From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The "incorporated" U.S. Territory of Palmyra Island should be included

The versions in Wikipedia include the centre of the contiguous 48 United States, and the centre of the whole country including Hawaii and Alaska. These are still only partial, because of an American Supreme Court legal case Downes v. Bidwell, one of the so-called Insular Cases. That case defined what is considered to be part of the U.S.A. by defining "incorporated" and "unincorporated" American territories. The incorporated ones are part of the country, but the unincorporated ones merely "appertain" to the country but are not part of it. Formerly there were several incorporated territories like the Arizona Territory, but now almost all American possessions are "unincorporated", like Guam, American Samoa, Navassa Island, etc., and places like Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba are technically just leased. Since Hawaii became an American state in 1959, there is (apart from the District of Columbia) one remaining American "incorporated" territory, the United States Territory of Palmyra Island. It seems that the definitive geographic centre of the United States of America should be based on including the Territory of Palmyra Island in the calculation. 99.118.152.133 ( talk) 16:34, 29 March 2017 (UTC) reply

Geographic Centers

The geographic center of Wyoming contains the next section. LukeDaDiggityDog ( talk) 14:45, 17 April 2017 (UTC) reply

Questionable Source

The source for the modern list of centers is a single geographer's opinion on their own method in calculating and determining the locations. No other expert considers the center for New York as mentioned in Augusta, NY to be the center of New York, just for one example. Jamesville, Vernon and Pratts Hollow are the three generally accepted locations in contention for the "title." Dnrothx ( talk) 13:53, 18 September 2023 (UTC) reply