German Americans

Main article: German American

Distribution of German Americans according to the 2000 Census

German population density in the United States, 1870 census

German Immigration to the United States (by decade 1820–2004)
Decade	Number of Immigrants	Decade	Number of Immigrants
1820–1840	160,335	1921–1930	412,202
1841–1850	434,626	1931–1940	114,058
1851–1860	951,667	1941–1950	226,578
1861–1870	787,468	1951–1960	477,765
1871–1880	718,182	1961–1970	190,796
1881–1890	1,452,970	1971–1980	74,414
1891–1900	505,152	1981–1990	91,961
1901–1910	341,498	1991–2000	92,606
1911–1920	143,945	2001–2004	61,253
Total: 7,237,594

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.^{[citation needed]}
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, Milwaukee, Hoboken, and Cincinnati were all more than 40 percent German American. 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.^[56][57] Many concentrations acquired distinctive names suggesting their heritage, such as the "Over-the-Rhine" district in Cincinnati and "German Village" in Columbus, Ohio.^[58]
A favorite destination was Milwaukee, known as "the German Athens". Radical Germans trained in politics in the old country dominated the city's Socialists. Skilled workers dominated many crafts, while entrepreneurs created the brewing industry; the most famous brands included Pabst, Schlitz, Miller, and Blatz.^[59]
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.^[60][61][62]
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 300,000 acres (1,200 km²) to German-speaking farmers.^[63]

History of the term Midwest

Scotts Bluff National Monument in western Nebraska

The term West was applied to the region in the early years of the country. In 1789, the Northwest Ordinance was enacted, creating the Northwest Territory, which was bounded by the Great Lakes and the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers. Because the Northwest Territory lay between the East Coast and the then-far-West, the states carved out of it were called the Northwest. In the early 19th century, anything west of the Mississippi River was considered the West. The first recorded use of the term Midwestern to refer to a region of the central U.S. occurred in 1886, Midwest appeared in 1894, and Midwesterner in 1916.^[5]
Following the settlement of the western prairie, some considered the row of states from North Dakota to Kansas to be part of the Midwest.^[64]
The states of the "old Northwest" are now called the "East North Central States" by the United States Census Bureau and the "Great Lakes region" is also a popular term. The states just west of the Mississippi River and the Great Plains states are called the "West North Central States" by the Census Bureau.^{[citation needed]} Some entities in the Midwest are still referred to as "Northwest" due to historical reasons (for example, Northwestern University in Illinois).^{[citation needed]}
The most common definition currently used colloquially is that the Midwest proper includes, for the most part, only the East North Central States of the Great Lakes region, specifically Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Wisconsin, Illinois, and Minnesota, and in addition Iowa, Missouri, parts of Upstate New York and Pennsylvania, especially Western Pennsylvania are also usually understood to share the same regional characteristics.^[65]