The Midwest

I'm a native of Indiana and have lived in Chicago since 1985.  That makes me a "Midwesterner" by birth and disposition.  My roots as the "Patrician" once said grow four feet thick and four feet down.  Thus I found this article "41 Maps and Charts that Explain the Midwest" a fun read.  Go take a look at it.  Come on it's Friday!  What else do you have to do!

There does seem to be a controversy over what states exactly constitute the Midwest.  I'll answer that once and for all by the way we were taught in geography class way back at West Side Middle School.  It's illustrated pretty well by this chart below from the same article.

The Midwest states are those that were originally part of the Northwest Territory.  That's how we were  taught in school and that's the definition that's going to stick!  Everything to the west of us is part of the Great Planes.  Everything beyond the Ohio River belongs in the South.  East of Ohio is part of the East Coast.  There's one exception to this which is…..Iowa!  Why Iowa?  Because Iowa is part of the original Big 10 Conference!  Sorry Pennsylvania and everybody else added since.  You don't make the cut.

See you Monday.