Living in NW Indiana, do you feel part of the Chicago area or disconnected? (Hammond: to buy, rail)

[midwest1]

You really have no idea what you are talking about Pilman...as in NO IDEA....but keep embarrassing yourself by all means...oddly interesting...your complete incomprehension of the meaning of a suburb is truly fascinating.

a little brushup


suburb
[suhb-urb]

Examples
Word Origin

noun
1.
a district lying immediately outside a city or town, especially a smaller residential community.
2.
the suburbs, the area composed of such districts.
3.
an outlying part.

[FleeTheRustBelt]

Originally Posted by censusdata

I know there was some South to North migration centered on Hammond. I had several uncles move to Hammond from rural Kentucky. One of them married a woman there whose parents moved there from Southern Illinois. Everyone I know down here who had family near Chicago it was always Hammond where they lived. A lot of my grandpa's siblings moved to Valparaiso as well during the WWII timeframe. The flow of White Southerners moving north almost totally stopped by the 1970s, so their children and grandchildren still living are now acculturated to local accents and culture. But even then it's likely that they were never a majority of the White population.

A quick way to see where White Southerners moved to is to look up the locations of Southern based Protestant groups. Like Church of Christ (not United CoC), Pentecostal, etc. Hammond has more such churches by far then anywhere else in Northern Indiana.

The late Jean Shepherd's stories about his boyhood in Hammond in the 40's were full of anecdotes about his whiskey-guzzling family of Kentucky transplant neighbors. Otherwise I never really thought that about Hammond though, I always thought it was mostly traditionally Polish/German/Irish/Serbian white ethnic like everywhere nearby.

[BridgetJones]

You must not get out much if you think a town can't be a suburb to its nearby big city just because it's in a different county. Many suburbs for many large cities are in different counties (including those in Chicago--do DuPage and Will County suburbs not count as suburbs to you?). Do you think anyone would argue that Fishers isn't a suburb of Indianapolis just because it's in Hamilton county? If it's not a suburb, then what is it? And plenty of suburbs are on the other side of state lines. Most people don't blink an eye if someone says they're from the Jersey suburbs of NYC, or Kentucky suburbs of Cincinnati, or Illinois suburbs of St. Louis.

In my mind, if there are a good amount of people who live in an outlying town that commute in to the nearby big city for work, then it's fair to consider it a suburb of that city.

PS- Michigan City isn't exactly typical of what most people think of when they think of suburbs in NWI. Most people are thinking of towns that are much closer to Chicago like Hammond, Munster, Highland, Dyer, etc.

[EddieOlSkool]

Originally Posted by BridgetJones

You must not get out much if you think a town can't be a suburb to its nearby big city just because it's in a different county. Many suburbs for many large cities are in different counties (including those in Chicago--do DuPage and Will County suburbs not count as suburbs to you?). Do you think anyone would argue that Fishers isn't a suburb of Indianapolis just because it's in Hamilton county? If it's not a suburb, then what is it? And plenty of suburbs are on the other side of state lines. Most people don't blink an eye if someone says they're from the Jersey suburbs of NYC, or Kentucky suburbs of Cincinnati, or Illinois suburbs of St. Louis.

In my mind, if there are a good amount of people who live in an outlying town that commute in to the nearby big city for work, then it's fair to consider it a suburb of that city.

PS- Michigan City isn't exactly typical of what most people think of when they think of suburbs in NWI. Most people are thinking of towns that are much closer to Chicago like Hammond, Munster, Highland, Dyer, etc.

Michigan City's commute is comparable to Aurora's FWIW

[EddieOlSkool]

Originally Posted by PILMAN

I fail to see the logic you are pushing, I really don't see why it's a big deal to be recognized as a suburb of Chicago, I was born in Arlington heights and grew up in wheeling, and even though it's part of cook county, guess what, the city of Chicago still views us as outsiders and different, and if they feel we are different, there is no way they are going to fully accept northwest Indiana as part of the Chicago area. Honestly I could care less, I still enjoy Italian beefs, Chicago dogs and gyros all the same. Somehow you seem to feel so offended about me stating some sort of disconnect, I never said there wasn't some form of Chicago culture in parts of northwest Indiana, but very clearly many parts including where I lived in Indiana are very much different from Chicago and the Chicago suburbs.

I keep being asked why I keep mentioning Michigan city, because others quoted me, and the fact is Michigan city really doesn't resemble anything about Chicago other than the fact there's a commuter train there. If you can't see this, then I don't know what to tell you.

