The Centerville post office opened in 1811, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Twomey (1898), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
First census: 251 in 18602020 census: 3,532215 years
How historic is Centerville?
B+
More historic than 67% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
Founding year: the first Centerville post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).
History grade
What drives Centerville’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Centerville is more historic than 67% of U.S. towns, #47 of 177 in Tennessee. Its age holds the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
B+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Centerville’s overall grade.
Tennessee towns list more on the Register than most of the country (a typical Tennessee town has 6.1 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Centerville’s 5.7 sits near the middle of its state (52% of Tennessee towns have fewer) while its 2 historic buildings outnumber those of 60% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from B− to B+. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±5.6 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.
Founding year: the first post office (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 Centerville’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Lost a third of its people between 1860 and 1870, then grew more than tenfold.
16 censuses, 1860–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Centerville’s Wikipedia page.
On the map
Centerville on the map, 1901 to 1987
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Centerville. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1901Columbia sheet · 1:125,000
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Centerville.
The story so far
Centerville, in brief
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Centerville yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Centerville is a town in Hickman County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 3,489 as of the 2020 Census. It is the county seat and the only incorporated town in Hickman County. It is best known for being the hometown of American comedian Minnie Pearl.
Its first post office opened in 1811. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 3,644 to 3,532 (-3%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
From the old history books
What they wrote about Centerville in 1900
Passages that mention Centerville, cut from the printed page as they were published.
A history of Hickman County, Tennessee1900 · page 239Read the page →
Read the text
it ran to Vernon. Later, when Centerville was built, the Reynoldsburg road forked at what is now called the “ Rossen place,” and the Centerville fork ran to Pine River, which it crossed between the Webb and Hassell places, and thence to Centerville, crossing Duck River at the Griner Ford. The place where it crossed Pine River is no longer a fording place, and the old Reynoldsburg road is now for miles no
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Timeline
Centerville, 1811 to 2000
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Questions about Centerville’s history
What year was Centerville founded?
The Centerville post office opened in 1811, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Centerville rank for history?
Centerville is more historic than 67% of U.S. towns, #47 of 177 in Tennessee. 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.
What is on the National Register in Centerville?
One place: the James Buchanan Walker House (listed 1989).
How old are the homes in Centerville?
11% of Centerville’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.6 points), against a typical 4.9% for a Tennessee town; the median home was built in 1974.
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 (5), the National Register of Historic Places (1), U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
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