mining and logging regions of Minnesota, Wisconsin, and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.
—Upper Appalachia: The Ohio Valley of Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, West Virginia and Kentucky, originally settled by Southern migrants.
—The Great Plains: The eastern Dakotas, Kansas and Nebraska.
Even before Woodard wrote his book, Deborah Miller of the Minnesota Historical Society was on to this complexity when she told Hour Detroit magazine that “I would put Minnesota and Wisconsin and Michigan into a particular part of the Midwest that I would call the Upper Midwest. They’re also part of a different region that you might call the Great Lakes states, along with their Canadian contemporaries.”
Chicago’s Canadian contemporary is Toronto. I can’t think of any two major cities more alike. They’re similar in size—Toronto 2.9 million, Chicago 2.7 million—and are both multicultural metropolises laid out in a grid system on the shores of a Great Lake. I find it easier to find my way around Toronto than I do any American city. (The biggest difference: Toronto built right up to its waterfront, while we left ours “forever free and clear.”) We’re the improvisational comedy capitals of our respective nations, both having Second City chapters. For ambitious Americans and Canadians, Chicago and Toronto are the last stops before the Big Time of New York and L.A. Naturally, we’re sister cities.
No one would call Toronto a Midwestern city, since it’s not even in the U.S. It’s undeniably a Great Lakes city, though. The next time someone from the East Coast, the West Coast or the South Coast calls you a Midwesterner, tell them that’s too simplistic a label for all the folks in the middle of the country. Say “I’m a Great Laker,” and make them look at a map.
Great post ! Thanks.
Exciting topic
Chicago and Toronto might be similar due to the fact that there both located in the Great Lakes region and are located on lakes. However, I find both cities to be vastly different from a design and planning perspective. As a Torontonian, I think Chicago has planned it’s cityscape better then Toronto’s. I also like the focus Chicago maintains on architectural preservation and innovation. That’s not to say that Toronto doesn’t have it’s own beautiful areas, it does. I think both cities are unique and distinctive in there own ways.
As a Torontonian, I think Chicago has planned it’s cityscape better then Toronto’s. The it’s should be its.
That’s not to say that Toronto doesn’t have it’s own beautiful areas, … Ditto.
My husband & I prefer to say Illinois & Wisconsin are the Great Lakes States…since they’re situated on Lake Michigan, *one of only five Great Lakes.* *IL & WI are also only two of eight Great Lakes states.* Neither IL nor WI is in the middle or western US.
In addition, 1)-Minnesota is known as *the land of 1000 lakes*, & *Wisconsin has often been noted to have yet more lakes.* *Wisconsin’s top industry has long been tourism, & much of that is due to its many miles water* 2)-Per Wiki, “The Chicago Park District operates a municipal harbor system within the greater Chicago Harbor in Lake Michigan for recreational boaters. With accommodations for 6000 boats,[3] it is *the largest system of its kind in the nation* 3)-Just north of Chicago, the Great Lakes naval base is *the largest military installation in Illinois* and *the largest training station in the Navy,* (also per Wiki). 4)-Both IL & WI have a lot to offer, but their largest cities, Chicago & Milwaukee, have both had their own respective issues for some time. It would be a shot in the arm for these cities to be known as “great,” which they are, despite work to be done. It would also be beneficial for other Great Lakes cities in the Rust Belt to be deemed in a “great” area.
Why do you disregard the state of Michigan?
In addition, 1)-Minnesota is known as *the land of 1000 lakes*, ,,,, You’re missing a 0. Minnesota is known as “the land of 10,000 lakes”
Let’s be honest, Chicago is downright European. Like a small mafia fiefdom somewhere between Galway and Sicily LOL. The only thing more Chicago than never eating a hotdog because they’re gross is acting like we are better than our neighbors. The self consciousness of a city puffing its chest in the mirror; Chicago has been all about posturing since the beginning.
oooh you’re a funny one. obvi you aren’t a Chicagoan..you actually remind me of these pompous Californians I live among now.
How dare thy compare me to a coastal!
Call it whatever you like, Chicago is the heart of this country! That is not to say we are perfect … far from that! We struggle to correct the inequities and repressive double-standards which have arisen from each morphing of the endemic racism which has permeated attitudes and policies in the U.S.A. since the country’s founding. This is evident in our current metropolitan area map. But in spite of that heavy demographic wet blanket, Chicago has forged a rich history of innovative response to commercial and social trends. The city’s geographic location is its most treasured asset … it sits like a brilliant crown jewel, the skyline is more impressive than any other American city. A German friend of mine, who has lived in Chicago for all but one year of her 50 years of marriage, spent close to 40 of those years being miserable and whining to her family and friends in Germany about what a miserable, dedsolate plzce Chicago was. When a Swiss schoolfriend of hers visited her about ten years ago remarked that he felt like he was somewhere along the Côte d’Azur and that being here was like being on vacation every day. Every city has its boasts, those characteristics and accomplishments which they consider to be uniquely their own. Chicago is where those treasures were refined and from which their fame was broadcast to the rest of the world. The resources available to Chicagoans make possible worldwide transmission for innumerable brags of which the whole nation is understandably intensely proud. We get the word out, every beat of our hearts pulses inspiration and pride. The hearts and the minds of Chicagoans are as wide open as the plains and prairies which fan out beyond Lake Michigan’s shores. As Nelson Algren famously called it, Chicago is a City on the Make … to its proud inhabitants it will always be the Emerald City, where everything shimmers with excitement and where the streets vibrate with the rhythms of jazz and house music and echoes still reverberate of the Haymarket and 1968 Democratic National Convention riots, and the conflagration of the 1871 Great Fire was the inconvenient but necessary spark which inspired us to greatness!
My Grandma’s family first immigrated to Kansas from Mexico. My Grandpa was from Kansas too. They’ve live in the west suburbs of Chicago for years! My world was shaped by their perspectives, values, and traditions. So, when you start talking about how Chicago isn’t midwestern enough, I stop reading. I can’t indulge in that. I know exactly where my fellow Chicagoans and suburbanites are from.
This song by Chicago rapper Serengeti thoroughly answers this question:
https://youtu.be/1bEEusRUWAM
We are the Mid-North!
I’ve always heard the border was moved up so Illinois could control 1) the mouth of the Chicago River (everyone going back to the French wanted to build the canal) and 2) the lead mines around Galena. Either way, it’s always fun to remind the secessioneers that they’re the ones who gerrymandered us into the state.
Have you read “Nature’s Metropolis” by William Cronon? Chicago is very much the center of the Midwest. It’s the copperheads down in Little Egypt who are grudgingly along for the ride.
Sounds like a midwesterner looking down at his neighbors again.