Where is the Center of North America?

Photo by James Jordan

North Dakota is not among most people’s favorite vacation spots. It is the least visited state in the contiguous 48 states in America, according to government statistics.

So why am I taking a week or so to explore this remote state? Because it is there? Maybe.

After a couple of weeks exploring the Dakotas, there will be only eight states left for me to visit.

Admittedly, it does not have much that would make people want to visit. There are only eight cities with over 10,000 people, and the biggest city is Fargo, at 137,000. There are a lot of tiny towns in remote areas. Most of the state is flat farmland. There are the badlands in the west that have some cool scenery.

One cool thing I found was the small town of Rugby, which claims to be the geographical center of the Americas — which includes Canada and Mexico.

In 1931, the town claimed the title and erected the marker pictured above to commemorate the fact. It was based on looking at a map.

Since then, there has been some debate on where the geographical center really is, but everyone agrees it is in North Dakota.

Some time after that, the owner of a bar in Robinson, N.D. decided it was the actual center. It’s about 100 miles southwest of Rugby. The bar owner admitted to having some help from “a few beers.” But they did manage to get the title trademarked, so they did legally own the title.

Even later on, a college professor took a crack at finding the center, using a fancy algorithm he had created. He also took into consideration the curvature of the Earth, which the other two did not. His calculations declared the center to be in a town called Center, also in North Dakota.

The bar in Robinson gave the title back to Rugby, and no one it seemed, really cared about the one in Center. All is right with the world, the geographical center is back in Rugby where it claims to be.

Rugby has 2,500 people, and the other two have 500 or fewer so Rugby may be the best place for the marker.