To your left is the hemisphere of the Atlantic, the hemisphere of Europe and Africa, of Roman numerals and Indian script, of the Silk Road and the rising sun.

To your right is the hemisphere of the Pacific and the American West, the hemisphere of Japan and China, of calligraphy and rocketry, of towering volcanoes and the starry night.

Beneath your feet is the line that divides the two.

From 1848 to 1884, the United States of America marked the center of its world at this line. Before it accepted the Meridian at Greenwich, England, as the “Prime Meridian,” the United States separated the world into eastern and western hemispheres along the American Meridian, a line that originated at the old U.S. Naval Observatory and passed through this point.

This Meridian was used to survey the western states, and the straight borders of those states are measured in integral degrees from this point.

Wyoming Eastern Border: 29 Degrees (Am.) West

Western Border: 36 Degrees (Am.) West

Colorado Eastern Border:27 Degrees (Am.) West

Western Border: 34 Degrees (Am.) West

Oregon Eastern Border: 42 Degrees (Am.) West

Also borders of Arizona, California, Idaho, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North and South Dakota, Utah, and Washington.

The

George

Washington

University

Washington, DC

Stephen Joel Trachtenberg

President

June 2000

Meridian

American Eastern Hemisphere + American Western Hemisphere

Marker is at the intersection of 24th Street, NW and H Street, NW, on the left when traveling south on 24th Street, NW.

Courtesy hmdb.org

Credits and Sources: