SMITH CENTER

city, seat of Smith County, northern Kansas, U.S., 85 mi (137 km) northwest of Salina. It was founded in 1871 by L.T. Reese with the aim of making it the county seat (the county had been named after Maj. J. Nelson Smith, who was killed in a Civil War battle at Little Blue, Mo. [Oct. 23, 1864]). The traditional geographic centre of the contiguous United States (3950 N, 9835 W), marked by a stone pylon, is 11 miles (18 km) east-northeast of Smith Center. The homestead cabin of Brewster Higley, where he wrote (1873) the lyrics of the well-known song Home on the Range, is northwest. The city has a grain and livestock economy. Inc. 1886. Pop. (1990) 2,016.