There is the geographic center of the continental United States, and the city that holds the title is Lebanon, Kansas. The actual center is located on a farm that is about 3 miles from Lebanon Kansas, but apparently the city limits extend beyond those areas that are heavily populated by humans.
Lebanon has a population of 303, 153 female and 150 male. The median age is 52. There are 255 over the age of 18, 203 over the age of 25, 102 over the age of 65 and 15 under the age of 5. The race is 99.0 percent White, with no African Americans or Asians. There is one Native American, 2 of mixed race and 4 of Hispanic, any race. It is safe to say that Lebanon, Kansas is overwhelmingly White and adult.
171 of Lebanon’s natives graduated High School and 13 have a bachelors degree or higher. 86 people aged 5 or older are disabled. 76 percent of the men are married right now, and 75 percent of the women are married. Median income is 23 to 28 thousand dollars. Per capita income is 12,245. 10 percent of Lebanon residents are at poverty level.
105 residents own and occupy their single family homes. The homes have a median value of 10,000 dollars.
Lebanon is part of Smith County, Kansas and is in the North Central part of the state at 39° 48′ 38″ N, 98° 33′ 22″ W
(39.810556, -98.556111). Elevation is 1,844 feet and area is .3 miles.
Directions are to take US Highway 281 North one mile, then turn West and go one mile on K191. There is a marker that sits on what used to be a hog farm. The marker was erected in April of 1940. Lebanon was apparently settled in the late 1800’s
Historically, however, the rate of error was estimated to be 20 miles or more, with several other cities attempting to lay claim to the tile of center most city in the continental US. In fact, the Geodetic Survey stopped dealing with attempts to find any geographical centers in the late 1990s because it been determined to be impossible to make such determinations with sufficient accuracy. The head mathematician of the US Coast and Geodetic survey recommended abandoning the process entirely!
Otherwise, there is not much to see or do in Lebanon, Kansas, even according to Kansastravel.org. The land is not the most fertile, as there is apparently not much water, and Lebanon, one town of many with that biblical name, is just another decaying great plains town.
Hong Euntaek, “An Orange Desert in the Great Plains”, 2005
US Census Bureau, “Lebanon, Kansas”
Wikipedia, “Lebanon, Kansas”
