Cleveland: Midwest or Northeastern/East Coast? (Cincinnati, Green: middle school, college, live)

[TheMahValley]

Originally Posted by stlouisan

Pittsburgh essentially is Midwestern. If you are going to criticize the Midwest's definition as a region, you have to also criticize the South...Florida, Texas, and Oklahoma are all obvious outliers. And Maryland and Delaware are certainly more Northeastern than southern. And Kentucky is a southern state with Midwest influences. And I would certainly say Cleveland has more in common with cities in North Dakota than with cities in the Bos-Wash corridor.

That's a good laugh. I live in NE Ohio and went to school at Cleveland State. North Dakota?! Are you kidding me? Cleveland has some of the the largest percentages of Italians, Puerto Ricans, large Jewish communities, and large Slavic origins. You will not find anything like Little Italy in North Dakota. Fargo, Bismark, wow! I live closer to Portland, Maine than I do Des Moines, Iowa let alone North friggin' Dakota. Worlds apart. In fact, most of NE Ohio is designed after Connecticut landowners. So it's more common to find New England style towns. Cleveland has far more in common with cities like Rochester and Buffalo. North Dakota?! Haha good times!

[Trimac20]

Midwest, although demographically it has some similarities with the NE (Italians and Jews). The lifestyle, mentality, and the predominant single detached housing has more in common with Columbus than cities like Philly. Then again Buffalo.etc is kind of Midwestern too.

[LINative]

Originally Posted by BajanYankee

I came across the following statements.





How would you categorize Cleveland? Midwest or Northeast?

Cleveland is Midwestern and Northeastern but not East Coast.

Ohio is in the Midwest but is also something of a border and hybrid state with Ohio having links to the Midwest, Great Lakes States, Northeast, Appalachia, Ohio Valley, Rustbelt region and the Upper South.

[Bluefox]

Originally Posted by stlouisan

Pittsburgh essentially is Midwestern. If you are going to criticize the Midwest's definition as a region, you have to also criticize the South...Florida, Texas, and Oklahoma are all obvious outliers. And Maryland and Delaware are certainly more Northeastern than southern. And Kentucky is a southern state with Midwest influences. And I would certainly say Cleveland has more in common with cities in North Dakota than with cities in the Bos-Wash corridor.

What makes Pittsburgh "Midwestern"?

I think the Midwest is more arbitrary than the Northeast and the South for several reasons, and I'll name a few. The Northeast is for the most part characterized by older, denser cities and is generally left-leaning fiscally and socially. The South is characterized mostly by newer, more sprawled out cities and is far more right-leaning, both socially and fiscally. There are obviously a few exceptions but not enough to alter the general rule.

The Midwest is characterized by both blue (IL, MI) and red (IN, KS, NE) leaning states, as well as more middle of the road type states (OH, WI). There are older, denser ("rust belt") cities (Chicago, Milwaukee, Cleveland) similar to many cities you'd find in the Northeast and newer, more sprawled out, low density cities (Omaha, Indy) more similar to what you might find in the South or the Southwest. I guess all Midwestern states have agriculture as part of their industry, but the same could be said of pretty much every state. I guess most of the states are fairly flat and have four seasons. Not sure what else you could say that applies to every single state in the Midwest, but I'm all ears.

And I would love for you to explain to me what makes Cleveland more comparable to Fargo than say Philadelphia or Newark. LOL.

The South and Northeast as a general rule seem far more uniform. Nor sure what makes Texas an outlier? and what makes Oklahoma an outlier? South Florida I'll give you but the rest of FL feels pretty Southern to me. A lot of red and a lot of sprawl.

The rest of the states you listed are border states which you obviously know so logically they would exhibit characteristics of each region.

[Wizardofozboy]

midwest

[natininja]

Originally Posted by Bluefoxwarrior

What makes Pittsburgh "Midwestern"?

In its first wave of growth, it was like a tag-along cousin of Cincinnati. In its second wave of growth (and subsequent crash), Cleveland was like a tag-along cousin to Pittsburgh. The only thing not Midwestern about Pittsburgh is that it's in PA. But that state has a big gulf in the middle that is as good a cultural divide as a state border. And the only thing tying Pittsburgh to the east is the other side of the state. It's way closer culturally to Ohio cities than it is to Philly. Though I would say it's Appalachian, first and foremost.

[stlouisan]

Originally Posted by Bluefoxwarrior

What makes Pittsburgh "Midwestern"?

