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One Good Reason to Visit South Dakota (Besides Mount Rushmore)
If you're planning the requisite road trip across the U.S. (my family took ours in a minivan 17 years ago), add one more stop on your tour of Americana: the geographical center of the country. Eight miles
Currently, the marker is inaccessible, as it's located on private property in the middle of a barbed-wired pasture. Town leaders raised enough money to move the official center into town, and plan to place a 21-by-40 foot compass rose monument there. Belle Fourche is already considered the center of the nation city, so moving the geographical center shouldn't be cheating ... too much.
Filed under: History, North America, United States
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 7)
Keith B Aug 16th 2007 10:04PM
Anybody know what is considered the center of the continental United States?
Justin Glow Aug 16th 2007 4:55PM
Keith, not sure but Google centers their map in a remote field in southwest Kansas.
http://www.wired.com/techbiz/it/news/2006/02/70227
Lillian Aug 19th 2007 2:09PM
Keith....try Lebanon, KS
Hope that answers your question.
Bye
Ainsley Aug 19th 2007 2:22PM
Well, it's probably not true, but I was born and bred in Oklahoma and I will continue to fervently believe (as does everyone else in Oklahoma) that we are the center!!!
JT Aug 19th 2007 2:32PM
This is so bogus. What if the 51st state were in Arctica? Would that put the geo-center of the continental US in Canada? Yes, it would. The real geo-center of the continental US (which includes all contiguous states) is 280 miles north and west of Tulsa, OK.
Dimples Aug 22nd 2007 5:58PM
Who cares.
algae Aug 19th 2007 2:48PM
Just to be accurate - there is no place called 'Arctica' - it is simply referred to as 'the Arctic'. Antartica is a continent and perhaps that is the reason for the final 'a'. The North Pole lies under a sea.
carole Aug 19th 2007 2:48PM
How about Smith Center Kansas-they claim the "center" and even have it well marked by a statue of liberty replica in copper paint.
chuck Aug 19th 2007 3:06PM
Artica #5? That's the state in which I want to reside. :-)
RICHARD QUILLIAM Aug 19th 2007 2:53PM
I ALWAYS HEARD THE CENTER OF THE U.S. IS
CENTRALIA, MISSOURI.
Vea Conner Aug 19th 2007 2:54PM
Hmm! I thought I was bad at direction! You must take hiway 85 NORTH of Belle Fourche to reach the center of the US marker, unless they moved it in the past few years. That's our old stomping grounds.
pcenkwiet Aug 19th 2007 6:03PM
TYPICALLY american:includes MANduhtorie crude comments (#6)
bill Aug 19th 2007 3:01PM
where does everyone get this idea that Oklahoma and kansas are the centers of the country.
I'll Never Have Paris Aug 19th 2007 2:56PM
I'm not sure about the country, but Paris Hilton believes the entire universe centers around her...
harry Aug 19th 2007 2:57PM
Well, I think you're all wrong. The center of the US is 6 miles west of New Brunswick in the state of New Jersey. I also think the Earth is the center of the universe
Vivi Aug 19th 2007 2:58PM
You can place the center anywhere you like. I'm not moving because of it.
Bill Shoulders Aug 19th 2007 3:02PM
You are all a bunch of idots...who cares.
Michele Beaver Aug 19th 2007 3:05PM
Well, that may be the center,but Texas is the BIGGEST. And you can't count Alaska. If the ICE melted,what would be left of it? From Michele, near the Johnson Space Center(a proud Texan)
Steve Aug 19th 2007 3:06PM
I believe some of you may be a little self centered. lol....
MARY Aug 19th 2007 3:23PM
ANOTHER REASON TO VISIT SOUTH DAKOTA IS THE BLACK HILLS AND DEADWOOD. NOT ONLY IS THERE GAMBLING BUT THE HISTORY OF THE TOWN (1890) IS GREAT. THE ARCHITECTURE OF THE BUILDINGS IS GREAT AND IT IS IN A CANYON SO TO SPEAK. THE DEAR ON THE CLIFFS IS SPECTACULAR AND IN AUGUST THEY HAVE THE STURGEON BIKER RUN. IT IS JUST A NICE SMALL TOWN IN THE BLACK HILLS.