"Centerville": The most common town name?

[Super Amputee Cat]

Doing a simple search on Topozone.com, I found that there are 107 Centervilles in the United States. A couple of these appeared to be duplicates, but even after factoring out these, there were still over 100 different Centerville's listed. There are also eight places called "Centreville, bringing the total to about 112.

http://www.topozone.com/viewmaps.asp?method=place&placename=centerville&statefips=0

44 of 50 states had at least one Centerville/Centreville, with only Alaska, Hawaii, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Oregon. and Wyoming being without one. Pennsylvania has nine Centervilles, Virginia has eight, Illinois has seven, while Ohio and Georgia each have six.

Now, I'm sure that a significant number of these towns are mere crossroads localities and unicorporated communities of less than 100 people, such as the one in New Mexico below. Others may be ghost towns - having a population at one time, but now just an in-name-only site that still bears "Centerville" on topographic maps.

You would have to click on each link to find out for sure.

But there's still a lot of Centervilles. A lot more than the Springfields, Marions or Athens' that are also common town names. Can you think of any other common town names?

 

[giff57]

At least you listed the Iowa one first

 

[DecaturHawk]

Commodore Stephen Decatur inspired a lot of town names, including the one I am in, in Illinois (also the largest in population). Off the top of my head, I know that there is a Decatur in Alabama, Georgia, Texas, and Indiana. Others that are common: If there is a city named Clinton, it is usually in DeWitt County, or vice versa. Same with Jasper and Newton.

 

[Lee Nellis]

You may be right about Centerville. And if you added Center (I used to work amongst the ruins of a ghost town called Center in S Kansas). There are a number of Springfields around, too, and John Charles Fremont left his name on an amazing number of counties and towns.

 

[BKM]

There is only one "Cow Town" I am aware of in the US

"Fairfield" was named by Captain Waterman after his home town of Fairfield, Conn.

 

[Bear Up North]

There is no Centerville in the metropolitan De Noc area (my fake city). Of course, being "King", I can easily add one (1) in, connect the dots (so to speak) and, presto, De Noc's SMSA (or whatever the feds call it this decade) will grow.

Ahhh, it's good to be "King".

King Bear

 

[giff57]

There is only one "Cow Town" I am aware of in the US

"Fairfield" was named by Captain Waterman after his home town of Fairfield, Conn.

There are Holsteins in Iowa, Nebraska, Missouri, and Oregon however

 

[BKM]

There are Holsteins in Iowa, Nebraska, Missouri, and Oregon however

Ah, good point.

I also know that Fairfield, Iowa is the center of TM in the US, right?

 

[giff57]

Ah, good point.

I also know that Fairfield, Iowa is the center of TM in the US, right?

Yes it is there and Vedic City

 

[JNA]

Using The Geographic Names Information System (GNIS), developed by the USGS

http://geonames.usgs.gov/pls/gnis/web_query.gnis_web_query_form

entering Centerville in Feature Name;
selecting populated place in Feature Type;

194 feature records have been selected from GNIS.

 

[michaelskis]

I still like how there are several plesantvilles....

 

[JNA]

There are 22 feature records have been selected from GNIS.
for Pleasantville.

 

[Super Amputee Cat]

I stand corrected

Well it turns out that Centerville is not the most common town name....


It's......FAIRVIEW!

Topozone lists over 220 different Fairviews in the United States

http://www.topozone.com/viewmaps.asp?method=place&placename=Fairview&statefips=0

 

[Richmond Jake]

IMHO, you all have way too much time on your hands. Get to work you slackers.

 

[ilikefish0]

IMHO, you all have way too much time on your hands. Get to work you slackers.

This board is all about slacking. It's a monument to slack! Slack to live, live to slack.

 

[Trail Nazi]

Don't forget the alternative way to spell Centerville as Centreville.

 

[Super Amputee Cat]

Don't forget the alternative way to spell Centerville as Centreville.

I did, see my original post above.

 

[Trail Nazi]

I did, see my original post above.

Lo siento, SAC.

 

[benk928]

Virginia Beach also has a district of town that some call Centerville. I'm sure if you included various neighborhoods you'd have a huge list.

-Ben

 

[statler]

Centerville

Well, now there is one fewer....

Centerville, an outpost of blueberry barrens and weathered homesteads 70 miles east of Bangor, is one of a growing number of Maine municipalities -- many remote and dwindling in population -- that are disbanding and becoming a part of Maine's unorganized territory, which is overseen and managed by the state.

With little fanfare, a tiny Maine town fades away
- Boston Globe