The Midwest“The Bread Basket”

General Facts

• Includes the region west of the Allegheny mountains, west of the states of Pennsylvania and West Virginia. • Lies in the general area of the Great Lakes.• States: Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Missouri, Iowa,

Minnesota, Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota and North Dakota.• Richest sections of the whole of the U.S.• Has been said that no other region in the world has been more

favoured by nature, The Bread Basket. (Food supply grown).

Allegheny Mountains

Topography

Topography

• The key to this gently rolling land has been the mighty Mississippi River. Many large rivers apart from the Mississippi flow this area: the Missouri, the Ohio, the Illinois, the Wisconsin and the Wabash.• The region undergoes icy winters and hot humid summers. It is windy all year

round. • Geographically the Midwest can be divided into three smaller regions. The

northern Great Lakes area has many hills, lakes and forests. South of that is the prairie area, which is flat and has good soil for farming. To the west is the Great Plains area, which, although also farmed, is far drier than the prairie. • The Great Lakes were carved out by glaciers long ago. • The Midwest is America’s geographical center. The exact middle point of the

United States falls in Smith County, Kansas.

The Great Lakes• The Great Lakes -lakes Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie and Ontario- are the

largest concentration of fresh water in the world. • They lie on the border between the United States and Canada.• The Great Lakes have always played a major role in the Midwest’s economy.

Many of the region’s important cities -including Chicago, Detroit, Milwaukee and Cleveland- are on the Great Lakes. • The lakes are used for transporting grain, timber, ore and other products of the

Midwest. • Together, the United States and Canada build and operate the St. Lawrence

Seaway, an inland waterway that can be used by large ships. Canals and rivers link Montreal, Canada to Lake Ontario and link Lake Ontario and the other Great Lakes. Goods can be transported all the way from the Atlantic Ocean to Duluth, Minnesota on the western end of Lake Superior.

St. Lawrence Seaway

Agriculture, Industries and Economic Activities

• The Midwest is the center of American agriculture and industry.• The Midwest is a large, economically important region. It contains major

industrial cities and much of America’s farmland. • Corn, wheat, soybeans, oats, rye, and barley are all grown in great quantities

in the Midwestern states of Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska and North and South Dakota. • The Midwest has a rich soil, a good climate for agriculture, fertile plains and

low rolling hills. The principal agricultural products of the Midwest are corn (Iowa and Minnesota, especially), wheat (Kansas), soybean, oats and cattle (especially dairy) on the Great Plains of North and South Dakota and Nebraska.

Agriculture

• Corn is the most important of all American crops, as basic to American agriculture as iron is to American industry. • Due to the large production of corn, this region is said to constitute the

“corn belt”. • The farmers have worked out high yield mechanized production methods in

all important corn-producing areas. • Corn has also proven to be a very versatile industrial material. From a corn

distilling process, manufacturers can extract alcohol and fuel, base elements for drugs, vitamins and minerals and a type of starch which can be turned into a biodegradable plastic film.• Iowa is the biggest corn-producing state.

Industries

• Manufacturing industries are numerous: they include principally automobiles and trucks (Ford, General Motors and Chrysler), iron and mining (Minnesota), steel making in Indiana, Ohio and Michigan (around the lakes) farm machinery and articles for home house. • The service industries have grown enormously: insurance, banking,

communications. Educational facilities are prolific, especially in Ohio.

Iron and Steel Mining

Tourism

• Tourism is also an important activity. National parks in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Nebraska and the presence of the lakes attract many people on vacation.

Minnesota State National Park

Big Bay State Park - Wisconsin

The People

• The Midwest has a hard-working population of mixed origin. • With its strong mixing of original Anglo- Saxon settlers and immigrant families from

almost every country in the world, the Midwest is considered today to be the most typically American in character of any region of the US. • Midwesterners are open, friendly, straightforward and down to earth. Many

Scandinavian immigrants settled in the north (Minnesota, the Land of the 1000 lakes) due to the similarity of the landscape. Migrant farm workers travel from Texas to Canada each year following the crops. • Traditional American values are associated most strongly with the Midwest- especially

with its many small towns. These values focus on family, hard work, church and community.• The Midwest is also in the political middle. People tend to be conservative but not

extremely so.

Major Cities

• Chicago:

Chicago – The Musical

• The musical Chicago is based on a play of the same name by reporter and playwright Maurine Dallas Watkins, who was assigned to cover the 1924 trials of accused murderers Beulah Annan and Belva Gaertner for the Chicago Tribune.

• In the early 1920s, Chicago's press and public became riveted by the subject of homicides committed by women. Several high-profile cases arose, which generally involved women killing their lovers or husbands. These cases were tried against a backdrop of changing views of women in the Jazz age, and a long string of acquittals by Cook County juries of women murderesses (jurors at the time were all men, and convicted murderers generally faced death by hanging).

• A lore arose that, in Chicago, feminine or attractive women could not be convicted. The Chicago Tribune generally took a pro-prosecution "hang-them-high" stance, while still presenting the details of these women's lives. Its rivals at the Hearst papers were more pro-defendant, and employed what were derisively called "sob-sisters" – women reporters who focused on the plight, attractiveness, redemption, or grace of the women defendants. Regardless of stance, the press covered several of these women as celebrities.

