Out-of-state anchor cities for Iowa (Des Moines, Cedar Rapids: home, college, live in)

[tvdxer]

By "anchor city" I mean a large city where it's taken as a given that you've been to several times, and also which exerts influence through media and sports teams, etc.

My guess is for Davenport it's Chicago, for Keokuk or Ottumwa it's St. Louis, for Mason City it's Minneapolis, and for Shenandoah it's Kansas City. Am I correct in my analysis?

[steel03]

I would divide it about like this:



Cedar Rapids/Iowa City and Des Moines are regional anchors on their own. There is a slight preference for Chicago in CR-IAC and a slight preference for Kansas City in Des Moines, but both areas are influential enough on their own to stand alone.

[Dport7674]

Originally Posted by steel03

Cedar Rapids/Iowa City and Des Moines are regional anchors on their own. There is a slight preference for Chicago in CR-IAC and a slight preference for Kansas City in Des Moines, but both areas are influential enough on their own to stand alone.

I don't agree. At least not in the way the op is asking.

Growing up in the Quad Cities, DM wasn't an anchor city for us at all. It never had concerts or sporting events that drew us there, and it's not exactly a weekend getaway type of city. DM is a nice enough town, I like going to 80/35 fest these last few years, but I don't see how it's an influential city.

Iowa City...I suppose you can call it 'regional' anchor city. As kids, because of the Hawkeyes sports and college parties, we spent a lot of weekends there.

(The 5 Seasons Center in Cedar Rapids was more of a draw than IC and DM combined for us as far as concerts used to go.)

[atler8]

If you consider the op's use of "large", it can mean more than 1 thing. Large by Iowa standards, in which case Des Moines really is the only true in-state standout in so many varied aspects. Or it can mean large as in a city of major national standing that would have the added weight & influence of sports teams he mentioned of sports teams on a major league professional level.
Omaha on the western border of the state would siphon off a lot of the focus in the western part of Iowa in terms of the large by Iowa standards category I mentioned & it would be a major competitor with Des Moines within the state for that category of city.
Decades ago I think that the Twin Cities had more of an influence & pull on central Iowa & most of the state than they do at this time. Much of that was probably due to the sports team influences of that metro area in particular the pull of the Twins baseball team.
Outside of the original radio broadcast home of the Twins, WCCO radio in Minneapolis, WHO radio in Des Moines with it's 50,000 watts of "clear channel" signal delivery was easily the 2nd most most important broadcaster of Twin's games via the radio. When WHO carried those games, a lot of Twin Cities based businesses also ran ads on WHO that added to the influence of that metro on Iowa. With the Twin's broadcasts gone from that signal source, a regular reminder to Iowans of the existence of Mpls/St. Paul has been lost.
However, I still think that overall they are perhaps about tied overall w/ Chicago as the outside influence winner in Iowa.
Kansas City & St. Louis would have some pull on Iowa in the southwestern & southeastern corners respectfully but on a smaller level. Additionally, Milwaukee would exert a tiny pull in extreme northeastern Iowa.

[steel03]

I don't agree. At least not in the way the op is asking.

Growing up in the Quad Cities, DM wasn't an anchor city for us at all. It never had concerts or sporting events that drew us there, and it's not exactly a weekend getaway type of city. DM is a nice enough town, I like going to 80/35 fest these last few years, but I don't see how it's an influential city.

Iowa City...I suppose you can call it 'regional' anchor city. As kids, because of the Hawkeyes sports and college parties, we spent a lot of weekends there.

(The 5 Seasons Center in Cedar Rapids was more of a draw than IC and DM combined for us as far as concerts used to go.)

Well if you look at the map I took the time to make up, you'll see that I haven't classified the Quad Cities as anywhere near Des Moines's zone of influence.

Look at OP:

Originally Posted by tvdxer

By "anchor city" I mean a large city where it's taken as a given that you've been to several times, and also which exerts influence through media and sports teams, etc.

That is absolutely what Des Moines and CR-IAC are for rural central Iowa. People who live in Marshalltown are not going to have any kind of connection to Minneapolis or KC media and sports teams, but they definitely will be familiar with Des Moines/Corridor media. and Iowa/ISU sports. Likewise, people who live in Des Moines and (to a lesser extent) the Corridor are SUBSTANTIALLY less connected to out-of-state markets than people who live in places like Mason City, Burlington, and Red Oak - in large part because their own markets exert enough influence to keep the focus at home.

[Nedibes]

Originally Posted by steel03

people who live in Des Moines and (to a lesser extent) the Corridor are SUBSTANTIALLY less connected to out-of-state markets than people who live in places like Mason City, Burlington, and Red Oak - in large part because their own markets exert enough influence to keep the focus at home.

I would agree with this; in my small town in the Corridor, Chicago is pretty clearly the biggest out-of-state anchor, but you can't assume that folks have been there even once. When my kids' fifth grade class went on a trip to Galena, Illinois this year, there was a SUBSTANTIAL percentage of their class for whom it was the very first trip out of the state. I'm sure they'd all been to IC/CR, but I wouldn't guarantee Des Moines. In fact, I haven't been there yet, and I've lived in Iowa for going on seven years (I have been to Chicago many times).

[duster1979]

I would consider Luray, Missouri an anchor city for Mount Sterling.

[funksoulbro]

Originally Posted by tvdxer

My guess is for Davenport it's Chicago, for Keokuk or Ottumwa it's St. Louis, for Mason City it's Minneapolis, and for Shenandoah it's Kansas City. Am I correct in my analysis?

No, you are not.

[scimitar12]

Having grown up in Iowa I can say that Chicago is by far the biggest draw in the state. No other out of state city even comes close. Having said that I would say Minneapolis would be a distant second. I lived in KC for over 20 years and other than a few folks from southwest/south central Iowa, and some from Des Moines I never thought Iowans visited KC much. Minneapolis gets many more Iowans visiting their city than KC. St. Louis probably comes in last due to the lack of a dedicated interstate connecting the city to Iowa.

[Omahahonors]

Iowa plates are all over omaha. Not just pottawattamie, Harrison and mills. We see a lot of Monona, Fremont, Carroll, Woodbury, Polk and a few others.