Editing Midwestern United States (section)

=== Immigration and industrialization ===
{{Main|Immigrants to the United States|Industrialization}}
[[File:Standard Oil.jpg|thumb|The first [[Standard Oil]] refinery was opened in [[Cleveland]] by businessman [[John D. Rockefeller]].]]
[[File:TamarackMiners CopperCountryMI.jpg|thumb|Miners at the [[Tamarack mine]] in Michigan's [[Copper Country]], 1905]]

By the time of the [[American Civil War]], European [[Immigration to the United States|immigrants]] bypassed the [[East Coast of the United States]] to settle directly in the interior: [[German American|German immigrants]] to Ohio, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas, and Missouri; [[Irish American|Irish immigrants]] to port cities on the Great Lakes, like Cleveland and Chicago; [[Danes]], [[Czechs]], [[Swedes]], and [[Norwegians]] to Iowa, Nebraska, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and the [[Dakotas]]; and [[Finns]] to [[Upper Peninsula of Michigan|Upper Michigan]] and northern/central Minnesota and Wisconsin. [[Polish people|Poles]], [[Hungarian people|Hungarians]], and Jews settled in Midwestern cities.{{citation needed|date=October 2016}}

The U.S. was predominantly rural at the time of the Civil War. The Midwest was no exception, dotted with small farms all across the region. The late 19th century saw [[industrialization]], [[immigration]], and [[urbanization]] that fed the [[Industrial Revolution]], and the heart of industrial domination and innovation was in the [[Great Lakes region (North America)|Great Lakes states]] of the Midwest, which only began its slow decline by the late 20th century.{{citation needed|date=October 2016}}

A flourishing economy brought residents from rural communities and [[Immigration to the United States|immigrants]] from abroad. Manufacturing and retail and finance sectors became dominant, influencing the American economy.<ref>{{cite web|last=Conzen|first=Michael|title=Global Chicago|url=http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/277.html |publisher=Encyclopedia of Chicago |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230411153853/http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/277.html |archive-date= Apr 11, 2023 }}</ref>

In addition to manufacturing, printing, publishing, and food processing also play major roles in the Midwest's largest economy. Chicago was the base of commercial operations for industrialists [[John Crerar (industrialist)|John Crerar]], [[John Whitfield Bunn]], [[Richard Teller Crane]], [[Marshall Field]], [[John Farwell]], [[Julius Rosenwald]], and many other commercial visionaries who laid the foundation for Midwestern and global industry.{{citation needed|date=October 2016}} Meanwhile, [[John D. Rockefeller]], creator of the [[Standard Oil]] Company, made his billions in Cleveland. At one point during the late 19th century, Cleveland was home to more than 50% of the world's millionaires, many living on the famous [[Millionaire's Row]] on Euclid Avenue.

In the 20th century, [[African American]] migration from the [[Southern United States]] into the Midwestern states changed Chicago, St. Louis, Cleveland, Milwaukee, Kansas City, Cincinnati, Detroit, Omaha, Minneapolis, and many other cities in the Midwest, as factories and schools enticed families by the thousands to new opportunities. Chicago alone gained hundreds of thousands of black citizens from the [[Great Migration (African American)|Great Migration]] and the [[Second Great Migration (African American)|Second Great Migration]].{{citation needed|date=October 2016}}

The [[Gateway Arch]] monument in St. Louis, clad in stainless steel and built in the form of a flattened [[catenary arch]],<ref name="modernsteel.com">{{cite web |url=http://www.modernsteel.com/archives/PDFs_61-90/1963A9_3-4.pdf?bcsi_scan_955b0cd764557e80=0&bcsi_scan_filename=1963A9_3-4.pdf |title=Modern Steel Construction |website=Modern Steel Construction |publisher=American Institute of Steel Construction |date=1963 |access-date=July 16, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140318193636/http://www.modernsteel.com/archives/PDFs_61-90/1963A9_3-4.pdf?bcsi_scan_955b0cd764557e80=0&bcsi_scan_filename=1963A9_3-4.pdf |archive-date=March 18, 2014 |url-status=dead }}</ref> is the tallest man-made monument in the United States,<ref name="nhlsum">{{cite web|url=http://tps.cr.nps.gov/nhl/detail.cfm?ResourceId=2017&ResourceType=Structure |title= Gateway Arch |publisher=National Historic Landmarks Program |access-date=December 14, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090804114340/http://tps.cr.nps.gov/nhl/detail.cfm?ResourceId=2017&ResourceType=Structure |archive-date=August 4, 2009 |url-status=dead }}</ref> and the world's tallest arch.<ref name="nhlsum" /> Built as a monument to the [[westward expansion of the United States]],<ref name="modernsteel.com" /> it is the centerpiece of the [[Gateway Arch National Park]], which was known as the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial until 2018, and has become an internationally famous symbol of St. Louis and the Midwest.{{citation needed|date=October 2016}}

