OK, that’s probably what I was thinking of and sorry for not doublechecking. In that case it was even more lopsided 60 years ago.
I was born and have spent my whole life in California. My mom grew up in Pennsylvania, and she always talked about the way things were “back East.” It never even occurred to me to think this was weird or unusual.
In Japanese, they 上京 or “go up to the capital”, even if they start off to the north of Tokyo. Idiomatic expressions are idiomatic expressions.
Similarly in the UK trains are referred to ‘up’ and ‘down’ for away and towards London regardless of the compass direction they’re headed.
I don’t know how ones that neither start nor terminate in London are referred to, presuming there are such trains traveling long enough to not be considered a local.
And the “Reserve” part of Case Western Reserve University refers to the fact that the land was part of the Connecticut Western Reserve, land claimed by the Colony of Connecticut under its royal charter.