Tri-state area

There are a number of areas in the 48 contiguous United States known informally as tri-state areas. Often, a tri-state area is an area associated with a particular town or metropolis that lies across three states. Some, but not all, of these involve a state boundary tripoint. Other "tri-state" areas have a more diffuse population that shares a connected economy and geography, especially with respect to climate, such as the tri-state area of Indiana, Ohio and Michigan.

The New York metropolitan area, which covers parts of the states of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut is perhaps the most commonly identified tri-state area. It is often referenced in New York radio, as well as through countless television commercials.

The Delaware Valley region, which includes eastern Pennsylvania, southern New Jersey, and northern Delaware, is also frequently referred to as a tri-state area in radio and TV advertising in the Philadelphia market.

Four other prominent areas that have been labeled tri-state areas are the Cincinnati tri-state area, including Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana; the Pittsburgh tri-state area, covering parts of Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia; the Chicago tri-state area, also known as Chicagoland, which includes parts of Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin; and the Greater Memphis area or Mid-South consisting of West Tennessee, North Mississippi, and the Arkansas delta.

Smaller tri-state areas include those of Dubuque, Iowa, which spills over into Illinois and Wisconsin; of Quincy, Illinois, which includes parts of Missouri and Iowa; Evansville, Indiana, which includes parts of Illinois and Kentucky; the Chattanooga, Tennessee tri-state area which includes Alabama and Georgia; and the Huntington (W.V.)-Ashland (Ky.)-Ironton (Oh.) Tri-State region, which incorporates areas of Kentucky, Ohio, and West Virginia. The Quincy, Evansville, and Huntington-Ashland areas are noteworthy for the states included all being separated by rivers.

The area that includes Washington, D.C. and the nearby parts of Maryland and the Virginias is sometimes loosely referred to as a "tri-state area," although the District of Columbia is not a state; however, with the presence of Jefferson County, West Virginia in the official Washington–Arlington–Alexandria Metropolitan Statistical Area, the region, as defined by the US Government, does in fact include three states. This area is more commonly/colloquially referred to as "the DMV" (DC, Maryland, Virginia).

The "Joplin District", a lead and zinc mining region of Oklahoma, Kansas and Missouri, produced mineral specimens known as "Tri-State" minerals, typically consisting mainly of sphalerite.

Tripoints

Land

Of the 62 points in the United States where three and only three states meet (each of which may be associated with its own tri-state area), 35 are on dry land and 27 are in water.[1]

NY-MA-CT Tripoint Marker
CT-RI-MA Tripoint Marker
NJ-NY-PA Tripoint Marker
IN-MI-OH Tripoint Marker
State 1 State 2 State 3 Notes
Alabama Florida Georgia Marker on riverbank is actually a few feet above and west of true tripoint at high-water line.
Alabama Georgia Tennessee Recently stolen marker on dry land at surface level and unmarked on lake in cavern directly below.
Arizona Nevada Utah Marked with a red sandstone monument.[2]
Arkansas Louisiana Mississippi Unmarked on silt island in river connected to west bank by riprap.
Arkansas Louisiana Texas See Ark-La-Tex. Marker in process of being surrounded and absorbed by tree.
Arkansas Missouri Oklahoma Marked with a stone monument.[3]
Arkansas Oklahoma Texas Unmarked on seasonal silt island or in river bed, but Oklahoma-Texas state line as revised in 2000 is defective in not extending from vegetation line on south bank to pre-established tripoint.
California Nevada Oregon Marked with a cairn.[4]
Colorado Kansas Nebraska Marked with a brass disc.[5]
Colorado Kansas Oklahoma 8 Mile Corner. Marker is concealed in crypt beneath removable manhole cover.
Colorado Nebraska Wyoming Marked with a stone surrounded by a three-stone colored base.[6]
Colorado New Mexico Oklahoma Preston Monument
Colorado Utah Wyoming Marked.[7]
Connecticut Massachusetts New York See Brace Mountain or Mount Frissell. Marked with a stone inscribed with MASS-1898-NY and sometimes a "scratched-on" CONN.[8]
Connecticut Massachusetts Rhode Island See Thompson, Connecticut. Marked with a stone inscribed with MASS-CONN-RI.[9]
Delaware Maryland Pennsylvania See Delaware Wedge. Marked with a stone inscribed with M-M-P-P as this was not intended to be the original tri-point.[10]
Georgia North Carolina Tennessee Marked.[11]
Idaho Montana Wyoming Located within Yellowstone National Park. Marked, although difficult to access.[12]
Idaho Nevada Oregon Marked with a three-sided stone inscribed with N-I-O on the respective faces.[13]
Idaho Nevada Utah Marked with a granite monument inscribed with the respective states' names.[14]
Idaho Utah Wyoming Marked with a stone.[15]
Indiana Michigan Ohio Brass marker with the shapes of the three states is located in a monument box beneath the surface of a rural road. Was set in 1999[16] and is referenced by a granite marker 20 feet to the east on the Michigan-Ohio line.[17]
Iowa Minnesota South Dakota True point is marked with a disc in the center of a T-shaped road intersection.[18] A witness monument nearby in the South Dakota corner acknowledges the tri-point being set in 1859.
Kansas Missouri Oklahoma Marked with a plaque on a seldom used dead-end road.[19]
Kentucky Tennessee Virginia Tri-State Peak[20] Located within Cumberland Gap National Historical Park. Marked.
Kentucky Virginia West Virginia Marked with a USGS marker on top of a two-foot high iron pipe at the river's high point.[21]
Maryland Pennsylvania West Virginia Marked with a pyramid-like stone.[22]
Massachusetts New Hampshire Vermont Marker is technically on dry land, but buried within river bed due to a dam's construction downstream.[23]
Massachusetts New York Vermont Marked with a stone.[24]
Montana North Dakota South Dakota Marked with a red granite stone.[25]
Montana South Dakota Wyoming Marked with a stone within a fence.[26]
Nebraska South Dakota Wyoming Marked with a stone within a fence.[27]
New Jersey New York Pennsylvania Marked by the Tri-State Monument in Port Jervis, New York by the confluence of the Delaware and Neversink Rivers.[28]
New Mexico Oklahoma Texas Texomex Marker
North Carolina Tennessee Virginia Marked.[29]

