Does Chicago "feel" Midwestern? (Kansas, Cleveland: insurance, suburban, metro area)

[prhill]

Feels like a huge city to me which is a feeling I never got in any other part of the Midwest at all including places like Milwaukee, St Louis, etc

[MassVt]

Chicago and Milwaukee are the westernmost outposts of the Rust Belt---once you head west out of these two, you're in the more agriculturally-oriented Midwest..

Interesting pictures--the first two could be in either Chicago or Milwaukee; I have no idea about the 3rd--Cleveland?

[andrew61]

Originally Posted by MassVt

Interesting pictures--the first two could be in either Chicago or Milwaukee; I have no idea about the 3rd--Cleveland?

Definitely not Cleveland. We don't have streetlights that look like that.

[EddieOlSkool]

Originally Posted by brodie734

I think what you've identified here, Eddie, is this region's place in the developmental history of the country. The Great Lakes megalopolis roughly corresponds to the second wave of American urban centers, the ones of the late 19th and early 20th century. In this way, we have a kind of overlapping "rust belt" that covers everything from former factory towns in Massachusetts where the industrial revolution really began to the massive factory complexes of the Great Lakes to the coal fueled steel towns on the cusp of Appalachia. Chicago is at the heart of that, but it's also at the heart of a shipping system which brings in grain from the bread basket, timber and ore from the north, and pumps them out to sea.

I've often thought of another analogy which requires some familiarity with the ins and outs of college sports, a pastime fairly unique to the midwest and south, really... Chicago is a Big 10 city. It's where kids from the University of Iowa mingle with kids from Michigan State, the real capital of the miniature world of the Big 10. Cleveland and Detroit? They're MAC cities. Places where the urban elites largely come from schools like Central Michigan or the University of Akron, the second tier of colleges in the region. As with most things, Chicago's difference is the result of scale.

My issue with the Great Lakes Megalopolis is its inclusion of far flung places like Louisville and Cincinnati that have little connection even historically to the Great Lakes. Everything else you said though is accurate. To me the Great Lakes Megalopolis probably reaches to Columbus and Indy but that may even be pushing it.

[Blowm3]

LOL, I wonder if the people saying Chicago doesn't have a midwestern feel have actually been here to the city or if they're just embarrassed about the implications of being considered Midwestern. Is it an inferiority complex against the east coast or what? There's nothing wrong with having a midwestern vibe, Chicago is that in every sense of the word. The way people behave, the way they dress. The accents that are here are very midwestern, and there's nothing wrong with that lol.

[Chicago-guy]

Originally Posted by Blowm3

LOL, I wonder if the people saying Chicago doesn't have a midwestern feel have actually been here to the city or if they're just embarrassed about the implications of being considered Midwestern. Is it an inferiority complex against the east coast or what? There's nothing wrong with having a midwestern vibe, Chicago is that in every sense of the word. The way people behave, the way they dress. The accents that are here are very midwestern, and there's nothing wrong with that lol.

Offensive name -Check
5 posts total and all of them are argumentative- Check

[DaBears02]

Chicago is very midwestern. Just because it’s cosmopolitan and developed doesn’t make it not midwestern. Don’t know how people could say otherwise.

[Blowm3]

Originally Posted by Chicago-guy

Offensive name -Check
5 posts total and all of them are argumentative- Check

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So you have nothing to rebuttal? Okay. Still doesn’t change the fact from what I seen as an actual Chicagoan. It does feel midwestern…

[ggplicks]

Yeah, it's the big midwestern metropolis. I don't know why people are ashamed of the midwest connotation lmaoo, the great lakes region will be the #1 destination with climate change. Cities like Phoenix, Vegas, LA, etc. all had recent water restrictions and it's only going to get worst. Our winters are only going to get shorter, we BARELY got snow last year.



Lastly, with all its faults, I still think Chicago is a way better city and value than any southern metro and can defintely compete with its coastal peers. We're the last region in the country with affordable housing, let the coasts pay 2500 for a studio

[jmgg]

Originally Posted by DaBears02

Chicago is very midwestern. Just because it’s cosmopolitan and developed doesn’t make it not midwestern. Don’t know how people could say otherwise.

Every comment here is one person's opinion. With that, everyone has their own idea of the term "midwestern".

To ME, there isn't anything about Chicago that really has a midwestern feel. It purely and simply, an enormous city with a somewhat cold attitude. The people by and large there understand this life only. Most have no clue of life outside of it where smaller communities are a center-point to the rural area. Understanding this and living the lifestyle within areas of people that get this, to me is what a midwestern feel is.

If you visit the Twin Cities or Kansas City you'll find more people that understand what having a midwestern feel is all about. The vibe is totally different in Chicago. The size difference alone has so much to do with it. There is another difference though. In these other cities there is more of an influx of people that actually ARE from smaller communities. They're still deep down, midwesterners.