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History · Centerville Township

Centerville Township’s post office opened in 1855

Most of Centerville Township was built recently: 9% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 2001. Below: maps from 1966 on.

1855first post office
0on the National Register
9%homes built before 1940
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Quick answers

How Centerville Township began

When was Centerville Township founded?

1855

The Centerville Township post office opened in 1855, the earliest record of the town by name. Three smaller post offices, Oakwood (1858), Wall Street (1872) and Coalburgh (1885), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

2020 census: 483171 years
Founding year: the first Centerville Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Centerville Township’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Centerville Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Lost villages3 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Centerville Township, and 2 old place names are still on the map.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Centerville Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Centerville Township’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
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Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

Three other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.

Centerville
1855–today
Centreville
1855–today
Oakwood
1858–1905
Wall Street
1872–1902
Coalburgh
1885–1889
18501940today
Hamlets and corners on the map
CentervilleDunlay
Gone or out of use
CoalsburglocaleHorttor AirportairportOakwoodlocaleWall Streetlocale
3cemeteries and burying grounds inside Centerville Township
CentervilleOakwoodWesley Chapel

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

The story

How Centerville Township came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Centerville Township.

Read it all →

The first post office in Centerville was established in March 1855. Currently, Centerville has a post office with ZIP Code 66014. The Kansas City branch of the Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad runs through Centerville. The railroad supported local industries, a grain elevator and a passenger depot. The old Amoco Pumphouse building was converted to an event venue in 2007.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Centerville Township, 1855 to 1966

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1855Post officeThe Centerville post office opens
  3. 1855Post officeThe Centreville post office opens
  4. 1858Post officeThe Oakwood post office opens
  5. 20th century
  6. 1905Post officeThe Oakwood post office closes
  7. 1966On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

No old photos in the archives yet

Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.

Be the first to add onePhotograph a print flat, in daylight, no flash.
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On the map

Centerville Township on the map, 1966 to 1981

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Centerville Township. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Centerville Township on the 1966 USGS mapCenterville Township on the 1981 USGS map1966Mound City NW sheet · 1:24,000

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Centerville Township.

Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Paris TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townLincoln TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townBlue Mound Township1 historic placenot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townLiberty Township1 historic placenot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townWalker Township1 historic placenot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townMound City Township2 historic placesA−

Questions about Centerville Township’s history

What year was Centerville Township founded?

The Centerville Township post office opened in 1855, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
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Sources

Where this page comes from

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). How TownRatings grades history →

From Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, 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.