Water

State 1 State 2 State 3 Water Notes
Alabama Mississippi Tennessee Tennessee River
Arizona California Nevada Colorado River
Arkansas Mississippi Tennessee Mississippi River Memphis, Tennessee metro area.
Arkansas Missouri Tennessee Mississippi River
Connecticut New York Rhode Island Long Island Sound The part of New York that is in this tri-state area is Fishers Island. It is the New London, Connecticut metro area.
Delaware New Jersey Pennsylvania Delaware River Philadelphia metro area, at the east end of the Twelve-Mile Circle.
Georgia North Carolina South Carolina Chatooga River Located in river very near marker on dry land.
Idaho Oregon Washington Snake River
Illinois Indiana Kentucky Wabash River and Ohio River Evansville, Indiana metro area. See Illinois-Indiana-Kentucky Tri-State Area.
Illinois Indiana Michigan Lake Michigan Known as either the Indiana Dunes or the Michigan Dunes Area
Illinois Iowa Wisconsin Mississippi River Dubuque, Iowa metro area.
Illinois Kentucky Missouri Mississippi River and Ohio River Little Egypt region popularly labeled as a tri-state area with St. Louis, Missouri, Carbondale, Illinois metro area, and Paducah, Kentucky being its nuclei.
Illinois Michigan Wisconsin Lake Michigan
Indiana Kentucky Ohio Ohio River Cincinnati, Ohio metro area. The tripoint is near, but not precisely at, the confluence with the Great Miami River.
Iowa Illinois Missouri Mississippi River and Des Moines River Border with Lee County, Iowa
Iowa Minnesota Wisconsin Mississippi River La Crosse, Wisconsin metro area. Was apparently marked at one time with a sign that had been anchored in the location, but that sign has since been moved as of 2001.[30]
Iowa Missouri Nebraska Missouri River
Iowa Nebraska South Dakota Big Sioux River and Missouri River Sioux City, Iowa metro area.
Kansas Missouri Nebraska Missouri River
Kentucky Missouri Tennessee Mississippi River Three separate tripoints, due to meanders of the river (though probably only a single tri-state area surrounding them all). See also Kentucky Bend.
Kentucky Ohio West Virginia Big Sandy River and Ohio River Huntington (W.V.)-Ashland (Ky.)-Ironton (Oh.) Tri-State region.
Maryland Virginia West Virginia Potomac River Unmarked, at low water line, and almost always submerged.
Michigan Minnesota Wisconsin Lake Superior
Minnesota North Dakota South Dakota Bois de Sioux River Not directly marked and most probably within river.
Ohio Pennsylvania West Virginia Ohio River Technically the Beginning Point of the U.S. Public Land Survey, although the actual monument is 1,112 feet north of the tripoint due to the tripoint's current location under water; Pittsburgh Tri-State.

