The earliest Houston County maps show a settlement called Busby where modern Centerville now stands.

Historical documents also show this settlement was called LaVilla, Gunn, Dunbar, and Toy at various times.

A land map indicates the town as Busbayville.

The area map of 1888 shows the community as Centerville, the first known reference to the present name. Centerville owes its name to its location, which is halfway between Byron and Wellston and halfway between Macon and Perry.

Centerville citizens applied for a local post office, but postal authorities required a different name for the town since there was already a Centerville Post Office located in Gwinnett County. The town name was changed to Hattie in honor of the daughter of Mitchell F. Etheridge, a state representative. When the post office relocated to Byron a few years later, the town of Hattie was changed back to Centerville.

The City of Centerville was incorporated under a charter issued March 25, 1958, by the General Assembly of the State of Georgia.

Superior Court Judge A.M. Anderson swore in Sherrill Stafford as Mayor and Mark Mathews, Earl Sims, Ira Garvin, and Paul Stalnaker as councilmen.

According to the 1960 census, Centerville’s first official population count was 290. The 2010 Census counted Centerville’s population at 7,148.