Centerville

Centerville (Centreville), the county seat of Leon County, is at the intersection of State highways 7 and 75, Interstate Highway 45, and Farm Road 1119, between two branches of Keechi Creek in central Leon County. When it became clear that Leona was an inconvenient county seat and did not meet the legislative requirement for centrality within the county, Centreville, named for its location, was laid out as the new county seat in 1850. In October of that year the county records were moved to the new community. A courthouse was also erected that year, and a post office was opened in December. From 1852 to 1856 the Leon Pioneer was published in the community. It was succeeded by a series of newspapers, including the Centreville Times, the Texas Times, the Experiment, the Leon Lone Star, the Democrat, and the Leon County News. In 1990 the community was served by the Centerville News. School was first taught in the community in 1851 in the back of a store, and a church, shared by several denominations, was built about the same time. In 1853 Frederick Law Olmstead stayed in the Centreville Hotel, a drafty log cabin. The original courthouse was replaced by a brick building in 1858.

Adapted from the official Handbook of Texas, a state encyclopedia developed by the Texas State Historical Association (TSHA). It is an authoritative source of trusted historical records.