Regions with no Tripoint

The following tri-state areas are also notable, but have no tripoint:

State 1 State 2 State 3 Notes
Alabama Florida Mississippi The Gulf Coast region.
Connecticut New Jersey New York New York metropolitan area. See New York Metropolitan Area.
Delaware Maryland New Jersey Wilmington, DE metropolitan area
Delaware Maryland Virginia Delmarva Peninsula
Idaho Montana Washington Spokane, WA area; connected by Interstate 90
Illinois Indiana Wisconsin Chicago metro area
Kansas Oklahoma Texas The Liberal, Kansas area has a close relationship with the Oklahoma and Texas panhandles.
Massachusetts Maine New Hampshire The Boston to Portland metro area; though the two are separated by New Hampshire, Maine was actually part of Massachusetts before becoming a separate state in 1820.
New York Pennsylvania Ohio Erie metropolitan area, a.k.a. Niagara Frontier and North Coast. Shares two tripoints with Ontario (PA-ON-OH and PA-ON-NY), both within Lake Erie.
South Carolina North Carolina Tennessee The Spartanburg, South Carolina, Asheville, North Carolina, Johnson City, Tennessee, and Kingsport, Tennessee metro areas along Interstate 26
Vermont Maine New Hampshire Northern New England
West Virginia Virginia North Carolina Important section of Interstate 77 connecting Charleston, West Virginia with Charlotte, North Carolina; passes through Wytheville, Virginia

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Tri State Corners in the United States" (PDF). Jack Parsell.
  2. ↑ http://www.bjbsoftware.com/corners/pointdetail.php3?point=12 AZ-NV-UT Corner
  3. ↑ http://www.bjbsoftware.com/corners/pointdetail.php3?point=6 AR-MO-OK Corner
  4. ↑ http://www.bjbsoftware.com/corners/docs/canvor.pdf CA-NV-OR Corner
  5. ↑ http://www.bjbsoftware.com/corners/docs/coksne.pdf CO-KS-NE Corner
  6. ↑ http://www.bjbsoftware.com/corners/docs/conewy.pdf CO-NE-WY Corner
  7. ↑ http://www.bjbsoftware.com/corners/docs/coutwy.pdf CO-UT-WY Corner
  8. ↑ http://www.bjbsoftware.com/corners/pointdetail.php3?point=19 CT-MA-NY Corner
  9. ↑ http://www.bjbsoftware.com/corners/pointdetail.php3?point=20 CT-MA-RI Corner
  10. ↑ http://www.bjbsoftware.com/corners/pointdetail.php3?point=24 DE-MD-PA Corner
  11. ↑ http://www.bjbsoftware.com/corners/docs/ganctn.pdf GA-NC-TN Corner
  12. ↑ http://www.bjbsoftware.com/corners/docs/idmtwy.pdf ID-MT-WY Corner
  13. ↑ http://www.bjbsoftware.com/corners/docs/idnvor.pdf ID-NV-OR Corner
  14. ↑ http://www.bjbsoftware.com/corners/docs/idnvut.pdf ID-NV-UT Corner
  15. ↑ http://www.bjbsoftware.com/corners/docs/idutwy.pdf ID-UT-WY Corner
  16. ↑ http://www.bjbsoftware.com/corners/docs/inmioh.pdf Jack Parsell's description of the IN-MI-OH tripoint
  17. ↑ http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?wp=GC2018
  18. ↑ http://www.bjbsoftware.com/corners/photos/IAMNSDBrian.jpg Photo by Gregg A. Butler of the IA-MN-SD tripoint and its witness post
  19. ↑ http://www.bjbsoftware.com/corners/pointdetail.php3?point=46 KS-MO-OK Corner
  20. ↑ KY-TN-VA Tri-State Peak at Cumberland Gap National Historical Park
  21. ↑ http://www.bjbsoftware.com/corners/docs/kyvawv.pdf KY-VA-WV Corner
  22. ↑ http://www.bjbsoftware.com/corners/docs/mdpawv.pdf MD-PA-WV Corner
  23. ↑ Eric Jones. New Hampshire Curiosities. Globe Pequot, 2006. p114-5.
  24. ↑ http://www.bjbsoftware.com/corners/pointdetail.php3?point=54 MA-NY-VT Corner
  25. ↑ http://www.bjbsoftware.com/corners/docs/mtndsd.pdf MT-ND-SD Corner
  26. ↑ http://www.bjbsoftware.com/corners/docs/mtsdwy.pdf MT-SD-WY Corner
  27. ↑ http://www.bjbsoftware.com/corners/docs/nesdwy.pdf NE-SD-WY Corner
  28. ↑ http://www.bjbsoftware.com/corners/pointdetail.php3?point=63 NJ-NY-PA Corner
  29. ↑ http://www.bjbsoftware.com/corners/docs/nctnva.pdf NC-TN-VA Corner
  30. ↑ http://www.bjbsoftware.com/corners/pointdetail.php3?point=31

External links

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