Submitted by Barbara Parrish
Courtesy of Jeffery Elmer
116 Years Ago
The Oregonian, May 11, 1903
CENTERVILLE: On the direct line of the Columbia River and Northern Railroad, 36 miles by rail from the terminus on the Columbia River at Lyle, and seven miles from Goldendale, lies the town of Centerville, with a present population of about 250. There are present in Centerville two general merchandise stores, two hotels, three blacksmith shops, one barber shop, two drug stores, one hardware store, one billiard, two telephone exchanges, two livery stables, one butcher shop, three churches (Methodist, Christian and Catholic), a graded public school, one real estate office, a weekly newspaper, one shoe maker, one laundry, a public hall, seven secret societies, one wagon shop, and two chopping and planing mills. The railroad warehouse in Centerville contains 80,000 bushels of wheat, in sacks, which was brought in and stored for shipment from within as radius of about five miles.
