Today's visit may not be an exact definition of the area comprising America's Midwest. But then, it doesn't seem to have an exact definition.
We have already visited "Chicago" and "Cleveland".
The city of Erie, in Pennsylvania, is not actually part of the Midwest. But I wanted to take this opportunity to revisit and say hello to my old sales territory.
Erie is a traditionally industrial city. It's advantage is in it's location, on Lake Erie and approximately midway between Cleveland, Pittsburgh and, Buffalo.
Erie began with a French fort built on a good natural harbor. The harbor enclosure is now a park called Presque Isle. There is a narrow connection to the mainland and "presque" means "almost", in French. So the name of the enclosure is literally "it's almost an island".
There are multiple scenes following. To see the scenes, after the first one, you must first click the up arrow, before you can move on to the next scene by clicking the right or forward arrow. After clicking on the up arrow you can then hide previews of successive scenes, if you so wish.
Akron is an industrial city in Ohio. It is known as the headquarters of Goodyear Tire and Rubber. I live not far from a Goodyear factory.
One sad story is how inventors don't get treated very well. Charles Goodyear discovered how to vulcanize rubber, which is limited in it's usefulness otherwise. It is difficult to imagine the world today without rubber tires. But he spent time in debtor's prison and died absolutely broke. He never knew what the process that he invented would amount to.
Years later, a rubber company was named in honor of him. Today it is the global brand that bears his name. But he never knew anything about it.
This is Akron.
Columbus is the state capital of Ohio. State capitals are almost always near the geographic center of the state. After the U.S. Civil War there was a series of presidents from Ohio, starting with Ulysses Grant who had been the leading general of the Union.
Toledo is an industrial city in northwestern Ohio that was named for the city that had been the capital of Spain when it had been ruled by the Moors.
Detroit is the largest city in the state of Michigan. It is known as the "Motor City" because of the production of cars there. America's largest three automakers, General Motors, Ford and, Chrysler all have their headquarters in Detroit.
I have not spent a lot of time in Detroit but have read extensively about it. I walked around the Northland Center Mall once, it was one of the prototypes of the modern shopping center.
One story that should never be forgotten is Detroit's heroic production during the Second World War of military vehicles and equipment. It was amazing and Detroit did as much as any city to win the war. Neither America's allies nor it's enemies could keep up.
Many black Americans from the south moved northward in what is known as the Great Migration. Detroit was a primary destination for the work in it's factories.
During the Rock Music era, the record label of Motown emerged in Detroit. The name was a contraction of "Motor City". Motown, with black musicians, became a legend. It's most famous musician was probably Diana Ross.
The glass towers of downtown Detroit are known as Renaissance Center. The headquarters of General Motors is here and one building is a hotel. Detroit is connected to Canada by both the Ambassador Bridge and a tunnel. The following scenes begin there.
Cincinnati is in southern Ohio. It is west of the Appalachians and was founded just after America's Revolutionary War. I believe that the main reason for America's war of independence against Britain was not "taxation without representation", or any such thing. The colonies were doing quite well.
What happened is that the mountains and ridges of the Appalachians were much more of a barrier than they are today. Few colonists had ever been west of the Appalachians.
But the French and Indian War changed that. For the first time, many colonists saw the vast rich lands that were west of the Appalachians. They wanted those lands but Britain, which had control westward to the Mississippi River, had forbidden further westward expansion.
After the end of the French and Indian War, which gave the colonists military experience, it was only a matter of time before they declared independence from Britain.
After the end of America's war of independence, the move westward began. A town was founded at the meeting of two rivers that is today the city of Cincinnati.
Louisville is in the state of Kentucky. I have never been to Louisville but it's influence has always been all around me.
As a child I played a summer of Little League Baseball. The bat was called a "Louisville Slugger". As a teenager I hoped that the great but aging world heavyweight boxing champion, Muhammad Ali, would come up with enough sense to retire and be remembered as a winner.
The year that I graduated high school was a rare "Triple Crown" year. This means that the same horse wins not only the Kentucky Derby but also Preakness and Belmont. Louisville is the world capital of horse racing.
I was interested in powerlifting, but wouldn't take steroids. At age 21 I deadlifted 500 pounds ( 227 kg ) at the local YMCA. I would read about a legendary pioneer of the sport, from Kentucky, named Bob Peoples.
Also during my youth I worked at a Kentucky Fried Chicken, now KFC.
All of this is based in Louisville.
Kentucky sometimes likes to portray itself as a southern state. In the U.S. Civil War the Confederacy claimed it but never had control of it. Some Kentuckians served with the Confederacy but many more served with the Union.
Louisville is named for Louis XVI, the French king that was an ally of the new United States and the first foreign leader to give it diplomatic recognition. He would be overthrown and guillotined by the French Revolution of 1789.
We saw in the compound posting on this blog, "America And The Modern World Explained By Way Of Paris" that the real reason for America not joining the rest of the world in embracing the Metric System is that it was invented by the bloodthirsty revolutionaries who had overthrown and guillotined America's close friend.
This is Louisville. The story about Muhammad Ali dropping his Olympic Gold Medal off the bridge into the river actually might not be true.
Indianapolis is in the center of Indiana. This was actually the original "Motor City" and that is why what might be the best-known single auto race in the world is held there.
Minneapolis, in Minnesota, is a city that was built on flour milling in a vast wheat-producing area. It is a highly-rated place to live.
Minneapolis is actually a twin city with St. Paul. Minneapolis is said to be more cosmopolitan while St. Paul is quiet and staid. The two downtowns are not far apart.
St. Louis is the city in Missouri that is named for the 13th Century French king that was sainted. We saw in our visits to Mexico that San Luis Potosi was also named for him.
St. Louis began as a French fur trading settlement. It is just on the west side of the Mississippi River and passed to the United States with the Louisiana Purchase.
It's location makes St. Louis America's "Gateway to the West". This is what the St. Louis Arch represents. If we let a cable hang between two supports it forms a shape called a catenary. This is the form of the St. Louis Arch and it is a very strong shape, as we saw in the posting on this blog, "The Way Things Work", July 2011.
Here is St. Louis.
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