Centerville

History

Founded in 1846 by Jonathon Stratton under the name of "Chaldea," the city was planned around a unique two-block long city square. The name was later changed to Senterville, named after William Tandy Senter, a prominent Tennessee politician. When incorporation papers were filed in 1855, someone mistook the name for a misspelling and corrected it to Centerville. Incorporation was made official on January 23, 1857. The first coal mine in Centerville was opened in 1868, with its mine shaft about one-half mile from the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad depot. Horse-power was used to raise coal from the mines until 1872, when the Watson Coal Company opened a mine equipped with a steam hoist. The Centerville Block Coal Company, organized in 1894, consolidated the operation of numerous mines in the region to become the dominant mining company. In 1914, Centerville Block Coal produced over 100,000 tons of coal, ranking among the top 24 coal producers in the state. Centerville Block's largest competitor, formed around the same time, was the Scandinavian Coal Company, organized by a group of Swedish immigrants. By 1938, coal production in the Centerville region was 600,000 tons per year. The mines were in the Mystic coal bed, 125 feet below ground in Centerville but exposed at the surface in Mystic, 5 miles to the northwest. Centerville Block Coal's Relay Mine Number 3 was located on the west side of town (Number 31 on the map). By 1908, the coal face was a mile from the base of the shaft. Mules were used to haul trains of loaded coal tubs to the main haulage way, where they were hauled by a continuous loop of cable the last half mile to the shaft. The coal seam here was about 3 feet thick, and the shaft was 107 feet deep. A centrifugal blower 12 feet in diameter…

Geography

Centerville is located in south-central Iowa at the junction of Iowa Highway 2 and Iowa Highway 5. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which is land and is water. According to the Köppen Climate Classification system, Centerville has a hot-summer humid continental climate, abbreviated "Dfa" on climate maps.

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• Blue Jay

  Cyanocitta cristata (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  308
• American Crow

  Corvus brachyrhynchos C.L.Brehm, 1822 · Aves
  250
• Northern Cardinal

  Cardinalis cardinalis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  248
• American Robin

  Turdus migratorius Linnaeus, 1766 · Aves
  243
• Canada Goose (canadensis Group)

  Branta canadensis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  235
• Red-headed Woodpecker

  Melanerpes erythrocephalus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  222
• Red-winged Blackbird

  Agelaius phoeniceus (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  222
• Red-bellied Woodpecker

  Melanerpes carolinus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  217

Largest nearby schools

• Lakeview Elementary
  Elementary · Centerville · 575 students · 13.7:1 ratio
• Centerville High School
  High · Centerville · 404 students · 15.5:1 ratio
• Howar Middle School
  Middle · Centerville · 299 students · 17.6:1 ratio
• Centerville Community Preschool Bldg
  Other · Centerville · 61 students · 20.3:1 ratio

Most recent

• M 2.5 — 2025-06-25
  10 km WNW of Marysville, Iowa
• M 3 — 2025-06-25
  5 km S of Knoxville, Iowa
• M 3.3 — 2025-06-25
  8 km SE of Knoxville, Iowa