47 Fun Facts About Midwest

Which is the most populous city in the Midwest?

Chicago, with about 2.7 million residents, is the Midwest's largest city by a wide margin; its metropolitan area spills into Indiana and Wisconsin.

Which Midwestern metropolitan area is the second largest in the region?

Detroit's metro area, at roughly 4.3 million people, ranks second in the Midwest behind Chicago, ahead of Minneapolis-Saint Paul at about 3.7 million.

Which ancestry is most commonly reported in the Midwest?

German is the most common self-reported ancestry in the Midwest, claimed by roughly a fifth of residents, and in North Dakota by well over 30 percent.

Which Midwestern state is the most populous and racially diverse?

It is also ranked the state most representative of overall US demographics on several measures.

What is the Midwest's nickname, thanks to its grain harvests?

The Midwest is called the nation's breadbasket because its deep prairie soils grow much of America's corn, soybeans, wheat and oats.

Which population movement transformed Midwestern cities in the early 20th century?

The Great Migration brought some six million African Americans from the rural South to cities such as Chicago, Detroit and Cleveland between about 1916 and 1970.

Which Cleveland disc jockey popularised the term 'rock and roll' in 1951?

Alan Freed, on Cleveland's WJW radio from 1951, used 'rock and roll' for the rhythm-and-blues records he played; he staged the Moondog Coronation Ball in 1952.

Which Midwestern state has Lansing as its capital?

Lansing has been Michigan's capital since 1847, when legislators moved it inland from Detroit; the much larger Detroit remains the state's biggest city.

Which fact about presidential elections held true for Ohio through the 2024 election?

No Republican has ever won the presidency without carrying Ohio, a streak intact through 2024; Ohio's bellwether reputation, by contrast, ended when it backed Trump while Biden won in 2020.

How many Great Lakes are there?

The five Great Lakes are Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie and Ontario, draining to the Atlantic through the St. Lawrence River.

Which two Great Lakes are hydrologically a single body of water?

Lakes Michigan and Huron connect through the five-mile-wide Straits of Mackinac, so they sit at the same surface level and are counted by hydrologists as one lake, Michigan-Huron.

Where was deep-dish pizza invented?

Deep-dish pizza was created at Pizzeria Uno, the restaurant Ike Sewell and Ric Riccardo opened at Ohio and Wabash in Chicago; a thick, buttery crust holds cheese under the sauce.

In which year was deep-dish pizza invented?

Pizzeria Uno served its first deep-dish pizza in 1943, in the middle of the Second World War; the style did not spread widely beyond Chicago until the 1970s.

Which two Chicago-area pizzerias were founded by sons of Pizzeria Uno's original pizza cook?

Lou Malnati's (1971, Lincolnwood) and Pizano's (1991, Chicago) were founded by Lou and Rudy Malnati Jr., sons of Rudy Malnati Sr., who cooked at Pizzeria Uno in the 1940s.

Which Cincinnati chili chain did Greek immigrant Nicholas Lambrinides found in 1949?

Skyline Chili opened its first parlor in Price Hill in 1949, named for the view of downtown Cincinnati; founder Nicholas Lambrinides had cooked at Empress Chili.

From which region did the immigrant brothers who created Cincinnati chili come?

The Balkans: Tom and John Kiradjieff, Macedonian immigrants from Kastoria in present-day northern Greece, opened Empress Chili in Cincinnati in 1922.

In which state is Mount Rushmore?

Mount Rushmore stands in South Dakota's Black Hills, just outside the town of Keystone and about 23 miles southwest of Rapid City.

Who sculpted Mount Rushmore?

Gutzon Borglum, who had earlier begun the Confederate carving at Stone Mountain, led the work until his death in March 1941; his son Lincoln finished it that October.

Whose idea was the Mount Rushmore carving originally?

Doane Robinson, South Dakota's state historian, proposed carving the Black Hills in 1923 to draw tourists, and recruited Gutzon Borglum for the job in 1924.

Which figures did Mount Rushmore's original proposer want carved instead of presidents?

Heroes of the American West were the first plan: Lewis and Clark, Sacagawea, Red Cloud and Buffalo Bill Cody; Gutzon Borglum pushed for presidents to give the work national appeal.

In which year did work on Mount Rushmore begin?

Carving began on October 4, 1927, after President Coolidge's dedication that August; the four faces were dedicated one by one between 1930 and 1939, Washington first.

What curve does the Gateway Arch follow?

The Gateway Arch is a weighted catenary, the curve of a hanging chain thickened toward its ends; at 630 feet it is the tallest arch in the world.

Which architect designed the Gateway Arch?

Eero Saarinen won the 1947-48 design competition for the arch; he died in 1961, before construction began in 1963, and the monument opened to the public in 1967.

In which Midwestern city does the Gateway Arch stand?

St. Louis's Gateway Arch, on the west bank of the Mississippi, commemorates the city's role as the gateway to the West after the Louisiana Purchase.

In which year was the Indianapolis 500 first run?

