Meridian Avenue

[W. Gray]

I wonder if anyone ever gave any thought to the street in Wichita with the name Meridian Avenue.

That street has major significance to Elk Countians and other Kansans.

All ranges in Elk County and Kansas measure from that avenue.

Actually, not measured from the avenue but from the Sixth Principal Meridian along which the avenue sits.

Kansas has two benchmarks from which ranges and survey townships are measured.

The first benchmark is the imaginary world circling Fortieth Parallel North Latitude along which the north Kansas border sits. The second is the equally imaginary Sixth Principal Meridian which bisects the Fortieth Parallel north of Mahaska, Kansas, goes south through Wichita and then on to the South Pole. There is a manhole cover in the middle of a section road north of Mahaska. The manhole contains the survey marker put there in 1855 (replaced several times however).

All Kansas ranges east of the Sixth Principal Meridian are chronologically numbered east. All Kansas ranges west of the Sixth Principal Meridian are numbered west. All survey townships in Kansas are numbered chronologically from the Fortieth Parallel. Survey townships in Kansas are labeled South. Whereas, survey townships in Nebraska are labeled North.

Very few urban folks know what a range is let alone a township and section or know the difference between a survey township and a municipal township.

[Marcia Moore]

I knew this!  Didn't learn it though until I started working on the area's history.  My husband explained it to me.  It is interesting.

[flo]

When I worked in an attorney's office, I typed lots and lots of real estate descriptions.  Naturally at the end of each description was the section, township, range and "East of the 6th Principal Meridian" - never knew till now where (or what) that principal meridian was.  Learn something new every day.  Thanks for the info.

[Wilma]

I, too, typed lots and lots of land descriptions and kind of knew what Meridian meant, but it wasn't until we moved to Sedgwick County that I realized just where it was and why that street was named Meridian.  We lived 3/4 of a mile east of Meridian Ave.  Used it quite a bit.

[Diane Amberg]

 I knew. Daddy told me when we were studying geography in school many years ago. That's also how I found out where the exact center of the country was at that time. That's very interesting. Thanks for explaining the details that I didn't know.  

[Janet Harrington]

I kind of knew this, also.  However; thank you, Waldo, for explaining it so clearly.

[lsmith]

I live just a block west of Meridian. Just give me a call and I'll hold the tape.

[W. Gray]

Ismith, were you aware of the significance of Meridian Avenue?

A few years ago, when I became aware Ranges were measured in multiples of six miles from the 6th Principal Meridian, I used Delorme Maps to measure a straight line back from the west edge of one of the Elk County Ranges and my cursor landed on Meridian Avenue.

I lived in the Wichita area for a few years back in the 70s and had no clue.

I sent an Email to a local government office in Wichita to try to confirm Meridian Avenue was on the 6th Principal Meridian.

I cannot remember which office it was but the person on the other end said they would look into it and get back with me. A couple days later I received a response "Yes, we all learned something new."

[lsmith]

No I wasn't but I think it's cool.