Geographic Center of the Contiguous United States

You are standing at the middle of America, or close to it. In nineteen eighteen, the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey set out to find the center of the forty eight states, and they did it with a surprisingly simple trick. They cut the outline of the country out of stiff cardboard and balanced it on a pin until it sat level. The point of balance landed here in north central Kansas, a few miles northwest of the little town of Lebanon.

The citizens of Lebanon built a small stone monument and unveiled it on June twenty ninth, nineteen forty one. They added a tiny chapel that seats only about six people, a picnic shelter, and a guest book. Surveyors will tell you the true balance point sits a short distance away on private farmland, but this quiet roadside spot has carried the honor for generations.