Chicago (Illinois)

• Just as the Midwest is considered the “most American region”, Chicago, in Illinois, has been called the most typically American city. And just as the Midwest is America’s center, so Chicago is the center of the Midwest. • Chicago is on Lake Michigan, and waterways made Chicago a natural link

between the products of the Midwest and the markets of the East. Soon Chicago was a center for meatpacking and grain storage, as well as for the manufacturing of farm equipment. In this way, Chicago played a key role in the growth of the Midwest and of the United States. • You can see many architectural landmarks if you visit the Loop. The Loop is

Chicago’s downtown area (it got its name because Chicago’s elevated railway makes a circle, or loop around it). Chicago’s tallest buildings are the John Hancock Tower or “Big John”, the Standard Oil Building, and the Sears Towers, which used to be the world’s tallest building, now being Burj Khalifa in Dubai.

Downtown Chicago, view from Lake Michigan

Great Chicago Fire

• The Great Chicago Fire was a conflagration that burned from Sunday, October 8, to early Tuesday, October 10, 1871. The fire killed up to 300 people, destroyed roughly 3.3 square miles (9 km2) of Chicago, Illinois, and left more than 100,000 residents homeless. Though the fire was one of the largest U.S. disasters of the 19th century, and destroyed much of the city's central business district, Chicago was rebuilt and continued to grow as one of the most populous and economically important American cities. The very night the fire broke out, an even deadlier fire annihilated Peshtigo, Wisconsin and other villages and towns north of the city Green Bay.

Aftermath

• Once the fire had ended, the smoldering remains were still too hot for a survey of the damage to be completed for many days. Eventually the city determined that the fire destroyed an area about four miles (6 km) long and averaging 3/4 mile (1 km) wide, encompassing more than 2,000 acres (8.1 km2).• Destroyed were more than 73 miles (117 km) of roads, 120 miles (190 km) of

sidewalk, 2,000 lampposts, 17,500 buildings, and $222 million in property—about a third of the city's valuation (more than $4 billion in 2015 dollars). • Of the 300,000 inhabitants, 100,000 were left homeless. 120 bodies were

recovered, but the death toll may have been as high as 300. The county coroner speculated that an accurate count was impossible as some victims may have drowned or had been incinerated leaving no remains.

Detroit (Michigan) – “Motor City”

• In 1701, Antoine de la Mothe-Cadillac founded Detroit. But, in many ways, Detroit really got its start almost 200 years later. • In 1869, in a workshop in Detroit, Henry Ford built a vehicle he called Quadricycle.

With this, Detroit was on its way to becoming Motor City -the city that is home to the American automobile industry. • Like other American cities, Detroit has had its problems. The big three of the US

automobile industry -Ford, Chrysler and General Motors- are important employers in Detroit. Together, they employ 1 in 10 of the city’s workers. The Depression of the 1930s brought hard times. So did the early 1970s. In general, when the national economy does poorly, Detroit is one of the first cities to feel it. • The University of Michigan and Ohio State University are two large, respected

Midwest schools.

The Indians of the Great Plains

• In the Black Hills of South Dakota there are two huge monuments carved from mountains. • One is the Mount Rushmore National Monument. It shows the faces

of four American Presidents: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt. • The other is the Crazy Horse Monument. It shows the famous Sioux

Indian leader on horseback. These two monuments are tributes to heroes of two cultures that clashed on the American continent.

Crazy Horse

• Crazy Horse was a Native American war leader of the Oglala Lakota. He took up arms against the U.S. Federal government to fight against encroachments on the territories and way of life of the Lakota people, including leading a war party to victory at the Battle of the Little Bighorn in June 1876.

• Four months after surrendering to U.S. troops under General Crook in May 1877, Crazy Horse was fatally wounded by a military guard, using his bayonet, while allegedly resisting imprisonment at Camp Robinson in present-day Nebraska. He ranks among the most notable and iconic of Native American tribal members and was honored by the U.S. Postal Service in 1982 with a 13¢ Great Americans series postage stamp.

St. Louis (Missouri)

• St Louis in Missouri is called the Gateway to the West because of its favorable position on two rivers: the Mississippi and the Missouri. • The city has French roots and a large African-American population

lives here. In a city in upper Missouri, the famous American writer Mark Twain was born and grew up. His real name was Samuel Clemens and he describes the wonders of rafting on the river in his novel “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn”.

The Destruction of the Buffalo

• The struggle between the Indian tribes of the Great Plains and the US army took place from 1860 to 1890. The Indians were defeated, but not just by the army.• Many Indians died from disease. Whites brought new diseases to which

Indians had no resistance. A smallpox epidemic in 1837 almost destroyed entire tribes.• The Plains Indians were nomadic hunters: They traveled over large

areas and hunted buffalo. The Indians used almost every part of the buffalo. The bones were made into tools; skins became robes and tepees, and fat was used for fuel. Buffalo meat was an important food.

Gateway Arch

• Tallest, man-made structure in the U.S. at 630 feet.

