Centerville

How Centerville began

Centerville, platted May 6, 1835 in Raccoon Township by Reuben Rambo and Timothy Jones and settled substantially by Welsh immigrants who began arriving in the area from 1818 on, is Gallia County's smallest village, with a 2020 population of 87 spread across just a tenth of a square mile. It carries two alternate names still used locally, Thurman and Ridgeway, and the U.S. Board on Geographic Names has designated "Thurman" as its preferred reference name even though the incorporated village remains officially Centerville. By 1882 it had a flour mill, two hotels, a national bank, two churches and a school, and sat on the mail route from Gallipolis to Oak Hill before the railroad reached Gallipolis. Its population has swung sharply over the past century and a half, from 272 in 1880 down to 96 by 1920, up again to a modern peak of 251 in 1960, and down again to under 90 today.

Settled 1818 (first Welsh settlers nearby), platted 1835-05-06, by Reuben Rambo and Timothy Jones (surveyor William Preston); first mayor John McColester.

Where the name comes from

The village is officially named Centerville (also historically spelled Centreville) but is also commonly known locally as "Thurman" and "Ridgeway"; the U.S. Board on Geographic Names has designated "Thurman" as the preferred name for the community in federal use. No source found explains the origin of any of the three names.

Before the town

No source found records a Native village, mound, trail, or treaty event specific to Centerville. The village lies within Gallia County's broader Shawnee homeland of the pre-1795 Ohio River valley.

Nations recorded here: Shawnee.

Timeline

1. 1818-09 — The first Welsh emigrants to the county -- John Jones, John Evans, Evan Evans and Lewis Davis -- land at Gallipolis from Pittsburgh, headed further west but stay after being kindly treated; they take road-building work toward Rodney and are led on to settle the fertile country near what becomes Centerville, then still within Gallia County (the area later became part of Jackson County).
2. 1820-10-12 — A Methodist Episcopal society later known as New Zion, the forerunner of Centerville's Methodist church, is organized by Rev. James Gilruth, worshiping in a house about a half mile west of the future village site.
3. 1834 — Thomas Evans, a Welsh immigrant born 1809 near Llanon, Cardiganshire, arrives at the small settlement near Centerville at age 25; he later builds a long business career in the village and becomes a recognized community and church leader until his death in 1873.
4. 1835-05-06 — Centerville is platted by Reuben Rambo and Timothy Jones, with William Preston as surveyor.
5. 1867 — The Methodist society, which had worshiped outside the village since 1832, builds a new church house in Centerville itself.
6. 1873-01-22 — Thomas Evans, the Welsh immigrant merchant and church leader who had lived in Centerville since 1845, dies in his 64th year.
7. 1880 — Centerville's recorded population stands at 272; the village has a school, two churches, a national bank, several stores, two hotels and a large flour mill.
8. 1920 — Population has fallen to 96, a 65% drop from 1880.
9. 1960 — Population rebounds to a modern-era peak of 251.
10. 1970 — Population falls sharply to 114, a 54.6% drop from 1960.
11. 2020 — Centerville's census population stands at 87, the smallest of any incorporated village in Gallia County.

Stories

A Welsh shepherd's son who never went home

Thomas Evans was born April 14, 1809, on the seashore near the village of Llanon in Cardiganshire, South Wales. He emigrated alone at twenty-five, traveling by canal from New York to Buffalo, by schooner across Lake Erie, then by canal to Chillicothe, and finally on foot to the small Welsh settlement about two miles west of Centerville, where he found his brother-in-law Evan Evans and a settler named John Evans, called "Rock" to tell him apart from the others of that common name. The whole settlement owned only two spinning wheels between them, and John Hunt lent his to Evans so he could earn enough to send for his wife. That first winter Evans taught school to the young men of the settlement, then clerked at a store in what became Winchester in Jackson County, then sold goods in Gallipolis for six years for the firm of F. & A. LeClercq. He went into business for himself with a partner, Francis Sanns, who was later killed in the explosion of the steamer Blue Ridge on the Ohio River, almost within sight of home. Evans himself settled in business at Centerville from 1845 until his death on January 22, 1873, at 63, remembered as an energetic Christian, a recognized church leader for more than thirty years, and one of the Welsh emigrants of 1818 to 1834 who turned a stretch of Gallia County forest into farms.

Photographs

Local history sources: en.wikipedia.org · en.wikipedia.org · en.wikipedia.org · commons.wikimedia.org · ohiogenealogyexpress.com

No water-system data is linked to Centerville's ZIP codes yet.

Fire and EMS stations (1)

Spills reported since 2021 (1)

Elections for office

Winners in bold. Results from the county board of elections' official canvass unless marked.

Auditor of State record

• No fiscal caution, watch or emergency on the Auditor of State's lists.
• Financial Audit, 2023 to 2024, released 2026-08-06

Source: Ohio EPA eDocument portal (edocpub.epa.ohio.gov), indexed 2026-10-14. Facilities are placed on the map from Ohio EPA's own map layers, EPA's Facility Registry, coordinates written in the filings, or a geocoded street address. A permit filed under a private person's name (most are household septic systems) is counted but never named, placed or linked; licenses for individual workers and open-burning notices are left out entirely.

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