"Fremont is as good a Center of the Universe as any..."
November 15, 2022 10:06 AM   Subscribe

Many places claim to be the Center of the Universe, places like Tulsa, Seattle and Wallace, Idaho.

When asked for confirmation of this "fact" the usual retort is "Prove that it isn't." It's true that according to modern cosmology, the universe does not have a center but that doesn't keep places from claiming it. Edwin Hubble stated in 1936:
There must be no favoured location in the Universe, no centre, no boundary; all must see the Universe alike. And, in order to ensure this situation, the cosmologist postulates spatial isotropy and spatial homogeneity, which is his way of stating that the Universe must be pretty much alike everywhere and in all directions."
That said there are ways to determine more modest centers such as the center of the Earth's landmass which is thought to lie in Turkey, or the barycenter (the gravitational center, explainer) of the Earth/Moon system which moves but lies under the Earth's surface. Similarly the Earth's population center lies somewhere near Almaty, Kazakhstan and the US's population center was in Wright County, Missouri in 2020, continually shifting westward since first determined to be in Kent County, Maryland in 1790.

The USGS used to determine the geographic centers of US states using a piece of string. Now it uses computers and a slightly different set of calculations and cautions that its measurements are only approximate. You can look up the geographical center of your country (and see some photos) on Wikipedia.
posted by jessamyn (38 comments total) 13 users marked this as a favorite
 
I've been to the Center of the Universe in Tulsa. It's a fun acoustic effect, located in a downtown area they've tried really hard to revive. I would definitely recommend that visitors check it out.

There are many small local businesses
near there, breathing life into a downtown with a lot of historical planning problems. Way, way too much car parking, no support for bikes, and all locked in by highways.
Still, what they've done is a huge improvement on what it was growing up in the 80's. They've even got a vibrant LGBTQ center (it would be better if it hadn't gotten shot up at one point!).
Tulsa has a lot of work to do if it actually wants to be the Center of the Universe (at least in the Bible Belt), but there are good people trying.
posted by Flight Hardware, do not touch at 10:20 AM on November 15, 2022 [4 favorites]


Missing is the Yankee Candle flagship store in Deerfield, Ma which bills it self as the "Scenter of the Universe" (I'll show myself out)
posted by Captain_Science at 10:21 AM on November 15, 2022 [14 favorites]


Based purely on the number of weirdos and/or naked people I've met in Fremont, they probably can have the title.
posted by loquacious at 10:23 AM on November 15, 2022


I used to live in Fremont and now I live in a place that bills itself as the geographic center of Vermont (it's close to the area designated in the Wikipedia list) but I don't think there are a lot of towns clamoring for the title.
posted by jessamyn at 10:24 AM on November 15, 2022 [1 favorite]


I don't think there are a lot of towns clamoring for the title.

Yeah, this is wise. Because this is how you get lost and stranded hitch hikers and guide editors hanging around.
posted by loquacious at 10:30 AM on November 15, 2022


I thought it was in Albuquerque.
posted by wanderingmind at 10:31 AM on November 15, 2022


Every Chicagoan knows the center of the universe is the corner of State and Madison
posted by crazy_yeti at 10:36 AM on November 15, 2022 [1 favorite]


Ok, which Fremont?
posted by mbo at 10:40 AM on November 15, 2022 [3 favorites]


The one I live in, naturally.
posted by caphector at 10:45 AM on November 15, 2022 [1 favorite]


It's actually in Ashland, Virginia.
posted by emelenjr at 10:55 AM on November 15, 2022 [1 favorite]


guess I should spend more time in Fremont...
posted by supermedusa at 11:06 AM on November 15, 2022 [1 favorite]


I have stayed in that Ashland RV park next to the CotU brewery a few times. It's hard to beat the walkability-to-beer ratio. Though I gotta say it's possible your personal frame of reference might take on a rotational component if you stay too long...
posted by credulous at 11:09 AM on November 15, 2022 [1 favorite]


Fremont is the home of Hurricane Electric, a snazzy and not-evil network provider, so I'll accept it
posted by infinitewindow at 11:17 AM on November 15, 2022 [1 favorite]


I grew up in Fremont, thus making it the center of the universe. Fremont in CA.
posted by njohnson23 at 11:18 AM on November 15, 2022 [1 favorite]


