unincorporated community
An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either have ...
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...
, United States. The area is served as
United States Postal Service
The United States Postal Service (USPS), also known as the Post Office, U.S. Mail, or Postal Service, is an independent agency of the executive branch of the United States federal government responsible for providing postal service in the U ...
ZIP Code 08561. There are approximately 50 homes in the area, and as of the
2010 United States Census
The United States census of 2010 was the twenty-third United States national census. National Census Day, the reference day used for the census, was April 1, 2010. The census was taken via mail-in citizen self-reporting, with enumerators servin ...
, the population for
ZIP Code Tabulation Area
ZIP Code Tabulation Areas (ZCTAs) are statistical entities developed by the United States Census Bureau for tabulating summary statistics. These were introduced with the Census 2000 and continued with the 2010 Census and 5 year American Community S ...
United States Census Bureau
The United States Census Bureau (USCB), officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The Census Bureau is part of the ...
. Accessed June 3, 2015. The community, covering , was added to the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...
in 1992.
Demographics
History
Earliest mention of the local area in the 17th century refers to it as a wilderness with several Native American camps. Founded in 1818, it was named Centerville because it was the
geographical center
In geography, the centroid of the two-dimensional shape of a region of the Earth's surface (projected radially to sea level or onto a geoid surface) is known as its geographic centre or geographical centre or (less commonly) gravitational centre. I ...
of the state. Until then, adjacent heavily wooded lands were called Magrilla (origins unknown).
In 1814, after the completion of the Bordentown and South Amboy stagecoach turnpike, William McKnight, director of the turnpike company, built a tavern at the intersection of the turnpike and present-day Windsor-Perrineville Road. A major thruway between
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
and
Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...
, the turnpike was an improved route versus the
Old York Road
Old York Road (originally York Road, with reference to New York) is a roadway that was built during the 18th century to connect Philadelphia with New York City. Through New Jersey it was built along the Raritan (Unami tribe) "Naraticong Trail", ...
, originally the Tuckaraming Trail, a Native-American path prior to European settlement. In 1816 the local section of the stagecoach turnpike between New York and Philadelphia ran along Main Street. In late 1831, the
Camden and Amboy Railroad
The United New Jersey Railroad and Canal Company (UNJ&CC) was a railroad company which began as the important Camden & Amboy Railroad (C&A), whose 1830 lineage began as one of the eight or ten earliest permanent North AmericanList of Earliest Am ...
was constructed through Centerville. The village became a stopover for rail travelers, and a thriving center for the bountiful farms and mills which serviced the growing population. It quickly became the largest village between Yardville (Sand Town) and
Hightstown
Hightstown is a Borough (New Jersey), borough in Mercer County, New Jersey, Mercer County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough's population was 5,494,Hunterdon County
Hunterdon County is a county located in the western section of the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the county's population was 128,947, making it the state's 18th-most populous county,Windsor Township, until 1797, at which point Windsor Township was divided into East Windsor and West Windsor townships, with the community of Windsor located in East Windsor. East Windsor was subsequently divided in 1860, with the southern portion including Windsor becoming Washington Township (present-day Robbinsville Township).Snyder, John P ''The Story of New Jersey's Civil Boundaries: 1606-1968'' Bureau of Geology and Topography; Trenton, New Jersey; 1969. p. 165. Accessed September 12, 2012.
Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
The ''Biographical Directory of the United States Congress'' (Bioguide) is a biographical dictionary of all present and former members of the United States Congress and its predecessor, the Continental Congress. Also included are Delegates from ...