I've gone back and forth on this with many people. I get your point but let me explain. I view western Pennsylvania, the Ohio River Valley parts of West Virginia and Kentucky, the southern thirds of Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, and Missouri south of St. Louis and Kansas City as a north-south transitional zone. This region, which I've called the Midland Valley, definitely has a very different history, culture and economy than the Great Lakes metros, even distinct from the Heartland region that stretches from central Ohio westward into northern Missouri and Iowa. It's neither North or South to me; the region is hard to fit neatly into either the Midwest or the South. However I do believe places in the Ohio Valley, upper Mississippi Valley and Missouri River Valley west of St. Louis deserve to be in the same region, whether Midwest or South. I just chose the broadest definition of Midwest I could.
Long time reader, first time commenter. I loved this article! Those of us who live in, and care about, the cities of America's Inland North* know all too well the region's myriad challenges and shortcomings, but sometimes we also need to remember all the good stuff that we do have. A little optimistic wide-eyed boosterism from time to time is a nice break.
As for universities, I feel that Notre Dame in South Bend, as one of the nation's most prestigious Catholic universities, also deserves shout-out.
And yeah, this region has great public universities out the wazoo. In addition to the 6 mentioned in the article, there's a second tier of public universities in the region that fall outside of US News' top 60 ranking, but are still widely considered very good universities. Schools like SUNY Buffalo, U.Pittsburgh, Michigan State, Indiana U., U.Illinois Chicago, U.Iowa, and U. Missouri.
One minor quibble: the cover picture of Milwaukee's lakefront is about a decade out of date. Northwestern Mutual built a brand new shiny HQ tower for itself on the site of one of the older buildings on the left of the image. Not a big deal, of course, but I just wanted to shout-out Northwestern Mutual for being one of those key anchor corporations that has stayed committed to its Midwest city downtown and continues to re-invest in it
(*) Intentionally used here to avoid any triggering effects of the word "Midwest" ;)
I've gone back and forth on this with many people. I get your point but let me explain. I view western Pennsylvania, the Ohio River Valley parts of West Virginia and Kentucky, the southern thirds of Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, and Missouri south of St. Louis and Kansas City as a north-south transitional zone. This region, which I've called the Midland Valley, definitely has a very different history, culture and economy than the Great Lakes metros, even distinct from the Heartland region that stretches from central Ohio westward into northern Missouri and Iowa. It's neither North or South to me; the region is hard to fit neatly into either the Midwest or the South. However I do believe places in the Ohio Valley, upper Mississippi Valley and Missouri River Valley west of St. Louis deserve to be in the same region, whether Midwest or South. I just chose the broadest definition of Midwest I could.
Long time reader, first time commenter. I loved this article! Those of us who live in, and care about, the cities of America's Inland North* know all too well the region's myriad challenges and shortcomings, but sometimes we also need to remember all the good stuff that we do have. A little optimistic wide-eyed boosterism from time to time is a nice break.
As for universities, I feel that Notre Dame in South Bend, as one of the nation's most prestigious Catholic universities, also deserves shout-out.
And yeah, this region has great public universities out the wazoo. In addition to the 6 mentioned in the article, there's a second tier of public universities in the region that fall outside of US News' top 60 ranking, but are still widely considered very good universities. Schools like SUNY Buffalo, U.Pittsburgh, Michigan State, Indiana U., U.Illinois Chicago, U.Iowa, and U. Missouri.
One minor quibble: the cover picture of Milwaukee's lakefront is about a decade out of date. Northwestern Mutual built a brand new shiny HQ tower for itself on the site of one of the older buildings on the left of the image. Not a big deal, of course, but I just wanted to shout-out Northwestern Mutual for being one of those key anchor corporations that has stayed committed to its Midwest city downtown and continues to re-invest in it
(*) Intentionally used here to avoid any triggering effects of the word "Midwest" ;)
Cincinnati and Louisville are not the Midwest. They have very different histories, cultures, and economies from Great Lakes metros.