Obscure American history trivia

Coincidentally, the geographic center of North America is in Center, ND.

New Calculations Reposition the Geographical Center of North America | Smart News| Smithsonian Magazine

 

None of Tennessee's four borders are where they are supposed to be.
North and South are off because of human error and equipment of the day.
East is off because of human laziness.
West is altered by Mother Nature.

 

If you look at the borders along the Mississippi River, they're all a mess. Because of the way the river has changed course and cut off bits and pieces of land here and there, there are all kinds of islands and peninsulas on the eastern side of the river that belong to states on the west side, and vice versa. I guess the borders were set when the river was where it was in 1800 or whenever, and most of the states haven't bothered to update them.

 

Point Roberts, WA says hold my beer.

 

That's correct. The border was set as the middle of the channel at the time. Since then, you have the New Madrid earthquake in 1811 that altered the flow of the river and just the general shift of the river over time. Heck, that little loop where Tenn/Ky/Mo meet belongs to Kentucky, but you'd have to leave that state and go though Tenn. to get there.

 

You have to drive through a little piece of Iowa to get from the Omaha airport to downtown Omaha.

 

You have to drive through Canada to get to South Detroit. -- Journey

 

The Cincinnati airport is in Kentucky.

 

How can it be possible that the geographic center of the US is the same asNorth America?

 

Apparently the first is in South Dakota; the second in North.

 

I thought the geographic center of the U.S. was in Kansas? Can't recall the name of the town off the top of my head, but I remember going there and seeing a marker and a little Chapel next to it.