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Photograph of Centerville Historic District
Photograph by Nyttend, Public domain. Via Wikimedia Commons.

Centerville Historic District

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1971.

From the record

“Centerville Historic District is a national historic district located at Centerville, Indiana. The district encompasses 115 contributing buildings in the central business district and surrounding residential sections of Centerville.”

Wikipedia article Centerville Historic District (Centerville, Indiana), CC BY-SA 4.0.

One of 40 National Register listings published here for Wayne County · listed in 1971 · category: District.

Sources: the Wikipedia article · the case file at the National Archives · the National Register database, National Park Service · the Wikipedia article

The listing

The ground it stands on

12,705 words

The chapter on Center Township in History of Wayne County, Indiana, from Its First Settlement to the Present Time : with Numerous Biographical and Family Sketches, published 1872 names Centerville. This is what it says, exactly as the scans read.

Tills township was formed in An2:ust, 1817, and comprises an area of about 49 miles. It is 9 miles in length, north and south. Its average breadth is less than 5J miles, being on tlie north line oh miles, and on the south about 6f miles. It is watered, principally, by ]^oland's Fork and its branches. The main branch of the stream enters the township near the northeast corner, and passes through it to the south-west corner. It derives its name from Daniel Noland, the first settler in its valle}", about four miles south-west from Centerville, now in the township of Washington.

Passage source: History of Wayne County, Indiana, from Its First Settlement to the Present Time : with Numerous Biographical and Family Sketches, published 1872.

Among the earliest settlers in the township were those who first settled on this stream. They were the following: Isaac Julian, on the land now owned by Oliver II. Brumfield, IJ miles south-west of Centerville. Mr. Julian's cabin was, in the time of the Indian alarms, altered to a block-house. In this house, which stood a little below Ephraim Alerritt's present residence, his first three children were born, jNathan Overman settled near and west of town, the land now owned by Wm. S. T. Morton. Henry Bryan, Wm. Hosier, Robert Culbertson, Greenburg Cornelius, some of the Kings, and others, also settled in this valley.

Passage source: History of Wayne County, Indiana, from Its First Settlement to the Present Time : with Numerous Biographical and Family Sketches, published 1872.

Machine-read from a century-old scan, so expect the errors a machine makes: misspelled names, dropped words, stray characters.

Read the whole chapter on Center Township - 12,705 words on its settlement, mills, schools and churches.

