Population Center of the USA
By Bret Burquest
According to the 2000 Census, the new center of population
of the USA
is a point three miles east of Edgar
Springs,
Missouri.
This is the spot where there are just as many people north as south, and as
many people east as west.
Located some 100 miles southwest of St.
Louis, on the edge of the Mark
Twain
National Forest,
Edgar
Springs
has a population of 190. It has a café, grocery store, convenience mart, feed
store, lumber store, car wash, beauty shop and four churches.
There’s not much to do in Edgar
Springs,
except wash your car and go to church.
The USA
center of population has been steadily moving west and south since it was first
introduced in 1790 where it was then pinpointed 23 miles east of Baltimore.
Over the years, it has been located in West
Virginia, Ohio,
Indiana,
Illinois
and Missouri.
In 1990, Steelville,
Missouri,
over 800 miles from Baltimore,
had the honor. Ten years later, it drifted another 32 miles west and 12 miles
south to Edgar
Springs.
Based on the last 10 years, the center of population has
been traveling at a speed of 3.4176 miles per year or about two feet per hour. This
is slightly faster than the U.S. Congress moves when in session.
The west-southwest drift of the center of population is no great
surprise.
In 1950, Phoenix had a population of about 40,000. Today, It’s well over a million.
California had a population of 10 million in 1950. In 2000, it
reached 35 million. During those forty years, the population of California increased by approximately 1,370 people per day.
That’s a lot of Ryder trucks heading one-way.
If this west-southwest drift of the USA
population center continues on its present course, in a few years it should hit
Tulsa,
Oklahoma,
about the same time gasoline hits $99 per gallon.
By the way, the exact Center of the Universe at any given
moment is wherever I'm standing at the time.
***
Bret Burquest is an award-winning
columnist and author of four novels. Contact bret@centurytel.net
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