[Sigia-l] RE:Where is Ann Arbor

[Ralph Brandi]

From: "Stephanie A. Heacox" <s.heacox at verizon.net>

>I was born and (god help me) raised there, and I can state categorically
>that Ohio is part of the Midwest (and for the record, we Midwesterners
>include Michigan among our number, as well)...

I grew up in Michigan, Illinois, and New Jersey, so I'm well versed in the ways of both the midwest and the east.  I went to college in central Pennsylvania and was astonished to find that the midwest, east, and south all met in State College, PA.  I didn't expect to find that the south reached into Pennsylvania, but it sure seemed to when I lived there.  Students from Philadelphia and Pittsburgh were very different; Pittsburghers seemed to be much more midwestern to me.  So I would argue that, culturally, the midwest extends as far as Pittsburgh, maybe even Johnstown.  (This would track the "midwest = pop, east = soda" theory.)

I think it goes back to pioneer days.  At the time of the revolution, Bedford, Pennsylvania, was a frontier town.  By 1800, the east was relatively settled and "refined".  But the west, anything past the Appalachians, basically, was the preserve of pioneers.  Remember, Ohio and Michigan were part of the Northwest Territory at the time.  From the perspective of the early 1800s, yes, they were the west.  Thousands of easterners from New England and New York poured into Ohio and Michigan in the 1820s and 1830s, especially once the Erie Canal was built.  The development of Michigan, Ohio, and Illinois as industrial giants as opposed to the corn farmers of the popular imagination of the midwest came later.

I don't know when the term "midwest" was created, but it was probably at a time when, in the popular imagination, the image of Ohio, Michigan, and the rest as the western frontier and a land of opportunity was still relatively fresh.
-- 
Ralph Brandi   ralph at brandi.org   http://www.brandi.org/

Geneablogy, an occasional weblog detailing my search for my roots:
    http://www.brandi.org/geneablogy/