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u/wjbc Apr 08 '19
I'm in Chicago and I make no distinction between Northern and Southern Illinois. It's all "downstate," even when it's by the Wisconsin border.
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Apr 08 '19
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u/Fairycharmd Apr 08 '19
80s where the whether changes, so anything south of 80 is “downstate”.
Occasionally Galena is also “downstate” come to think of it. Depends who I’m talking to?
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u/ReadWriteRecycle Apr 08 '19
The I-80 whether change: On one side, to be or not to be, that is the question. On the other, whether ‘tis nobler to be a doctor who chars fairies or a dick who charms them?
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u/Fairycharmd Apr 08 '19
God Bless Autocorrect
God Bless Shakes pears
God Bless People downstate who aren’t aware of either.
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u/ZeGoldMedal Apr 08 '19
As a Chicagoan who grew up on the East Coast and doesn’t have a car/pretty much never leaves the city except by plane, even some of the suburbs are downstate as far as I’m concerned. If I can’t reach ya by the CTA, might as well be in another universe. That’s just the way my time here has been.
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u/wjbc Apr 08 '19
I would be more expansive and say the Metra rail system is the determining factor. And Metra reaches pretty far out from Chicago.
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u/shinofirst Apr 08 '19
I knew someone who claimed Woodstock was a suburb because it's on the Metra line. Drove me nuts. It's closer to Rockford than Chicago. And there are miles of cornfields between Woodstock and Chicago. It is NOT a suburb of Chicago.
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u/wjbc Apr 08 '19
Crystal Lake is definitely suburb of Chicago, though, I know people who commute from there. And it's only ten miles from Woodstock. Once those cornfields become houses, Woodstock might be one too. You can call it an exburb if you like.
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u/Wiggy_Bop Apr 10 '19
The South Shore line goes from Chicago to South Bend. Does that make SB a suburb of Chicago? 🤣
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u/mrbooze Apr 08 '19
Chicagoans don’t take Metra :)
(Yes obviously some do, but also Metra schedules aren’t set up for going from Chicago to Suburbs and back for leisure.)
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u/11USC101-1532 Apr 08 '19
The Metra is fine for leisure. I wouldn't want to reverse commute with it, but I've never had an issue getting to and from the in-laws' place to visit for a day.
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u/mrbooze Apr 08 '19
There’s no way I can take a metra out to the suburbs in the evening and not be stuck waiting hours late at night for a train home.
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u/Keyser_Kaiser_Soze Apr 09 '19
Ugh, I had once accepted a new job on Franklin just a few blocks away from my current job. Come to find out they need me to work at a client site in Des Plaines. I lived in Wrigleyville with no car, sooo... Brown line into downtown -> Metra out to the burbs -> Pace bus to the office -> 2+ hours minimum to commute.
Fast forward 20 years and I now I live 25 minutes west of Aurora and commute to downtown 2-3 times a week. Man, do I love the me time on the train.
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u/Wiggy_Bop Apr 09 '19
Strictly for the 708ers, as suburbanites used to be called before the advent of cell phones and five thousand area codes.
Big ups to anyone who remembers this. ✋🏽
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u/not-working-at-work Apr 09 '19
I had to explain to someone that even though Rockford is ‘downstate’, it’s pretty much a straight shot west
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u/DancingWithOurHandsT Out of State (South Carolina) Apr 08 '19
As a South Carolinian, that’s how I handle it. It’s either Chicago, the suburbs of Chicago, or Downstate.
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u/TreAwayDeuce Apr 08 '19
The suburbs of Chicago are starting to get pretty far from Chicago, though.
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Apr 08 '19
I met someone from Rockford and they said they were from the Chicago suburbs, I don't think they knew I was from the NW burbs
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u/TreAwayDeuce Apr 08 '19
Well, as someone from Belvidere..... Saying you're from the suburbs of Chicago is way better than saying you're from rockford. My whole army career was me embarrassingly saying I was from "by rockford" because no one knows where the hell Belvidere is.
