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Seems like a fairly innocuous question. Is the Commonwealth's
center the 0-mile marker located on the grounds of the
State Capital the center? Or, as many Richmonders believe,
is it located in the Bull and Bear at One James Center?
Tidewater residents might contend that the true nexus
is the Harbor Club in Norfolk. Northern Virginians might
look to the Tower Club in the Tysons area, which bills
itself as “the center of gravity” for the
region. While these waterholes may lay claim to being
the Axes of Ego in Virginia, where is the geographical
center?
I've always thought of the center as a location near
Farmville, but I did some digging to make sure. It turns
out that there is no commonly recognized definition
of "geographical center." One definition is
the point where an imaginary, flat and rigid map of
the Commonwealth would balance an equal amount of land
on all sides. By that criteria, Virginia’s center
is indeed about 20 miles north of Farmville. A Web
source, describing access to the Carter Taylor Trail
in the Appomattox-Buckingham State Forest, makes note
of a marker designating the spot near the intersection
of U.S. 60 and VA 24 in Buckingham County.
An alternative definition is center of population. Again,
imagine the point where a floating, rigid weightless
Commonwealth would balance if all its residents were
the same weight. In 1950 the U.S. Census designated
the population center of Virginia to be near... Farmville.
The county seat of Prince Edward County maintained this
distinction for a decade until population growth pushed
the center north and east to Powhatan County in 1960
and 1970. By 2000, the population center had migrated
to three miles north of Maidens in Goochland County,
according to 2002 story in the Free-Lance Star.
Farmville still could be considered the Commonwealth’s
center if you fudge a little. After all, at least five
counties in the area promote themselves as “near
the geographic center of Virginia.”
A case could be made that Farmville also stands at the
center of Virginia history. The town was founded in
1798, and it boasts boasts Hampden-Sydney College, established
in 1776, and Longwood University, set up in 1839 as
Farmville Female Seminary, the first state teacher training
college in Virginia. At nearby Sailor’s Creek,
the last major battle of the Civil War took place. In
1951 student strike at Moton High School that paved
the way for school desegregation in the U.S.
Situated equidistant from Richmond and Lynchburg, Farmville
is a Sunday day-trip destination for those visiting
the many warehouses of the unique Green Front Furniture
enterprise; exhibits at the Longwood Center for the
Visual Arts; or the Robert Russa Moton Museum commemorating
the student strike.
Lest I sound too much like a tour guide, here’s
what a town near Virginia’s center looks like.
According to city-data.com,
as of 2000, its population was 6,845. The median resident
age is 22.4 years (probably due to those college kids);
the median household income is $26,343 and the median
house value is $96,000. Thirty-five percent of the population
is married; 77.3 percent of those over 25 have a high
school diploma or higher; and 29.2 percent have a bachelor’s
degree or higher.
But the town is much more than facts and figures. Kathryn
Orth, a Richmond Times-Dispatch staff writer who covers
Farmville, regularly reports on life at Virginia’s
center. In her September 28 column, she reported on
the town’s new vistas, created when the Main Street
Mall, destroyed by a fire in July, was torn down the
day before hurricane Isabel hit. The gap in the buildings
along Main Street, she wrote, allowed unobstructed views
of Ed’s Family Dry Cleaners on one side and a
new view of Longwood University up High Street on another.
Orth titled her piece “Farmville’s Residents
Can See Their Town in New Directions.” While she
was referring to physical changes in her town, perhaps
the movers and shakers seeking new directions in Virginia’s
social and political “centers” need to search
for the Commonwealth’s actual core in places like
Farmville.
Next time we fearlessly answer this question: What happened
to the moustache of former Governor Douglas Wilder?
October 20, 2003
Nice & Curious
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