Center, ND

Center is Oliver County’s seat and only incorporated place, a North Dakota city founded in 1902. The name comes from its position near the geographic center of the county, and the 2020 census counted 588 residents. The town sits in west-central North Dakota within the Bismarck metropolitan area, with county offices giving its small grid a role larger than its population. Center-Stanton School District serves the area; it took its present form in 2004 when the Center and Stanton districts merged.

Center’s nearby industrial landscape is tied to the same prairie geography that surrounds it. A large surface coal mine lies southwest of town, while Nelson Lake lies southeast beside a power plant. The lake and the mine put energy production into the view from a place otherwise defined by county roads, fields, and long distances between towns. Center is where Oliver County’s government, school system, and energy map come together. It feels like a true county seat in the western North Dakota sense: small in population, broad in territory, and connected to the larger Bismarck region without losing its own county identity.