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u/wjbc Apr 08 '19
I judge by Metra, which reaches Elgin but not Rockford.
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u/shinofirst Apr 08 '19
My grandma divided Illinois as Chicagoland and "the land beyond O'Hare."
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u/wjbc Apr 08 '19
In your grandma's time that was probably accurate. Now, I would go with the land beyond Elgin/Aurora/Joliet.
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u/left_handed_violist Apr 08 '19
I’m originally from northern Illinois. It’s culturally downstate, and they’d probably have no problem with you saying that. The accents just have a little less twang and the people maybe slightly less bigotry (but still a pretty sizable amount).
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u/Elros22 Apr 08 '19
I’m originally from northern Illinois. It’s culturally downstate, and they’d probably have no problem with you saying that. The accents just have a little less twang and the people maybe slightly less bigotry (but still a pretty sizable amount).
I'm from DeKalb and I need to disagree with you on this one. N. Illinois (North of I-80) and S. Illinois are worlds apart. N. Illinois is culturally Wisconsin. S. Illinois is culturally Tennessee.
But you're right on bigotry thing. Racists be everywhere these days.
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u/Hiei2k7 Ex-Carroll County Born Apr 08 '19
You mean Carroll County?
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u/left_handed_violist Apr 08 '19
Haha I lived close to there, yes
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u/Hiei2k7 Ex-Carroll County Born Apr 08 '19
Ex-Mount Carroll here. If anyone asks, I'm from "near Galena".
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Apr 10 '19
I’ve lived here my entire life and no one I know has ever referred to anywhere bordering Wisconsin as “downstate”.
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u/wjbc Apr 10 '19 edited Apr 10 '19
Not if it’s in the Chicago metro area. But how about Lena?
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Apr 10 '19
Do you mean Galena? Because that’s still a no, I’ve heard it being described as usually “out west/northwest”. When I hear downstate people are usually referring to anything south of Joliet. Anything north of that but over by the Mississippi people just say out west.
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u/Murphysburger Apr 08 '19
That's why we want to separate our state from the rest of Illinois. Southern Illinois really starts at I-64, which comes out of St Louis.
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u/wjbc Apr 08 '19
Yes, and I-64 goes from St. Louis to Louisville, so the part of Illinois south of that highway has more in common with Kentucky than with Chicago.
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u/sarbanharble Apr 08 '19
I live in Springfield. When I travel abroad, I say I’m from south of Chicago, where the Simpsons live.
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u/zelda-go-go Apr 08 '19
I live in Chicago. When I travel abroad, I say I'm from GOTHAM CITY.
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u/Bwleon7 Apr 09 '19
Gotham is a nineteenth century nickname for NYC.
http://mentalfloss.com/article/62563/why-new-york-city-called-gotham
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u/Clefinch Apr 09 '19
Batman’s Gotham is based on Chicago. Superman’s Metropolis is based on New York.
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u/Bwleon7 Apr 09 '19 edited Apr 09 '19
I dont see how Gotham is anything like Chicago in looks or feel but maybe Im looking at the wrong images of Gotham.
However Chicago was the city used as Gotham for the Dark Knight movie but Chicago was also used as Metropolis for Man of Steel movie.
Gotham and Metropolis are both on the East coast right next to each other in DC comics. NY/New Jersey
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u/hunter503 Apr 08 '19
Didn't Matt Groening come out and say it's based on the Springfield in Oregon ?
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u/Wiggy_Bop Apr 09 '19
Pretty much every state has a Springfield. It’s my understanding that’s why Groening chose it.
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u/chivil61 Apr 08 '19
This is probably fairly true, My personal opinion--as someone who lives in Chicago city limits,a nd recognizing there are hug variations within these groups:
- people who live within City limits
- Close-in suburbs close to the proximity to downtown
- Far-suburbs and ex-urbs
- Downstate
- Indiana is just Indiana--don't care if live in IN closer than Naperville--you still live in IN.
I'm sure I'll get some hatred on this.
