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All the United States Wisconsin Athens 45 X 90 Geographical Marker

45 X 90 Geographical Marker

The center of the only hemisphere that awards visitors with a commemorative coin.

Athens, Wisconsin

Added By
Michelle Enemark
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CAPTION
Geological (it should be Geographical) Marker   Michelle Enemark
Misplaced Marker Disclaimer   Michelle Enemark
Looking across the private corn field toward the actual 45 X 90 spot   Michelle Enemark
Standing in the corn field at the actual 45 x 90 spot   Michelle Enemark
Signing the 45 x 90 Club Book   Michelle Enemark
Official 45 x 90 Club Member Coin   Michelle Enemark
Backside of the 45 x 90 Club Member Coin   Michelle Enemark
The sign that is currently up for the marker.   widirt / Atlas Obscura User
Standding with the survey stake at the actual intersection of 45x90.   widirt / Atlas Obscura User
09/24/2007 - GPS showing lat/long   spiff88 / Atlas Obscura User
45x90!   jessicahawk / Atlas Obscura User
  meganleighscott / Atlas Obscura User
  meganleighscott / Atlas Obscura User
  iolson1220 / Atlas Obscura User
  iolson1220 / Atlas Obscura User
  iolson1220 / Atlas Obscura User
  iolson1220 / Atlas Obscura User
  kamahon / Atlas Obscura User
Everybody’s curious.   DebG / Atlas Obscura User
  calahanriley / Atlas Obscura User
Updated sign - previous version was ‘Geological Marker’ which was an incorrect term.   mkprator / Atlas Obscura User
  michaelnhartman / Atlas Obscura User
May 13, 2023   klasicm / Atlas Obscura User
Misplaced marker on ground.   dkfriesen.com
  Sara Anunson / Atlas Obscura User
  Sara Anunson / Atlas Obscura User
  Sara Anunson / Atlas Obscura User
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About

Tracing the earth are invisible lines. An infinitely fine mesh wrapping around the entire globe.

For many years these perfect pathways, this hidden overlay, was of interest mainly to the sailors, explorers, and cartographers who bet their lives on them. Today we all have access to this ghostly grid via our phones, car navigation systems, and Google Maps. The twin brothers of latitude and longitude have become an intimate part of our lives, guiding us to and from our homes, and marking each step we take with a new number, each inch we shuffle down to, with thirteen figures after the decimal point, an atomic level of specificity.

So what happens at the four magical spots that lie directly in between these most important of geographical ley lines? Stuck halfway between the geographical poles, the equator, the Prime Meridian, and the 180th meridian, what confluence of energy wells up from the Earth in the four corners of the earth found at exactly 45 degrees latitude, 90 degrees longitude? In Poniatowski, Wisconsin something kind of magical happens.

After winding down some country roads, past the junkyard with its pile of 1950s rusting car bodies, and avoiding the horses and buggies used by the Amish in the area, you find yourself in front of a painted brown wooden sign with yellow text that reads:

Geological Marker

This spot in section 14, in the Town of Rietbrock Marathon County is the exact center of the Northern half of the Western Hemisphere. It is here that the 90th Meridian of Longitude bisects the 45th Parallel of Latitude meaning it is exactly halfway between the North Pole and the Equator and is a quarter of the way around Earth from Greenwich, England.

Marathon County Park Commision

While it isn't much to look at, Wisconsin's 45x90 is only one of two of these spots found on land – the others are in the Pacific and Indian oceans – and of the two found on land, it is the only one that is marked as such. (Though, embarrassingly, it is marked incorrectly as a Geological Marker, when it should read Geographical.) The other 45x90 found on land, in rural China, is difficult to get to and it does not currently have a marker noting its significance.

Today is easy to look down at your GPS unit and find out just exactly where on the invisible grid you stand, but in 1963 when owner of Gesicki's General Store and Tavern John Gesicki began researching the invisible point, it wasn't quite so easy. It took him some "five years to piece together the correct maps to pinpoint the exact center of the Northwest Hemisphere." He then petitioned the U.S. Geological Survey to mark the exact spot.

The problem, however, was that the real 45x90 was on private farm property and away from the road. So the best place for the marker was some 1063 feet away from the actual 45x90 spot, which is an unmarked piece of dirt in the middle of a soybean field. 

In 2017, an agreement was made with the farm owners who offered an easement to Marathon County. The marker is now in the correct location, with a packed gravel pathway, parking lot, park benches and signage available for visitors to more easily enjoy.

However what is truly wonderful about the 45x90 spot in Poniatowski, Wisconsin is neither the sign, nor the spot itself, but the degree to which the local area has embraced their unique geographical location.

After visiting the 45x90 spot it is essential that one make the trip into the nearby larger town of Wausau to stop by the Visitors Center. Once run out of Gesicki's Tavern, since 2006 the visitors center has been the holder of the official "45X90 Club" registration book, on loan from the family. The book at a good six inches thick holds the names and dates of all those who have made the trek to the spot. It turns that a steady flow of people from all over the world care to come stand in an empty field just to appreciate what it represents. 

Not only does signing the book make you an instant member of the 45x90 club, you are given a commemorative coin as proof of your visit. Peter & Lou Berryman, Wisconsin folk singers, even wrote a song about it. 

 

Related Tags

Monuments Intriguing Environs Location Markers Geographic Markers Ecosystems

Know Before You Go

Be aware when you turn on Meridian Rd, you are only going a 1/4 mile or so to the small parking area. The old sign has been removed and now has new sign with an official geographical marker at the correct location with a scenic gravel path to it.

Community Contributors

Added By

michelle

Edited By

dustinko, iolson1220, widirt, carlyannh24...

  • dustinko
  • iolson1220
  • widirt
  • carlyannh24
  • mkprator
  • klasicm
  • spiff88
  • meganleighscott
  • kamahon
  • jessicahawk
  • Sara Anunson
  • DebG
  • michaelnhartman
  • calahanriley

Published

February 20, 2013

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45 X 90 Geographical Marker
5651 Meridian Rd
Athens, Wisconsin, 54411
United States
44.999234, -90.003993
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