The first Indianapolis 500 was run on May 30, 1911, and won by Ray Harroun in a Marmon Wasp; the race has skipped only the war years 1917-18 and 1942-45.

What does the winner of the Indianapolis 500 traditionally drink?

Milk: Louis Meyer drank buttermilk in Victory Lane after his 1936 win, and a dairy-industry sponsor turned it into a fixture from 1956 onward.

How many timed laps does Indy 500 qualifying require?

Indy 500 qualifying is a four-lap, ten-mile run, with the average speed over all four laps counting; a bad fourth lap can wreck an otherwise fast attempt.

Which song's chorus is sung before the Indianapolis 500?

'Back Home Again in Indiana', a 1917 Tin Pan Alley song, has been sung before the command to start engines since 1946; Jim Nabors sang it from 1972 to 2014.

In which Nebraska town was Kool-Aid invented?

Edwin Perkins created Kool-Aid in Hastings in 1927, working in his mother's kitchen; Nebraska named it the official state soft drink in 1998.

What was Kool-Aid's liquid predecessor called?

Fruit Smack was the bottled syrup Edwin Perkins sold by mail through his Perkins Products Company in Hastings before he reformulated it as a powder in 1927.

Why did Kool-Aid's inventor turn his drink into a powder?

To cut shipping costs: Fruit Smack's four-ounce glass bottles were heavy and often broke or leaked in the mail, so in 1927 Perkins dried the concentrate into powder packets.

Which Midwestern state is nicknamed the Badger State?

Wisconsin's Badger State nickname comes from 1830s lead miners who dug into hillsides for shelter like badgers, not from the animal's numbers.

Which Midwestern state has Jefferson City as its capital?

Jefferson City, on the south bank of the Missouri River, became Missouri's capital in 1826, picked for its central location; Kansas City and St. Louis both outgrew it.

Which Wisconsin city is home to Harley-Davidson's headquarters and Miller brewing?

Milwaukee has been Harley-Davidson's home since the company began in a backyard shed there in 1903, and Miller Brewing has operated in the city since 1855.

Which invention, paired with fertile soil, made large Midwestern harvests possible?

The steel plough, which John Deere began making in Illinois in 1837, sliced through the sticky prairie sod that clogged cast-iron blades, opening the Midwest to corn and wheat.

Which Ohio city anchors a metropolitan area spanning three states?

Cincinnati's metropolitan area crosses the Ohio River into northern Kentucky and reaches southeastern Indiana, covering about 2.2 million people across the three states.

Which Midwestern metro area has core cities of the same name in two different states?

Kansas City, Missouri and Kansas City, Kansas sit side by side across the state line, one metro area of about 2.2 million people whose downtown lies on the Missouri side.

Until 1984 the Census Bureau officially called the Midwest by what name?

The Census Bureau used 'North Central Region' until June 1984, when it adopted 'Midwest' for the same 12 states, from Ohio west to Kansas, Nebraska and the Dakotas.

The Mall of America is in which Minnesota city?

Bloomington's Mall of America opened in August 1992 on the site of Metropolitan Stadium, where the Vikings and Twins had played, just across the interstate from the airport.

Berry Gordy Jr. founded Motown in January 1959 under what original name?

Tamla Records was Gordy's first label, launched on January 12, 1959, with an $800 family loan; Motown Record Corporation followed as the parent company in April 1960.

Which Minnesota town, nicknamed 'Spam Town USA', is home to the Spam Museum?

Austin, Minnesota, is Hormel Foods' home town; Spam has been canned there since 1937, and the Spam Museum on Main Street opened its current building in 2016.

The Mississippi River begins as a trickle out of which small Minnesota body of water?

It covers only about 1,200 acres and sits 1,475 feet above sea level. Its Ojibwe name means Elk Lake.

'The World's Only Corn Palace', redecorated with grain murals yearly, is in which city?

Mitchell, South Dakota, has had a Corn Palace since 1892; the current 1921 building, with Moorish domes and minarets, gets new corn-and-grain murals each year and hosts basketball.

In which year did the Mackinac Bridge linking Michigan's two peninsulas open?

The Mackinac Bridge opened to traffic on November 1, 1957, after three and a half years of construction; its five-mile span carries Interstate 75 across the Straits of Mackinac.

The 110-story Willis skyscraper was the world's tallest when it opened in 1973 under what name?

Sears Tower, built as the retailer's headquarters, was the world's tallest building from 1973 until the Petronas Towers in 1998; it was renamed Willis Tower in 2009.

Who planted the famous ivy on Wrigley Field's outfield walls in 1937?

Bill Veeck, son of Cubs president William Veeck Sr., planted the ivy in 1937 after seeing it at Perry Stadium in Indianapolis; in 1951, owning the St. Louis Browns, he sent 3-foot-7 Eddie Gaedel to bat.

Lake Superior is the largest freshwater lake in the world by which measure?

Surface area: Lake Superior covers 31,700 square miles, more than any other freshwater lake; by volume it ranks third behind Baikal and Tanganyika, and it drains to Huron via the St. Marys River.