Storms near this property

39 since 1995

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Centerville, the town this property stands in, in 39 storm reports between 1995 and 2025: 23 thunderstorm wind, 7 hail, 3 flash flood, 3 flood. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
May 1999Tornado (F0)Centerville$100,000A tornado was on the ground south of Centerville for a few miles. It destroyed a garage and caused minor damage to other structures but mainly moved through open fields. Elsewhere, strong thunderstorm winds toppled trees throughout the county causing some structural damage to a shopping center in Richmond.
June 2000Tornado (F0)Centerville$45,000A brief touchdown of 10 to 15 seconds occurred on Mineral Springs Road. Plastic lawn furniture penetrated the wall of a garage, a 28 foot RV trailer was destroyed as it was lifted and landed on a length of fencing. Several trees were also destroyed. Further down in the west end of Richmond, thunderstorm winds caused roof damage to two structures on the 2200 block of Peacock Road. Two large trees were split, and Hills Greenhouses had extensive damage. A semi trailer was also turned over and a patio enclosure was blown from one side of a house to another on Northwest B Street.
July 2017Thunderstorm WindCenterville$20,000Numerous trees and power lines were downed across Wayne County. Tree damage was reported in Milton, Centerville, Cambridge City and especially Richmond.
October 2013Thunderstorm WindCenterville$20,000Trees were blown down on houses on Test Road due to thunderstorm winds.
April 2020Thunderstorm WindCenterville$10,000There were reports of widespread powerlines downed and some small trees downed near Centerville.
April 2000Thunderstorm WindCenterville$10,000Numerous trees downed from thunderstorm winds that were measured by a spotter in Centerville at 75 mph.
May 2006Thunderstorm WindCenterville$8,000Several large trees were downed, including one on a house.
June 1995HailCenterville$7,000no account filed
June 2025Thunderstorm WindCenterville$6,000A few power poles and power lines were downed.
November 2017Flash FloodCenterville$5,000Flood waters were rushing into a home on Main Street, leading to a water rescue.
May 2011Thunderstorm WindCenterville$5,000Siding was torn off of a business due to damaging thunderstorm winds.
May 2010Thunderstorm WindCenterville$5,000Trees and power lines were knocked down due to damaging thunderstorm winds. One tree fell onto a car.
April 1996Flash FloodCenterville$5,000no account filed
April 2019Thunderstorm WindCenterville$4,000Several trees and power poles were knocked down at the intersection of George Early Road and Grove Road.
July 2017Thunderstorm WindCenterville$3,000Several trees were downed along McMinn Road.
June 2005Thunderstorm WindCenterville$3,000Trees and power lines were downed.
June 2004Thunderstorm WindCenterville$3,000Several trees were downed.
November 2004Thunderstorm WindCenterville$3,000Trees were downed.
July 2002Thunderstorm WindCenterville$3,000Two trees were blown down.
June 2001Thunderstorm WindCenterville$3,000A few trees downed
August 2019Thunderstorm WindCenterville$2,000A couple of trees were blown down in the Centerville area.
August 2012Thunderstorm WindCenterville$2,000A tree was reported down on College Corner Road and another tree along Interstate 70 near mile marker 153 due to damaging thunderstorm winds.
August 2011Thunderstorm WindCenterville$2,000Trees were reported down and blocking roadways due to damaging thunderstorm winds.
May 2011Thunderstorm WindCenterville$2,000Two trees were reported down due to damaging thunderstorm winds.
July 1995Thunderstorm WindCenterville$2,000Two large trees were blown down.
November 2014Thunderstorm WindCenterville$1,000Several trees were downed in the city of Centerville.
April 2011Heavy RainCenterville$1,000High water was reported on area roadways with one road closed from the high water.
May 2010Thunderstorm WindCenterville$1,000Power lines were reported down due to damaging thunderstorm winds.
June 2024Thunderstorm WindCenterville$500A 10 inch diameter tree was downed onto McConaha Road.
July 2024FloodCenterville-High water was reported on Temple Drive.
April 2018Flash FloodCenterville-Numerous roads with water flowing over them were reported in and near Centerville.
December 2013FloodCenterville-Many roads were covered with high standing water caused by heavy rainfall. Some of these roads were closed.
December 2013FloodCenterville-Several secondary roads remained closed in the county due to high water caused by earlier rainfall.
May 2025HailCenterville-no account filed
May 2025HailCenterville-no account filed
May 2018HailCenterville-no account filed
June 2009HailCenterville-no account filed
July 1999HailCenterville-no account filed
April 1996HailCenterville-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Wayne County

Map coverage status

No historic map-sheet match is published for this property yet. That does not mean no map exists. This record needs a coordinate-quality review before it can be joined to a sheet boundary. Browse the county's mapped places while that work is pending.

Listed places nearby

6 within 8 miles

Other National Register properties close enough to walk or drive between, ordered by distance from this one. Both positions come from the same geocoding pass that matched these properties to their map sheets.

Photograph PropertyDistance Listed
Oliver P. Morton House0.3 miles1975
Westcott Stock Farm0.3 miles1998
Lewis Jones House1.4 miles1984
Eliason Farm2.4 miles2019
Samuel G. Smith Farm3.0 miles1983
King-Dennis Farm3.6 miles2000

Sources for this property

National Archives recordThe nomination case file for reference 71000008 in Record Group 79.
Wikipedia articleCommunity-written account of this property, licensed CC BY-SA.
Wayne CountyAll 40 listed properties in this county.

Provenance

  • Listing record. National Park Service National Register of Historic Places, listed-properties dataset, current to 2026-05-22.
  • Map join. Address geocoded through the United States Census geocoder, then tested against the published boundary of every sheet in the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection.
  • How this page is made. Listing fields come from federal records; map-sheet coverage is a labelled coordinate-to-boundary calculation, not a source-field claim.
  • Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.