By Randy Dudley
Congratulations Plato, Missouri! According to the U. S. Census Bureau, Plato is now the population center for the entire United States.
Village Clerk Barbara Pinkston is excited about the attention this announcement has brought to her community. “We have had many phone calls from all over and several members of the media here in town, “ says Pinkston.
A commemoration ceremony will be held toward the end of April, with a plaque set in native Missouri stone to be unveiled. The plaque will either be set in Missouri Marble or “the kind of rock they have at Elephant Rock State Park,” added Pinkston. Mrs. Pinkston said the details of the ceremony would be released in the next few days.
The population center of the United States has been in the Midwest since the 1860’s, and has been moving steadily westward since then. Experts predict the population center will move on into Arkansas or Oklahoma by the 2050 Census.
