History

Thomas W. Langley was the first actual settler on the site of Centreville. He was born in New York in 1801, and came to Michigan in search of land. Centreville had already been platted, and was owned by several individuals. Mr. Langley purchased the entire prospective village. Within three months he completed a frame log cabin/hotel (24×30, largest log-house in the county for hotel purposes), a blacksmith shop, store building, a flouring and saw-mill, a post office, a school, and religious services in regular and successful operation. Mr. Langley was constantly doing something to aid in the prosperity of the village and enhance the property value.

He brought in the first stock of goods sold in Centreville, and engaged in mercantile, manufacturing, agricultural pursuits, and kept the hotel of the village. He was the first postmaster, holding that position from 1833 to 1840. Centreville was first incorporated as a village in 1837. George Talbot and Henry Cushman built the first flourmills. Mr. Langley built the dam and sold it to the mill. The mill, which first had three run of stone, was burned in 1856 and quickly rebuilt. The Centreville Roller Mills began operation in 1896. The plant had a capacity of about 100 barrels of flour every twenty-four hours. In 1872 the Centreville Knit Goods Manufacturing Company was established and became known as “Dr. Denton Sleeping Garment Mills”.

The St. Joseph County Bank was chartered in the summer of 1837, followed by The Farmers and Merchants Bank in 1838. Many of the early banks failed due to flooding the market with counterfeits and discounts of genuine notes by holders. The first “solid” bank was the First National Bank, established in 1873. The Centreville Water & Electric Company was put in operation in January of 1898. The first cemetery was laid out in the village in 1833. St. Joseph County Newspaper care form Centreville, and was known as the “Peninsula”.

The first schoolhouse was built in 1841 located in Nottawa and Lockport townships at a cost of around five hundred dollars. In 1841 the Methodists built the first house of worship in the village of Centreville, with the Presbyterian Church following in the fall of 1909. The Baptist Church was established in 1853, with a chapel being built in 1887. The Masons of Centreville was instituted in 1848 and chartered in January of 1849. In 1867 Nottawa station was built to serve the Grand Rapids and Indiana Railroad with their produce and mint-oil trade. Wasepi station was built in 1874 at the junction of the Michigan Central and Grand Rapids lines. Besides being a junction point, it was the shipping station for considerable cider and dried fruit.

Centreville is situated just north of the Michigan Central Railroad and south of the Prairie River, lying partly in Nottawa and partly in Lockport townships. It is in the geographical center of St. Joseph County and an ideal county seat.

Matt Thornton, one of Centreville’s famous native sons, was born on September 15, 1976 in Three Rivers, Michigan and graduated from Centreville High School in 1995. Standing 6’6” and weighing 235 lbs. Matt pitched and bat left-handed.  Although, drafted by the Detroit Tigers in 1995, Matt continued his education at Grand Valley State University playing baseball and basketball for the Lakers.

He was then drafted by the Seattle Mariners in the 1st round (22nd overall pick) of the 1998 amateur draft.

He navigated his way through the minor league circuit and made his major league debut on June 27, 2004, with the Mariners in a game against the San Diego Padres, pitching brilliantly over 4 innings, only allowing 3 hits and striking out one batter. Throughout the season, the Mariners used Thornton for mostly middle reliever duty, except for one game when Thornton started and pitched 8 innings, allowing 4 runs on 8 hits and walking and striking out 7 batters. Thornton finished the 2004 season with a 1–2 record and 4.13 ERA, striking out 30 batters in 32.2 innings of work.

Matt was traded to the Chicago White Sox in 2006; then to the Boston Red Sox in the summer of 2013 obtaining his World Series Ring.

In January of 2014 Matt was traded to the New York Yankees and then acquired by the Washington Nationals.

Matt announced his retirement from professional baseball on November 8, 2016.

Verne Troyer, another native son, was an actor and stunt performer and appeared in numerous movies and television shows.  His most notable role was Mini-Me in the Austin Powers movie The Spy Who Shagged Me co-starring with Mike Myers.

Verne was born on January 1, 1969 in Sturgis, Michigan and attended Centreville High School. He was homecoming king in 1986 and graduated in 1987. He was notable for his height of 2’8” making him one of the shortest men in the world.  He had cartilage-hair hypoplasia dwarfism. He passed away at 49 years of age on April 21, 2018 in Los Angeles, California. He is buried at Leonidas Cemetery in Leonidas, Michigan.

Centreville, Michigan is featured in the Season 8 premiere of Supernatural, however, the show misspells it as "Centerville". In the episode the main characters, Sam and Dean, fight demons at a fictional state college set in Centreville