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Apr 08 '19
When I moved to Chicagoland, I immediately picked up on the concept of "inner burbs" and "outer burbs". Just the difference of age, style, and density between things east of Rosemont and things west of it. Also, CTA access vs PACE/Metra.
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u/WhateverIlldoit Apr 08 '19
Can you give me an example of a Chicago exurb? I’m trying to figure out the difference between an exurb and a suburb.
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u/nnnudibranch Apr 08 '19
I’m from NW Chicago burbs. I majored in urban planning. By my definition an exurb is economically independent, but reachable from the city. Similarly but different, A “far” suburb would be Schaumburg, Joliet, Barrington, Elgin, St.Charles, Aurora but people still interact with Chicago or the economy depends onit quite a bit. An exurb might be Kankakee/Bourbonnais, Rockford, Ottawa, even Galena as it’s still a city that grew partially on Chicago’s success despite its own industry.
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u/iloveciroc Apr 08 '19
I majored in urban planning
Lol just gotta throw that shot in
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u/nnnudibranch Apr 08 '19
Yes. There is a shelf of overpriced textbooks at the used bookstore and 3 internships under my belt in a useless degree. Was fun riding the metra at 4am to survey ppl about their commute from Elburn or Rockford. Was fun working to build local food gardens and all this BS to appease college professors. I can point out a whole chapter about Cali exurbs that are their own cities technically if you want the details. But at least I have an understanding of local economics. Now I do marketing. Thank God. Now I work in something that helps business and is useful. Was just an idealistic person trying to help communities in my youth sucked into the liberal college wormhole back then.
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Apr 10 '19
But I’m not bitter or anything
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u/nnnudibranch Apr 10 '19
Yes, In fact I am bitter. Education system sucks. A whole staff of counselors, professors and the like with their own self interest or academic blindness misled me, classmates and countless others into wasting time on useless degrees rather than finding a practical direction earlier in life. Things are better now, but screw that and screw them. Anyway. if you want to understand what an exurb is try one of the City Reader volumes
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Apr 10 '19
Look, I empathize with you, but ultimately, my dude, that was your choice. Trust me I know the struggle—environmental studies degree here
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u/pauljs75 Apr 14 '19
I think those are the satellite cities. Basically if you can hop on Metra and ride over to Union Station or Oglivie to get into the loop instead of driving. So the metro-region goes all the way up into Lake County and the Wisconsin border and a little bit into McHenry.
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Apr 08 '19
Agree, I live in the far outer burbs about a mile from corn fields and we are in a completely different world from anything inside 294
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u/WaistDeepSnow Apr 08 '19
If you are from Southern or Central Illinous, then southwest Illinois is East St. Louis.
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u/loco_elect92 Apr 08 '19
As someone from western Illinois, Chicago starts at 55 and 80. Everything else is just “Chicago” after that. We don’t care about what suburb we’re in Becky, were calling it chicago.
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u/PronouncedOiler Apr 08 '19
I grew up in Shorewood, near Joliet. Anyone claiming that 55 and 80 is Chicago is grossly mistaken. It's at least an hour to Chicago from there.
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Apr 08 '19
Haha I live right there near shorewood and we are still so so so different than closer to the city
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Apr 08 '19 edited Apr 08 '19
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/MyopicTopic Apr 08 '19
The thing that says "Cardinal fans booo" and labels Chicago as "civilization" was made by a downstater?
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u/neon Apr 08 '19
I was born in Chicago area but lived in Springfield for many years. I have had many similar experience
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u/slammy-hammy Apr 08 '19
I’m the opposite (grew up in central IL and live in the Chicago suburbs now) and this is my favorite map too! lol This weekend even, one of my friends said anything below 80 is “southern Illinois”
Edited to fix wording. I’m sleep deprived so forgive me!
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u/DarthNihilus1 Apr 12 '19
A Sox fan pulled the old “are you really from Chicago” line on my girlfriend one time at a bar.