Leading Industries

• Ohio: Abercrombie and Fitch / Wendy’s headquarters.• Indiana: The most steel in the U.S. is produced.• Michigan: 3rd leading state in Christmas Tree Farming.• Wisconsin: Leads in cheese production.• Illinois: Electricity production.• Minnesota: Vegetable production (sugar beet, corn).• Iowa: Corn production.• Missouri: Lead mining.• North Dakota: Largest producer of barley and many wheats (cereal grains).• South Dakota: Cattle and hog production.• Nebraska: Beef and pork. • Kansas: Sunflowers.

Sports and Leisure Activities

• Ohio: American football, public libraries.• Indiana: Motor Speedway (Indianapolis). • Michigan: Basketball. (The Pistons)• Wisconsin: Football and basketball. Skiing and hunting.• Illinois: Baseball.• Minnesota: The Mall of America.• Iowa: Trainland USA, miniature trains. Des Moines botanical garden.• Missouri: Baseball• North Dakota: Hunting and Fishing. Horseback riding.• South Dakota: Running and cycling.• Nebraska: World’s Largest Swing up to 600 children.• Kansas: Museum of World Treasures.

Culture

Religion

• Like most of the United States, the Midwest is predominantly Christian.

• Roman Catholicism is the largest religion in the midwest, varying between 18% and 34% of the state populations.

• Southern Baptists compose about 15% of Missouri's population and smaller percentages in other Midwestern states. Many mid-westerners are Protestant with rates from 48% in Illinois to 63% in Iowa. Lutherans are prevalent in the Upper Midwest, especially in Minnesota and the Dakotas with their large Scandinavian and German populations.

• Judaism is practiced by 2.5% and Islam is practiced by 1% or less of the population, with higher concentrations in major urban areas. People with no religious affiliation make up 13–16% of the Midwest's population. Surveys show 54% of Midwesterners regularly attend church.

Education

• Research-oriented state schools include Indiana University, Purdue University, Iowa State University, Kansas State University, University of Iowa, Ohio State University, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, University of Kansas, University of Michigan, Michigan State University, University of Minnesota, University of Nebraska and the University of Wisconsin. Numerous regional campuses have become established. The numerous state teachers colleges were upgraded into state universities after 1945.

• Notable private institutions include the University of Chicago, funded by John D. Rockefeller in the 1890s. Others include the University of Notre Dame, Northwestern University, and Washington University in St. Louis. Local boosters, usually with a church affiliation, created numerous colleges in the mid-19th century. In terms of national rankings, the most prominent today include Carleton College, Oberlin College, Macalester College, Grinnell College, Kenyon College, Denison University, DePauw University, Wheaton College, The College of Wooster, and Earlham College.

Music• The African American migration from the South brought jazz to the Midwest, along with

blues, and rock and roll, with major contributions to jazz, funk, and R&B, and even new subgenres such as the Motown Sound and techno from Detroit or house music from Chicago. In the 1920s South Side Chicago was the base for Jelly Roll Morton (1890-1941). Kansas City developed its own jazz style.• Rock and roll music was first identified as a new genre in 1951 by Cleveland, Ohio, disc

jockey Alan Freed who began playing this music style while popularizing the term "rock and roll" to describe it. By the mid-1950s, rock and roll emerged as a defined musical style in the United States, deriving most directly from the rhythm and blues music of the 1940s, which itself developed from earlier blues, boogie woogie, jazz, and swing music, and was also influenced by gospel, country and western, and traditional folk music. • In the late 1990s, Eminem and Kid Rock emerged from the Detroit area. Eminem went on

to become one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed rappers of all time. Meanwhile, Kid Rock successfully mixed elements of rap, hard rock, heavy metal, country rock, and pop in forming his own unique sound. Both artists are known for celebrating their Detroit roots.

Sports• Professional sports leagues such as the National Football League, Major League Baseball, National

Basketball Association, National Hockey League and Major League Soccer and Major League Lacrosse have team franchises several Midwest cities:

• Chicago: Bears (NFL), Cubs, White Sox (MLB), Bulls (NBA), Blackhawks (NHL), Fire (MLS).

• Cincinnati: Bengals (NFL), Reds (MLB).

• Cleveland: Browns (NFL), Indians (MLB), Cavaliers (NBA).

• Columbus: Blue Jackets (NHL), Crew (MLS), Ohio Machine (MLL)

• Detroit: Lions (NFL), Tigers (MLB), Pistons (NBA), Red Wings (NHL).

• Green Bay: Packers (NFL).

• Indianapolis: Colts (NFL), Pacers (NBA), Indy Eleven (NASL).

• Kansas City: Chiefs (NFL), Royals (MLB), Sporting (MLS).

• Milwaukee: Brewers (MLB), Bucks (NBA).

• Minneapolis: Vikings (NFL), Twins (MLB), Timberwolves (NBA), Wild (NHL), United FC (NASL).

• St. Louis: Rams (NFL), Cardinals (MLB), Blues (NHL).

Celebrities from the Midwest

Indiana

Illinois

Iowa

Indiana

Minnesota