The entire time I was in Michigan city, I found a place that sold gyros, and some places had giardinera. Honestly the only thing that stood out to me about Michigan city was the large cooling tower on the beach, going through the shopping complex and seeing large factory chimneys, a lot of abandoned factories, ghost malls, run down housing, the prison, and hitting farm land driving slightly out of town. The only aspect that looked similar to Chicago was maybe some of the brick buildings and bars, but honestly to me, most of the culture seemed to lack understanding of Chicago food or culture. Yes it was blue collar but it felt like Indiana. Unfortunately members here debating what consists of "the region" makes the idea of what makes up the Chicago area very confusing due to lack of agreement.

What is this Cook County bull****? By your logic, DC must not have any suburbs considering that its suburbs are located in Maryland and Virginia. Now, whoever is from Chicago and views Arlington Heights people who are actually in Cook County as outsiders, they're idiots. A small number of city people are snobs and look down at the burbs. But they aren't the majority.

Now, it is true that some Chicagoans who are sheltered have this idea of NWI as a far away land because they don't even know where their own city ends. However, this thread is about what people from the 219 think of themselves, not what Chicagoans think. Plenty of Chicagoans, including myself consider the 219 a closer brother than even areas like the North side where everyone is a transplant and doesn't "get" Chicago culture.

You keep using Cook County as your example, we'll then, does a town like South Chicago Heights or Rolling Meadows resemble Chicago at all? As if Cook County was this magical encapsulated area that prevents other "alien" out of town cultures from entering it.

Your China example is stupid btw. China doesn't border England or have the same ethnic groups. NWI borders Chicago and has not only the same ethnic groups, but food, dialect, and attitude. Same can't be said 100% of some former British occupied territory thousands of miles away. If that was the case we might as well start calling the East Coast "British".

You don't even know what Indiana is like. Go to Indy and the surrounding area and see how much different people look, talk, dress, and eat compared to the 219.

[Chuckity]

Originally Posted by EddieOlSkool

What is this Cook County bull****? By your logic, DC must not have any suburbs considering that its suburbs are located in Maryland and Virginia. Now, whoever is from Chicago and views Arlington Heights people who are actually in Cook County as outsiders, they're idiots. A small number of city people are snobs and look down at the burbs. But they aren't the majority.

Now, it is true that some Chicagoans who are sheltered have this idea of NWI as a far away land because they don't even know where their own city ends. However, this thread is about what people from the 219 think of themselves, not what Chicagoans think. Plenty of Chicagoans, including myself consider the 219 a closer brother than even areas like the North side where everyone is a transplant and doesn't "get" Chicago culture.

You keep using Cook County as your example, we'll then, does a town like South Chicago Heights or Rolling Meadows resemble Chicago at all? As if Cook County was this magical encapsulated area that prevents other "alien" out of town cultures from entering it.

Your China example is stupid btw. China doesn't border England or have the same ethnic groups. NWI borders Chicago and has not only the same ethnic groups, but food, dialect, and attitude. Same can't be said 100% of some former British occupied territory thousands of miles away. If that was the case we might as well start calling the East Coast "British".

You don't even know what Indiana is like. Go to Indy and the surrounding area and see how much different people look, talk, dress, and eat compared to the 219.

This is Pilman's second go around with his ridiculous ideas.

He lives in Florida and experiences Chicago and The Region via Google Street View and videos taken on the South Shore on youtube.

And for some reason he's obsessed with giardiniera.

[EddieOlSkool]

Hey, has Pilman thought about how Wilmette and Kenilworth/Winnetka look less like Chicago than Whiting or Gary? Those places resemble Chicago, how? And they're in Cook County !!!!!!

Also like how he said that Cook County is the defining border but he also said that being from Arlington Heights (which is firmly in Cook County) he was seen as an outsider. Soooooooo....which is it?

[EddieOlSkool]

Originally Posted by Chuckity

This is Pilman's second go around with his ridiculous ideas.

He lives in Florida and experiences Chicago and The Region via Google Street View and videos taken on the South Shore on youtube.

And for some reason he's obsessed with giardiniera.

Google street view eh? Well with that I could claim Jeffersonville, Indiana is more like South Haven, Michigan than it is like Kentucky. Until I go there and feel the oppressive heat, mild winters, and hear Southern accents. Guess what, Google Street boy? Southern Indiana architecturally looks not too different from Northern Indiana and even its infrastructure isn't vastly different. But then when you visit and can objectively find out how Southern it is in culture, you realize how freaking buildings don't prove anything.

About as stupid as saying row houses make a city fast paced.

[artemis]

Originally Posted by EddieOlSkool

Michigan City's commute is comparable to Aurora's FWIW

I agree with Bridget. I never thought of Michigan City as part of NW Indiana.
I think once you get beyond Porter County you're out in the middle of nowhere.

[artemis]

Originally Posted by Chuckity

This is Pilman's second go around with his ridiculous ideas.

He lives in Florida and experiences Chicago and The Region via Google Street View and videos taken on the South Shore on youtube.

And for some reason he's obsessed with giardiniera.

Broadripple, Act 2, eh?