==== German Americans ====
{{Main|German American}}

[[File:Distribution of Americans claiming German Ancestry by county in 2018.png|thumb|upright=1.25|Distribution of Americans claiming German Ancestry by county in 2018]]

As the Midwest opened up to settlement via waterways and rail in the mid-1800s, Germans began to settle there in large numbers. The largest flow of German immigration to America occurred between 1820 and World War I, during which time nearly six million Germans immigrated to the United States. From 1840 to 1880, they were the largest group of immigrants.<ref>Günter Moltmann, "The Pattern of German Emigration to the United States in the Nineteenth Century". in ''America and the Germans, Volume 1'' (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2016) pp. 14-24.</ref>

The Midwestern cities of [[Milwaukee]], [[Cincinnati]], [[St. Louis]], and [[Chicago]] were favored destinations of German immigrants. By 1900, the populations of the cities of [[Cleveland, Ohio|Cleveland]], Milwaukee, [[Hoboken, New Jersey|Hoboken]], and Cincinnati were all more than 40 percent German American. [[Dubuque, Iowa|Dubuque]] and [[Davenport, Iowa]], had even larger proportions; in [[Omaha]], Nebraska, the proportion of German Americans was 57 percent in 1910. In many other cities of the Midwest, such as [[Fort Wayne, Indiana]], German Americans were at least 30 percent of the population.<ref name="Faust">{{Citation|last=Faust|first=Albert Bernhardt|title=The German Element in the United States with Special Reference to Its Political, Moral, Social, and Educational Influence|publisher=Houghton-Mifflin|location=Boston|year=1909|title-link=The German Element in the United States}}</ref><ref>Census data from Bureau of the Census, ''Thirteenth census of the United States taken in the year 1910'' (1913)</ref> Many concentrations acquired distinctive names suggesting their heritage, such as the "[[Over-the-Rhine]]" district in Cincinnati and "[[German Village]]" in [[Columbus, Ohio|Columbus]], Ohio.<ref>{{Citation|url=http://germanvillage.com/index.php|title=German Village Society|access-date=November 19, 2009|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080509124022/http://www.germanvillage.com/index.php|archive-date=May 9, 2008}}</ref>

A favorite destination was Milwaukee, known as "the German Athens". Radical Germans trained in politics in the old country dominated the city's [[Social Democratic Party (United States)|Socialists]]. Skilled workers dominated many crafts, while entrepreneurs created the brewing industry; the most famous brands included [[Pabst Brewing Company|Pabst]], [[Joseph Schlitz Brewing Company|Schlitz]], [[Miller Brewing Company|Miller]], and [[Valentin Blatz Brewing Company|Blatz]].<ref>Trudy Knauss Paradis, et al. ''German Milwaukee'' (2006)</ref>

While half of German immigrants settled in cities, the other half established farms in the Midwest. From Ohio to the Plains states, a heavy presence persists in rural areas into the 21st century.<ref name="Conzen">{{Citation|last=Conzen|first=Kathleen|title=Harvard Encyclopedia of American Ethnic Groups|editor-first=Stephan|editor-last=Thernstrom|publisher=Belknap Press|year=1980|page=407|chapter=Germans}}</ref><ref>Richard Sisson, ed. ''The American Midwest'' (2007), p. 208; Gross (1996); Johnson (1951).</ref><ref>Kathleen Neils Conzen, ''Germans in Minnesota''. (2003).</ref>

Throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, German Americans showed a high interest in becoming farmers, and keeping their children and grandchildren on the land. Western railroads, with large land grants available to attract farmers, set up agencies in [[Hamburg]] and other German cities, promising cheap transportation, and sales of farmland on easy terms. For example, the [[Santa Fe Railroad]] hired its own commissioner for immigration, and sold over {{convert|300,000|acre|km2}} to German-speaking farmers.<ref>C. B. Schmidt, "Reminiscences of Foreign Immigration Work for Kansas", ''Kansas Historical Collections, 1905–1906'' 9 (1906): 485–97; J. Neale Carman, ed. and trans., "German Settlements Along the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway", ''[[Kansas Historical Quarterly]]'' 28 (Autumn 1962): 310–16; cited in Turk, "Germans in Kansas", (2005) p 57.</ref>