My rural Kansas town has a bad case of data center fever. Boom or bust, we will never be the same.

My rural Kansas town has a bad case of data center fever. Boom or bust, we will never be the same.

A notice for a public hearing is posted at the intersection of G and 190 roads at the western edge of Emporia. The city has annexed the site for a proposed hyperscale data center, and a June 23, 2026, hearing seeks for public comment before the local planning commission. (Photo by Max McCoy/Kansas Reflector)Does a town have a soul? My town does. You can catch glimpses of it in the hours before dawn on our streets and sidewalks, when the only oth…