how far does chicago's sphere of influence extend? (Lexington: live in, vs)

[Chelito23]

I found a link with the map...and Chicago's influence is pretty large...
CommonCensus Map Project - Maps

[Avengerfire]

Well, when you consider that without most of Chicago and the Chicago area votes Illinois would go to a Republican every 4 years,I would say it is huge. Most of Illinois is pretty conservative. As we all know, one state's electoral votes can make the differance on who is elected to our nation's highest office. JFK would never have been elected without Chicago for example.

[KerrTown]

What did the Tribune article from 150 years ago say about Chicago's sphere of influence?

[KevK]

Originally Posted by via chicago

I agree. The same goes for Joliet, DeKalb...i mean come on, if you're from fricking 60 miles away, dont try to tell me you're from Chicago. Hell, when I went to parties in the city and told kids I was from Chicago they would say, "oh what neighborhood." and i would reply "oh, berwyn". their response would be, 'you're not from chicago, you're from mother **** berwyn." and they were right. and i so desperately wanted to be "from" chicago.

If you tell people you are "from Dekalb" they are gonna think you are from Georgia. The DeKalb in Georgia is well known.

[mackinac81]

Facinating thread! As a Southwest Michigander, I'll weigh in now.

Historically Chicago has had a big impact here. In the 1800s much of our produce, lumber and other products were shipped to Chicago to be sent to the rest of the midwest. Our lumber was sent to Minnesota and the Great Plains to build towns, keeping the towns along lake Michigan profitable.

Even today, lots of Chicagoans come up here to their vacation homes outside South Haven, and St. Joe. They're great for tourist $$ So Chicagoland is pretty important to us even today.

Little side note. Berrien county, in the extreme southwest, doesn't even get the Michigan stations. They all come from Chicago! I think that says quite a bit, don't you think?

[KevK]

Originally Posted by Avengerfire

Well, when you consider that without most of Chicago and the Chicago area votes Illinois would go to a Republican every 4 years,I would say it is huge. Most of Illinois is pretty conservative. As we all know, one state's electoral votes can make the differance on who is elected to our nation's highest office. JFK would never have been elected without Chicago for example.

Illinois is by far the most represenative of the USA as a whole. Its racial and age makeup reflect that of the country as a whole. It is 1/3 urban, suburban and rural. It is southern, midwestern and northern all in one state. I have often argued that one way to begin to fix the political process is to have Illinois as the first primary state as opposed to New Hampsire and Iowa. Anybody that wins the Illinois primary is probably represenative of the country as a whole.

[jcp123]

From an outsiders' perspective, Chicago seems to dominate Illinois. It seems much more apparent to me than LA or SF do in California, or (this is maybe a given with the pop. and geographical size) Houston, San Antonio, and Dallas in Texas.

[WildWestDude]

I remember watching a CNN report on last year's superbowl where they were saying you could find Bears fans just 45min north of Indy.
Lafayette, La Porte, and parts of SE Michigan also fall in this sphere of influence.
In Michigan it probably cuts off before Kalamazoo.

[j33]

WildWestDude - well, the northwestern portion of Indiana is, for all intents and purposes, a suburb of Chicago, they get Chicago television and radio stations and you'd be hard pressed up there to find anyone who are fans of an of the Indiana sports teams (or even beyond marginally aware of their existence).

I've heard more than one person jokingly call nw indiana 'the new jersey of the midwest'

[Rocky ILL]

Originally Posted by ahava

Iowans think of the nearest big city as either Des Moines or the Quad Cities (Davenport, IA/Moline, IL). What I think is odd is when people from Rockford say they are from Chicago. They wish, I guess. But Chicago's sphere of influence extends that far at least.

People from Rockford don't claim Chicago. We know we're not located in ChicagoLand. We're 85 miles NW of the city. Last NW suburb offa I-90 is Elgin and we're bout 35 minutes away from there.
We're not 1 of Chicago's suburbs. We're our own lil city wit our own lil suburbs. Hate when Chicagoans call us 1 of their suburbs.

Now yea we may be influenced by Chicago but every city & town around Chicago follows them--the whole Northern Ill,Southern wisconsin,& NW Indiana. That's juss how it goes. All small cities follow the bigger cities around them.

And what about Western Springs.where's that at? Sound like a high school in Colorado or somethin