Interesting that none of the locations mentioned are coincidental with the center of the world.
posted by LionIndex at 11:22 AM on November 15, 2022 [1 favorite]


I miss 2000s Fremont, which was still an amiable, hippyish place . Lost a lot of charm since then with pretty much everything distributive about it shut down.
posted by Artw at 11:28 AM on November 15, 2022 [1 favorite]


I thought it was Springfield...
posted by Chuffy at 1:03 PM on November 15, 2022


OMG maybe I live in one of jessamyn's old pads? One can only imagine.....
posted by tristeza at 3:13 PM on November 15, 2022


Come back and talk to me once you've got an omphalos.
posted by Nerd of the North at 3:27 PM on November 15, 2022 [2 favorites]


OMG maybe I live in one of jessamyn's old pads?

I lived in that little brick apartment building at the intersection of Fremont and 39th.
posted by jessamyn at 3:55 PM on November 15, 2022 [1 favorite]


I thought you lived in a lake?
posted by pompomtom at 3:58 PM on November 15, 2022


Does a high number of nudists imply the center of the universe on the grounds that clothing is farther from the center of your body than your skin is?
posted by rickw at 4:02 PM on November 15, 2022


Copetown was the hub of the universe, not sure if it still is.
posted by ovvl at 4:58 PM on November 15, 2022


The actual Centre of the Universe, verified by Tibetan monks and First Nations, lies in British Columbia just off the Deadman-Vidette road on the western edge of the Bonaparte plateau of the Pacific Plate.
posted by Mitheral at 5:00 PM on November 15, 2022


I don't think Fremont (Seattle) has a high number of nudists. What they have, is the Fremont Solstice Parade, which does include the nude bicyclists portion.

Was cancelled for a few years due to complaints, but then came back pre-COVID. Haven't gone since then, but, back in the day, there were lots of nude cyclists. But have not seen a nudist strolling around Fremont in 25 years of living nearby.

Maybe they get swallowed up by the troll, or the giant Lenin statue has scared them off...
posted by Windopaene at 5:07 PM on November 15, 2022 [1 favorite]


As previously stated, it is Pleasant Hill, Ohio.
posted by charred husk at 7:27 PM on November 15, 2022


boston: hub of th' univaas
posted by not_on_display at 8:40 PM on November 15, 2022


Fremont is the hometown of Gerber, so naturally its the center of the universe... our universe
posted by JoeXIII007 at 8:47 PM on November 15, 2022 [1 favorite]


Mathematically speaking, the center of the universe seems like it would be a set that probably contains Erdős, Hilbert, Noether, and a few others. But definitely Erdős for multiple definitions of “commutes with”.
posted by eviemath at 4:55 AM on November 16, 2022


I lived in that little brick apartment building at the intersection of Fremont and 39th

Huh. I sublet an apartment just across the street from there fir a couple of months in 2005.
posted by Artw at 8:18 AM on November 16, 2022


I was told it's Kevin Bacon.
posted by cmfletcher at 11:44 AM on November 16, 2022


Look man, everybody knows that the real center of the universe is Davis Market in Murfreesboro, TN.

And yeah, the curse is real but so is the cure.
posted by teleri025 at 11:49 AM on November 16, 2022


The Center Universe is Uranus because hackey word play is the foundation of all humor and it clear this universe is a joke.
posted by interogative mood at 1:14 PM on November 16, 2022 [1 favorite]


What other places have made less whimsical claims to be the center of everything (or at least the earth)?

中國, certainly. Or the Mediterranean.

(When I was little, I thought Tolkein's Middle Earth was underground.)
posted by kurumi at 3:38 PM on November 16, 2022


Britain probably the stupidest claim.
posted by Artw at 3:42 PM on November 16, 2022


Pardon, but Independence, Missouri is well known as the center of the universe. There are a good dozen religious factions fighting over a few acres of ground there, so it must be true . . .
posted by flug at 8:21 PM on November 16, 2022


I used to drive by a store that called itself "the foam center of the universe". I was always intrigued by the possibility that the universe had a center and that it was filled with foam.
posted by Metacircular at 6:20 PM on November 17, 2022


Britain probably the stupidest claim.

I'm fairly sure that the "center" of the universe is in North America.
posted by pompomtom at 3:46 AM on November 23, 2022


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