Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Laurel Mill and Col. Jordan Jones House · Photo: John Barrett · CC BY-SA 3.0Most of Centerville was built recently: 0.0% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 2014. Its Register listing is the Perry School. Below: maps from 1978 on and the census since 1970.
Centerville dates its founding to 1882 (Wikipedia’s history). The census first counted it in 1970.
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Centerville’s history is told.
From Wikipedia’s history of Centerville.
Centerville was established circa 1882 and named for its central location between the towns of Louisburg, Warrenton and Littleton. It was incorporated in 1965, four years after the dissolution of the nearby town of Wood.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Centerville. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Centerville.
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving. Boundary changes and added documentation are counted with their listing.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Between 89 and 149 people in every census since 1970.
6 censuses, 1970–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Centerville’s Wikipedia page.
Nobody well known was born in Centerville itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Another post office, Centreville, opened and closed inside today’s town.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
In 1882, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. Centerville’s post office opened in 1874, and the census of 1970 counted 123 people here.
One place: the Perry School (listed 2011).
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
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 the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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.
