With its relaxed lifestyle, gracious residents, amicable merchants, and tree-lined streets, Centreville is a classic example of small-town America. The town was created to implement a 1782 Act of the state Assembly that authorized removal of the courthouse and government functions of Queen Anne’s County from Queenstown to a more central location. When suitable land was acquired ten years later, logic prevailed in naming the place to reflect the site-selection specification. The aberrant spelling “Centre-Ville” stemmed from the adulation of all things French following the Revolutionary War. Actually, the site was chosen not only because of its central location, but also because of the maritime access provided by its proximity to the headwaters of the Corsica River.
