"On toda?s Dakota Midday, host Paul Guggenheimer is live from Belle Fourche, South Dakota on yet another leg of our Uniquely South Dakota tour. Belle Fourche became the center of the United States in 1959 after Alaska and Hawaii became states. And today the good people of this town dedicated a brand new Center of the Nation Monument, a 21-by-40 foot compass rose made of beautiful South Dakota granite. Pau?s guests include the artist who designed the monument, Monte Amende and the Executive Director of the Belle Fourche Chamber of Commerce Theresa Schanzenbach, as well as Ronnie Taylor of the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration which officially designated Belle Fourche the center of the Nation.