Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Prairie Center, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Prairie Center and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Prairie Center
- Astronomy & Satellites ...
- Whether using binoculars, a small telescope or the naked-eye, the Heavens-Above website can help you to find your way around the night-time sky. In addition to detailed sky charts, their website will help you find planets, asteriods, comets, satellites and their tracks across the sky.
- To give accurate results, Heavens-Above requires the latitude and longitude of your location. As a starting point, when we link to Heavens-Above, we pass this GPS location for Prairie Center:
- 38.862228, -95.019690
- Once you're on the Heavens-Above website, you can improve its accuracy by giving a more precise longitude and latitude as your actual position.
- The Heavens-Above Website, centered on Prairie Center
- Bird Watching ...
- We enjoy finding new spots for bird watching and we use the eBird website for local sighting reports and to help identify hotspots.
- The eBird website is organized on a county-by-county basis. We have selected Johnson County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Johnson County
- Since Prairie Center is near Douglas County and also Leavenworth County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Douglas County
- eBird sighting report for Leavenworth County
- Waymarking ...
- Looking for somewhere out of the ordinary? Find a unique place and want to share it with others? Then it's time to visit Waymarking.com:
- Waymark.com
Communities Also Named Prairie Center ...
We found six communities that share the name Prairie Center.
Within Kansas, the name Prairie Center is unique.
Beyond Kansas, we know of another six communities that are located throughout in the United States.
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- Arkansas
- Lonoke County
- This Prairie Center is located in Lonoke County and lies 336 miles [540.7 km]<1> to the southeast of the Prairie Center that is located in Johnson County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Lonoke County community of Prairie Center.
- Illinois
- La Salle County
- This Prairie Center is located in La Salle County and lies 367 miles [590.6 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Prairie Center that is located in Johnson County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the La Salle County community of Prairie Center.
- Nebraska
- Buffalo County
- This Prairie Center is located in Buffalo County and lies 254 miles [408.8 km]<1> to the northwest of the Prairie Center that is located in Johnson County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Buffalo County community of Prairie Center.
- Texas
- Matagorda County
- Although located in Matagorda County, we don't know the location within the county.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Matagorda County community of Prairie Center.
- Washington
- Island County
- This Prairie Center is located in Island County and lies 1,516 miles [2,439.8 km]<1> to the northwest of the Prairie Center that is located in Johnson County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Island County community of Prairie Center.
- Wyoming
- Goshen County
- We found mention of this community, but have little information.<2> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Wyoming community of Prairie Center [Goshen County].
- Arkansas
Curious and Interesting Names Near Prairie Center ...
As we travel, we always see a community with a name that gives pause. While there are names which are interesting or familiar, some catch our attention or strike our fancy. We always wonder about such a name. If time permits and the community is not too far, we'll usually try to make a side-trip.
- Black Jack ‑ Historic
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Black Jack have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Black Jack
- Black Jack is located in Douglas County
- Cedar
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast) - Clare
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clare
- Clare is located in Johnson County
- Clearview City
(5 miles [8 km] to the north)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clearview City
- Clearview City is located in Johnson County
- De Soto
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for De Soto have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for De Soto
- De Soto is located in Johnson County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 6,648 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for De Soto <4>
- Eudora
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eudora
- Eudora is located in Douglas County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 6,393 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Eudora <4>
- Fall Leaf
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest) - Weaver
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
How Far From Prairie Center to ...
We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers, Almanacs & Directories that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a community such as Prairie Center to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers and using the location of where the historic<5> community of Prairie Center once stood, the straight-line distance beginning in Prairie Center and extending to:
- Olathe, which is the Seat of Johnson County, lies 10 miles [16.1 km]<1> to the east. If you could walk a straight line from Prairie Center to Olathe, with an average speed<6> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take four to five hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take a little over three hours.
- Topeka, which is the State Capital of Kansas, lies 37 miles [59.5 km] to the west northwest (WNW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than an hour, a buggy would take just about two full days and walking would take over two days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 965 miles [1,553 km] to the east (E). Driving would take most of two days, a buggy would take 38 days and walking would take 55 days.
- The shortest distance<7> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,600 miles [10,621.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,345 miles [11,820.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,235 miles [8,424.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<10>
Off-the-Road Links ...
The official website for Johnson County: www.jocoks.com/
The official website for State of Kansas: https://portal.kansas.gov/
Footnotes ...
| <1> | Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Prairie Center) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Prairie Center. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 38.8622, Longitude: -95.0197 In this case, the coordinates for Prairie Center have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <2> | If we encounter the name of what might be a community, our methodology is to add that name to our Gazetteer as a placeholder. As we find more information about that community, it will be added to our Gazetteer. Just as a reminder: Our definition of a community is rather broad and includes those places (or areas) where several families lived and had a name which identified that place. For example, you might hear somebody say that they are going over to Bird Creek to see Pete ... Bird Creek is just a gas station and a couple of homes at the crossroads. While it might not be on the map, everybody in the area knows it by that name. Places of interest include buildings at a crossroad, several families clustered in a hollow or maybe the location of a way station. It also includes places like mines, lumber camps, ferry crossings, etc. The community might still exist, is now gone or only existed for just a short period of time. Also keep in mind that Prairie Center could have been on the original document by mistake, misspelled, the original/alternate name of a community that we've listed elsewhere or was placed in the wrong county. Sometimes a post office or train station would have a different name than the community where it's located, so two names might be referring to the same community - we're working to straighten it all out. |
| <3> | The location has been supplied by the Geographic Names Information System - which is maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). While these values should be definitive, we found that accuracy can vary and you should double-check the location if accuracy is required. |
| <4> | While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program. |
| <5> | We use the term 'Historic' broadly and it generally means that the community no longer exists. However, it can also mean that the community might still exist, but was significantly larger or had a more 'official' existence in the past than it does now. Unfortunately our sources of data have proven to be unreliable. If you can provide us with more specific information about Prairie Center, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |
| <6> | While we have tried to pick reasonable speeds, the rate of travel is very theoretical - obstacles like fences, hills, lakes, river crossings and rest stops have been ignored. When we say 'Days' of travel, we're assuming 8 hours of travel per day. |
| <7> | The shortest line can be visualized by stretching a string on a Globe from Point A to Point B - this is known as a Great Circle Route. Where you might expect the shortest route from Prairie Center to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 319.318 degrees. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 316.532 degrees. |
| <10> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 312.923 degrees. |