Center, IN

Center sits in Taylor Township, Howard County, on the edge of Kokomo's metropolitan map. The community was laid out in 1852 under the name Tampico, after the Mexican port. Because another Tampico already existed in Jackson County, residents changed the name to Centre, later Center, to reflect its central position in Howard County. That naming story gives the place a tidy bit of county geography: its name points to where it sits.

ATTRChris Light / CC BY-SA 4.0

Today Center is an unincorporated community and census-designated place served by Taylor Community Schools. Taylor High School ties the area to the Hoosier Heartland Conference, while Kokomo supplies the wider work, shopping, and cultural network. The local landscape mixes houses, farm fields, township roads, and school routes. Center has no separate municipal government, so Taylor Township and Howard County provide the civic framework. Kokomo's edge brings more traffic and services into the township. It is a small place with a very practical name, sitting between rural Howard County and the larger Kokomo map.