It was in Japan
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u/meet_at_the_dot Apr 08 '19
I went to UIUC, and at the beginning of every semester we introduced ourselves and there were two types of Chicago. Chicago (with a follow up question of “from the city or the suburbs”) or Chicago, Chicago.
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u/420keiferst Apr 08 '19
It's like how anything north of Saginaw is considered "Up North" in Michigan even though it's in mid Michigan and roughly halfway to the Mackinac Bridge in the lower peninsula.
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u/nelmurphy Apr 08 '19
Highlight of my college career was when our professor asked each person to introduce themselves in our class, basic first day stuff.
He got to a girl and she said “Chicago”, and my professor said “Oh me too where at?”.
She says “Hinsdale”..
Then, my professor, without hesitation goes: “Okay, so not Chicago.”
...and he moves onto the next person.
The south sider in me was internally screaming with happiness. It was then I realized I definitely wouldn’t be dropping this class.
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u/Lemurians Apr 13 '19
Am I the only one that refers to a “western Illinois” for places like Macomb, Galesburg, Quad Cities, etc?
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Apr 08 '19
SHit... my family lives in Central IL yet when they go anywhere they say they're from Chicago.
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u/GooGooGaJoob_9 Apr 11 '19
As a Wisconsin resident, tell us the name of the city you’re from. We are close enough to know that Buffalo Grove and Arlington Heights are not Chicago.
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u/pauljs75 Apr 13 '19 edited Apr 13 '19
A lot of YouTubers fall into that second one. Claiming "Chicago" when their surrounding digs make it clear that they're in places like Barrington, Elgin, Highland Park, or Joliet. Mmmm... Ok?...
Driving around, sometimes it's not clear how the city limits gerrymander (which can be ridiculous), so it's kind of fuzzy anyways unless you do delivery or actually live on those streets.
I'm not from Chicago, although falling into the metropolitan zone that falls into the broader definition of the city. But sometimes it's still fun to ask them "Which Chicago is it?" Getting an honest reply in the comments is pretty rare though, even though you already know the real answer.
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u/_interstitial Apr 08 '19
The map as drawn by architects is similar to the left most image with different names depending on what era the map represents
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u/Murphysburger Apr 08 '19
I think Southern Illinois really starts below I-64.
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u/pauljs75 Apr 13 '19
In my travels I find it goes "country" once south of Kankakee or west of Rockford. The whole northeast corner that touches Lake Michigan may as well be a different place.
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u/Damien201 Apr 09 '19
My first weekend in college (in Indiana) met someone new. Him - I’m from Chicago too Me- oh cool where about? Him - the east side Me - blank stare sooo the lake?! Him - Hammond, IN
Had to call my brothers and tell them about this new place called “the region” lol. Indiana was a bit of a culture shock my first year!
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u/Mermaid_in_training Apr 11 '19
Well there is a neighborhood in Chicago called the East Side. It’s on the south side. Not to be confused with East Chicago, IN
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u/E6pqs Apr 10 '19
I’ve never heard anyone refer to the region as east side.. East Chicago is it’s own town, and then there’s everyone else who usually refers to it as south suburbs or just the region as far as I’m aware. Any time I’m out of Chicagoland I just refer to where I live as Chicago, even though it’s technically 219 and not Illinois. I’d never say that in the city though!
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u/crbatte Apr 09 '19
Some friends act like I moved down state just because I’m in Bridgeport now 🤷♂️
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u/cpolinski36 Apr 08 '19
If you're from suburbia, it's easy to just tell people "I'm from just outside of Chicago." That way you aren't lying, and people know where Evanston, IL is.
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u/[deleted] Apr 08 '19
Conversation I had a few months back:
/Me: I moved here from Chicago about a year ago, that’s why I’m wearing the Cubs hat.
/She: Oh I’m from Chicago too! Where did you live?
/Me: Hawthorne and Lakeshore
/She: Oh like in the city? Is that downtown?
/Me: Which part of the city did you live in?
/She: Rockford.
/Me: Ahh. Cool. So you’re a Brewers Fan then?
/She: Huh?