I think the Midwest is more arbitrary than the Northeast and the South for several reasons, and I'll name a few. The Northeast is for the most part characterized by older, denser cities and is generally left-leaning fiscally and socially. The South is characterized mostly by newer, more sprawled out cities and is far more right-leaning, both socially and fiscally. There are obviously a few exceptions but not enough to alter the general rule.

The Midwest is characterized by both blue (IL, MI) and red (IN, KS, NE) leaning states, as well as more middle of the road type states (OH, WI). There are older, denser ("rust belt") cities (Chicago, Milwaukee, Cleveland) similar to many cities you'd find in the Northeast and newer, more sprawled out, low density cities (Omaha, Indy) more similar to what you might find in the South or the Southwest. I guess all Midwestern states have agriculture as part of their industry, but the same could be said of pretty much every state. I guess most of the states are fairly flat and have four seasons. Not sure what else you could say that applies to every single state in the Midwest, but I'm all ears.

And I would love for you to explain to me what makes Cleveland more comparable to Fargo than say Philadelphia or Newark. LOL.

The South and Northeast as a general rule seem far more uniform. Nor sure what makes Texas an outlier? and what makes Oklahoma an outlier? South Florida I'll give you but the rest of FL feels pretty Southern to me. A lot of red and a lot of sprawl.

The rest of the states you listed are border states which you obviously know so logically they would exhibit characteristics of each region.

You obviously have never been outside of California. First off, the South has not in general leaned to the right for awhile...Virginia, North Carolina, and Florida are more moderate states now. Second off, Texas and Oklahoma draw heavy influence from the Southwest. Florida has vast populations of Northern migrants and Latinos that have made the southern part of the state virtually NOT Southern. THe Great Plains of the Midwest are just that. Edge states. Same thing with Oklahoma and Texas. If you are going to say that ND, SD, NE, and KS are not the Midwest, you have to do the same thing for Oklahoma and Texas not being southern.

Lastly, if you are going to belittle me, don't even bother replying.

[Bluefox]

Originally Posted by stlouisan

You obviously have never been outside of California. First off, the South has not in general leaned to the right for awhile...Virginia, North Carolina, and Florida are more moderate states now. Second off, Texas and Oklahoma draw heavy influence from the Southwest. Florida has vast populations of Northern migrants and Latinos that have made the southern part of the state virtually NOT Southern. THe Great Plains of the Midwest are just that. Edge states. Same thing with Oklahoma and Texas. If you are going to say that ND, SD, NE, and KS are not the Midwest, you have to do the same thing for Oklahoma and Texas not being southern.

Lastly, if you are going to belittle me, don't even bother replying.

I actually grew up in Northwest Indiana, about 15 miles from Gary, so yes, I'm somewhat familiar with the Midwest.

I'm not trying to make some dramatic point that that the Midwest is an arbitrary gray area while the NE and the South are extremely defined. I'm just saying that based on my knowledge, there tends to be more uniformity among states in the South and NE than in the Midwest, socially, politically, culturally, etc. Again, most NE states are liberal (except maybe New Hampshire) while most Southern states are conservative. Obviously you have noted some exceptions, but it's not on the scale like you see in the Midwest.

If you want to agree to disagree fine, but I'm not trying to belittle or personally attack you in any way.

[foreverdublin21]

Northeast. I live in NE Ohio, it is far more like the Northeast than the Midwest unless your basing it on cornfields (though it does have as much of that as to other areas). The Greater Cleveland area would be able to fit in to areas such as New England and Mid-Atlantic and wouldn't stand out at all--in terms of architecture (Connecticut Western Reserve, the downtown buildings and Public Square), diversity of people (as others have stated) large Jewish, Slavic, Italian, Puerto Rican, and Eastern European. There are many more things that solidify Cleveland's place as a Northeast city. Also many of locals in the area refer to where they live as the Northeast...

[kidphilly]

Ohio is MW to me. Though I can definately see some similarities of Cleveland to NE industrial cities (Personally as a Philadelphian I have always had kind of soft/fond spot for Cleveland, a sorta of common bond in a way).

Cleveland is basically on the NE edge of the MW, guess like Pittsburgh Cleveland is in the tranisitional zone.

If I had to choose one would definately say MW over NE, I have trouble calling OH part of the NE, heck at times things west of King of Prussia dont seem like the NE to me...