AREA INFO

Centerville is the county seat of Leon County, and is located in the eastern part of Central Texas. The city of Centerville is located halfway between Houston and Dallas, at the intersection of Interstate Highway 45 and State Highway 7.

A former county seat, Centerville was twelve miles northeast of Buffalo, six miles west of Eustace, and sixteen miles northwest of Athens in Henderson County. On March 14, 1848, the Texas legislature reduced the size of the county and ordered a survey to determine the new center, which was northeast of Buffalo and between North and South Twin creeks. James H. Starr donated 100 acres for the town of Centerville, and voters selected it as the county seat.

On September 11, 1848, the first court session was held in the town, and Centerville was divided into lots and blocks. A post office was established there on January 18, 1849, but was discontinued on June 19. By May of the same year the county court had been moved back to Buffalo, where it remained until October 1850, when, after further reduction of the county to its present size, Athens was designated the county seat. As a result of these changes Centerville was abandoned.

When the courthouse burned in 1885, the smoke had scarcely cleared before a contract for a new courthouse was signed. Completed in 1887, it was built of slate bricks handmade near the site. The courthouse is one of the oldest such buildings in Texas.

In 1891, the old townsite was on the shore of the huge Cedar Creek Lake, in an area that was booming with development.

Rolling plains and prairies characterize the topoography of this East Texas area with an abundance of mixed hardwoods, with some pine timber. There are numerous creeks and springs which flow into the Trinity River on the eastern boundary, and the Navasota River on the western boundary of the County. Nine-tenths of the farm income is from livestock and poultry.

The soil types range from sandy loams to bottomland dark alluvium soils providing excellent ranching, farming and gardening. In 1994, Leon County was 2nd in the state in the number of beef cattle that calved, and 3rd in the State in Hay production. And this was with non-irrigated fields.

Lake Limestone, located in the northwest section of the county is which is approximately 14,000 surface acres and is approximately 16 miles long. Lake Limestone offers excellent fishing, boating and recreational facilities.

Leon County was created in 1846 out of Robertson County It was named after Martin de Leon, a native of Tamaulipas, Mexico. The elevation of the county ranges from 150 feet above sea level to approximately 500 feet above sea level. Leon County enjoys an average annual rainfall of 39.48 inches, and a growing season of 270 days out of the year. The minimum average temperature during the month of January is 38 degrees and a maximum average July temperature is 95 degrees.