Founding year: Wikidata. First post office: 1883.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Center Hill’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Center Hill is more historic than 30% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
C
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Center Hill’s overall grade.
Few Florida towns list much on the Register (a typical Florida town has 0.0 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Center Hill’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (33% of Florida towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C to C+. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±13.5 points). Two sources give 1881.
Founding year: Wikidata (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →
What stands out about Center Hill’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
By 1800, Black Seminoles and "maroons", or fugitive slaves, had settled in the present-day City of Center Hill, which was initially called "Abraham's Old Town", near the Wahoo Swamp. The Abraham in question was a formerly enslaved man known as Negro Abram. Maroons who fought for England joined the Black Seminoles after the runaway slaves fled to Florida, a free territory under Spanish rule, to avoid remaining in slavery following the American Revolution. Both Black Seminoles and maroons lived with the Seminoles in a feudal-like relationship; the Black Seminoles paid the Seminoles with a percentage of their crops in exchange for their freedom. The Black Seminoles settled in the Center Hill area in 1813 and named it "Peliklakaha". Accompanying them was Seminole chief Micanopy, who made Peliklakaha his residence after the death of Payne.
Center Hill’s post office has been open since 1883.
Hamlets and corners on the map
Pilaklakha
3cemeteries and burying grounds inside Center Hill
Beville FamilyCenter HillLove
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Questions about Center Hill’s history
What year was Center Hill founded?
In 1881, according to Wikidata. Center Hill’s post office opened in 1883, and the census of 1910 counted 299 people here.
How does Center Hill rank for history?
Center Hill is more historic than 30% of U.S. towns. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
How old are the homes in Center Hill?
10% of Center Hill’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±13.5 points), against a typical 0.6% for a Florida town; the median home was built in 1980.
Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
From Wikimedia Commons (7), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
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