By Definition: The Middle of Nowhere

There is, by definition, a town in middle of nowhere here in the continental U.S.

Turns out the town is in Montana.

First off, we have to establish the metric for determining nowhere and then find the center point.

Okay, it’s a bit easier than that.

The Washington Post wanted to find the small town in the continental U.S. located the farthest, in any direction, from any metropolitan area.  A metropolitan area being defined as a city with a population of more than 75,000 people.

Glasgow, Montana, population 3,300, is the very town they were seeking.

The nearest city to Glasgow is Billings, Montana.  Billings is 277 miles away.  A drive of well over 4 hours is required to reach one place from the other.

If the distance from cities is not enough to give you the impression of being in the middle of nowhere, there is also an abandoned Airforce Base near Glasgow.  The base operated during the height of the Cold War, but was utterly abandoned in 1976.   

I previously read where Circle, Montana, was determined as the town farthest from the nearest Starbucks of any town in the continentals U. S.  From Circle, you need to drive 192 miles in one direction to reach the nearest Starbucks.

Both of these towns occupy country we often refer to as the Big Open—the last of the Great Plains flexing flat belly muscles across Eastern Montana.

The most important thing to know about these two towns is that the folks in both places feel pretty good about living in the middle of nowhere.  They can make their own coffee and they have no immediate need for traffic.

--Mitchell Hegman