The Center Moves North and West

USGS's Craig Neidig has sent us a link to a story on NPR's Morning Edition yesterday about the designation of a new spot as the "official geographic center of the country."

The story tells about how Belle Fourche, in South Dakota, celebrated its designation as the center of the nation with the unveiling of a new monument at the "actual" center point.


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The center of the 48 continental states had been found to be in Kansas. When Alaska entered the Union, the center of the 49 states moved north to a spot northeast of Belle Fourche. Factoring-in Hawaii shifted the center west by about six miles. That's the spot that the good citizens of that part of Butte County are marking this summer.

Update (and Mea Culpa): A sharp-eyed (and clear-thinking) anonymous commenter spotted my error this morning. I had mistakenly placed Belle Fourche in North Dakota instead of South Dakota. Trying to edit a post with this fancy Google Maps embed-thingy locked up the Blogger editor, though. So I have had to recreate (correct) and re-post. Thus, the correcting comment is lost to the ages. My gratitude to my unknown editor remains.