In 1947, the Chicago area membership represented approximately 10% of the national, and the plan for a district began to develop. At the invitation of Matt Sielski, a group of traffic engineers met on the 38 th floor of the Opera Building in the Electrical Club to discuss the organization of a district chapter. The luncheon was sponsored by William Abbott, representative of Automatic Signal Corporation. Among those in attendance were Richard Fend, William McConochie, Ralph Gross, William Marston, Matt Sielski, and Ralph Michel. At this meeting it was proposed that the district be identified as the Midwest Section and its membership would include the following states: Illinois , Wisconsin , Minnesota , Iowa , Kansas , Nebraska , Missouri , North Dakota , South Dakota and Indiana . Approximately 70 active members resided in the ten-state area. At the meeting Matt Sielski was chosen as Acting President pending the first meeting of the Section.

The first meeting of the Midwest Section was held at the Engineers Club on April 17, 1947. At that meeting Vic Hofer was elected President, Stan Baker, Vice President and Matt Sielski, Secretary-Treasurer. At this meeting the By-Laws were approved and submitted to the ITE Board of Direction, which subsequently approved the Charter and By-Laws on June 19, 1947.

As the membership of ITE grew, it became apparent that the Midwest Section included too large a geographical area to be a section and consequently the section was eventually reorganized in 1951 split into other groups including the Indiana Section and the MOVITE Section. Indiana became part of District 3. The MOVITE Section continued to be part of Midwestern District. MOVITE consisted of Nebraska , Iowa , Kansas , Missouri and Oklahoma (however Oklahoma did not officially join the District until 1962). Arkansas joined MOVITE and the District in 1961. The Wisconsin and Illinois Sections were originally organized in 1962 but not chartered as Sections of Midwestern District until 1966. The NCITE Section was organized and chartered in 1963.

Midwestern District now consists of eleven states: North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Arkansas.

The first Annual Meeting of Midwestern District was held on May 25-27, 1967 in Rock Island , Illinois .