By Jerry Flook, Historian
Published in the Garland-Rowlett Messenger, August 2012
Those who are familiar with South Garland probably know the location of Centerville Road and perhaps the Centerville Elementary School, but where does that name come from?
Centerville was a small population center around the intersection of Centerville and Kingsley (now Keen) roads from the early 1890s through the early 1950s. Never very large, it was identified by a country school and a general store/filling station. Presumably its name was derived from its location on the old Dallas-Rockwall road (later named Centerville Road) about midway between Garland and Rose Hill and about midway between Dallas and Rockwall. The first Centerville store was built either by John W. Davis or his son James M. Davis around 1892. The land for the Centerville school, built about that same time a few yards west of the store, was donated by J. M. Davis.
Store and School
It seems likely that the impetus for locating a store at that spot may have been the demise of an older settlement named Morris about 1 1/2 miles farther east on the Dallas-Rockwall road (at the present intersection of Centerville and Miller roads). The merchants of Morris had moved north to establish Rowlett on the new Katy Railroad. Morris’ school (the Davis-Mills School) was consolidated with that of Centerville around 1901.
Centerville’s Settlers
Among the very earliest settlers of what later included the Centerville neighborhood were the families of Edward Mills, William H. Keen, and Jesse Cox, who patented headrights there in the 1840s. Much of it also lay in the huge league-and-labor surveys of John Little and Theophalus Thomas. The so-called Thomas Ranch, the north corner of which was the intersection of Centerville and O’Banion roads, remained intact from about 1847 until 1924. Other early landowners included Daniel Bechtol, John W. Davis, W. W. Sebastian, D. Q. Murphree, J. A. Conners, George Groves, W. K. Maxey, Calvin Taylor, L. L. Wynne, J. R. Schafer, W. A. Wagonger, and Matt Nickens. Bechtol built a cotton gin on Duck Creek near present intersection of Kinglsey Road and Glenbrook Drive. The gin was sold to J. W. Tinsley in 1889 and was still operating as late as 1900. The remainder of the Bechtol acreage on Duck Creek was sold in 1902 to Will Kinglsey, who developed it into his famous “ranch”.
Duck Creek – Baptisms and Carwashes
The portion of Duck Creek located in the Centerville neighborhood had some interesting features. One was the “Schafer Hole”, a deep pool in the creek which was the swimming hole for the young folk in the summer. The Baptist, and perhaps other congregations in Garland during its early history, held baptisms in Duck Creek near Centerville Road. The exact location is not now known with certainty, but those baptisms likely took place in or near Schafer Hole. Another site on the creek, now a part of L. L. Wynne Park, where the northeast bank slopes gently down to the water, was at one time a popular spot among local automobile owners who would drive down to the creek to wash their cars.
In 1906 Centerville was given a more direct link to Garland when a new gravel road (now First Street) was constructed. Then in 1911, what was then known as the “Garland-Centerville Pike” was extended to reach the community of Rose Hill.
Events Found in the Garland News
It is remarkable how many early local schoolhouses were demolished by windstorms or tornadoes, the Centerville school being one of them. On 9 June, 1911 a wind-dust-and-rain-storm came out of the northwest, destroying the schoolhouse and seriously damaging Patton Brothers’ Centerville store. Both were eventually rebuilt. That same year the Centerville School was designated as a “third class” school, meaning that it was funded to teach 8 grades. A new and larger school building was erected in 1927, replacing the 1911 structure. As was true of most country school buildings, preachings, singings, and Sunday school were regularly held there. Reports in the Garland News indicate that “singings” were also a frequent social activity in the homes of the people of Centerville.
Centerville figured indirectly in an interesting news item from July 1923. The Garland News reported that “one of John Benson’s sons was bitten by a pet wolf belonging to Mr. Harper of Centerville, and fearing rabies, the boy was carried to a mad stone at Farmersville. The stome stuck, which indicated the presence of rabies, according to the theory of this test. The wolf was carried to Dick Motley’s, where the county health officer inspected him, pronouncing him not afflicted with rabies.”
Mad Stone – Rabies Test
A mad stone is a stony concretion (a bezor, like a hairball) from the stomach of a deer. It is usually 3 or 4 inches in diameter with a porous but shiny surface. According to legend it must never be sold, but passed from one generation to the next, and no charge is to be made for treatment with it. The patient must always be brought to the stone. First, the stone is boiled in milk and applied to the wound, which must have been made to bleed. If there is rabies in the wound, according to folklore, the stone will stick to it and begin “drawing out the poison.” When it falls off it is boiled until it turns green, having released the poison. It is then reapplied to the wound and if it sticks once again the procedure is repeated until the stone no longer sticks, indicating that all the poison is gone.
Home Demonstration Club
For several years in the 1930s and 1940s many women and girls were active in the Centerville Home Demonstration Club. Home Demonstration was a government program to encourage rural homemakers in the development of domestic arts. Club records show that in 1940 sixteen members of the Centerville chapter canned around 10,000 jars of fruits and vegetables for home use.
Merged with Garland
In 1941 the Centerville School District was consolidated with Garland, but the building was allowed to stand for several more years, serving as a community center and a meeting place for non-denominational religious services. The building was finally demolished in the early 1950s. The Centerville Store in its later years was operated by several different owners, including Preston Wilbanks, Doyle Simmons, and Sam Shipley. It was torn down about the same time as the school. The store stood on a site at the northwest corner of Broadway Blvd. and Kinglsey Rd. The school was a short distance to the west of the store, perhaps on the site of the present Walgreens Drugstore.