Talk:Michiana
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Article Grading: Doesn't seem to rank as Top importance. I'm lowering it to High.--Bedford 15:42, 5 September 2006 (UTC) |
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This article is part of WikiProject Michigan, a WikiProject related to the U.S. state of Michigan. |
I have just now (November, 2004) removed two towns from the list of Michiana communities. I cannot believe that people in Chesterton or Beverly Shores consider themselves part of Michiana. I generally would not presume to speak for residents of other towns but at least I do live in the same county, rather than half a dozen away, and I do have friends in each town.
I realize that Michiana is not a clearly defined or definable concept. It overlaps with the Calumet Region / northwestern Indiana / Chicago's suburbs. I know that even some Lake County residents work in South Bend. I'm sure there are people in LaPorte County (for example) who hate Chicago and deny their being in any way connected to it, as well as that there are others there who hate South Bend and deny it having any importance for their area. I will limit myself here to simply excising Porter County from Michiana.
I think the best definition of Michiana is probably those cities that consider South Bend's TV broadcasts to be "theirs". Chesterton? No. Coldwater, MI? No. Edwardsburg, MI? Yes. Elkhart? Yes.
I'd also consider any of the counties that observe Central Standard Time (Jasper, Lake, LaPorte, Newton, Porter and Starke) to not be part of Michiana. By observing Chicago's time, that probably means they identify more closely with that region than anything else. --Jkonrath 17:47, 22 August 2005 (UTC)
[edit] Origin
I just put a mention of the origin of "Michiana" in the article. This comes from a January 6, 2000 South Bend Tribune editorial entitled "Has 'Michiana' outlived its usefulness?". (Note that it will cost $1.95 to access) Mapsax 22:42, 27 March 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Updating in good faith
Updated to include all of "Greater Michiana" and used the St. Joe County Chamber's definitions to differentiate between Michiana "proper" and the "greater" area. This is as close to an official definition as I've been able to find, and it seems reasonable. It emphasizes that Michiana "proper" is the closest counties to South Bend/SJC but recognizes that other counties lay claim to being part of the group, too. I lived most of my life in the area around White Pigeon, Constantine, and Three Rivers, up in St. Joe County, Mich., and I always considered myself part of Michiana. Our family identified with Elkhart and its environs as much as we did with Michigan, probably because we shopped in Elkhart and most of our family lived around there. I also commuted to South Bend for several years. Notre Dame was my favorite college football team, not U of M or MSU! And yes, we watched South Bend television stations.
The SJC Chamber's definition removes Pulaski County. That's the only alteration to the original list of 11 counties.
12 Sept. 2006
Updated population in opening paragraph to reflect the numbers as they relate to the SJC Chamber's definition of Michiana proper, as opposed to Greater Michiana.
11 Oct. 2006
