 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.One of the earliest late nineteenth century uses of Midwest was in reference to Kansas and Nebraska to indicate that they were the civilized areas of the west.