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. 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.(1)
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?