June 23, 2011
“The middle, it is generally agreed, is the right place to be."- Time Magazine essay, July 1, 1974.
To the 100 residents of Plato, Missouri, the middle is exactly the right place to be. It's home, granted, but it is a lot more than that now.
According to the 2010 Census Bureau, Plato is the new center of population--the exact point at which an imaginary, flat, weightless and rigid map of the United States would balance perfectly.
Perfectly, that is, if everyone counted in the 2010 Census weighed the same and the population members (that's us) are represented as the points of equal mass.
The U.S. Census Bureau uses the above 'centroid definition', meaning the center of gravity, to achieve the mean center.
I guess I thought the population center simply meant numbers of people not their mass and never paid much attention to changes in population demographics.
But every 10 years when the census numbers are tabulated, we hear a lot about population shift, and we begin paying attention.
I suspect, like many of us, I am more familiar with the geographic center of the country than the population center. For the record, that is situated in the center of the 48 contiguous states in Lebanon County, Kansas.
People drive to that specific spot each year from all over the country on their summer vacations just to take a picture.
That spot doesn't move.
However, the population center does.
To give you an idea of how the U.S. population center has shifted south and west over time, consider that the first census taken in 1790 had the mean population center pinpointed near Chestertown, Maryland.
The new one in Plato, Missouri, is located precisely 2.7 miles northeast of the town in Texas County.
Prior to Plato receiving this distinction, three other counties in Missouri were also designated as the population center of the country. In 1980, the center was in Jefferson County, ¼ mile west of DeSoto; in 1990 in Crawford County, 9.7 miles southeast of Steelville; and in 2000, in Phelps County, 2.8 miles east of Edgar Springs.
Meanwhile in Plato, residents are starting to see an influx of curious travelers and photo takers, especially since May when the U.S. Census Bureau unveiled the official monument marking the spot.
Jason Jenkins wrote a piece in the June issue of "Rural Missouri" saying that since the Census Bureau announced the new distinction, "there's been a buzz around Plato". Jenkins writes that Bob Biram, board chairman of the Village of Plato and lifelong resident, remarked, "we've been kind of overwhelmed with all the news media."
Since 1874 when Plato was first settled, Jenkins says the town has gone about its business with little to no fanfare:
"No one truly world-famous has come out of Plato; no one infamous either...The bank was robbed a few years ago. That made the news, as did the boys' baseball team winning the state championship in 2005. But otherwise, while Plato was on the map, it was off the radar."
Not any more.
Lots of folks, it seems, are asking questions about Plato.
In fact, according to Jenkins, when visitors ask Bob Biram, chairman of the town's board of alderman, what it's like living in the middle of nowhere, Bob has a ready answer these days.
"Some have asked what it's like to live in the middle of nowhere, and I tell them, we live in the middle of everywhere!"
Road trip!
