Jul 30, 2021 4 min read

By John Sacco

In February 2020, Centerville Borough became a century and a quarter old.

But the looming global pandemic halted borough officials’ plans to celebrate and commemorate the milestone.

Better late than never.

Plans and actions are in full swing now as the Quasquicentennial Committee, along with Centerville’s citizenry, are considering several events leading up to a huge celebration in July 2022 to mark the 125th anniversary of the borough.

Committee members spent July holding meetings with interested community members in all of the areas that make up the borough including Centerville, Richeyville, Denbeau Heights and Malden, Vestaburg, Denbo and Vesta 6 and Binnstown and Low Hill.

“We’re collecting opinions and discussing a lot of things with people,” said Chuck LaMendola, borough council member representing the Vestaburg area and anniversary committee chairman. “We’re thinking about doing some special events each month beginning in January and leading up to and culminating with the big event in July.

LaMendola added once the anniversary committee has concluded the meeting in each individual wards, the next step is development of the special events and the celebration.

Some of the events being considered are an ice cream social, beer crafters, bicycle parade for youths, 5K race, a car show, parade, wine tasting and a swing dance, among others.

LaMendola said plans for old-time type of baseball game could not be worked out. He said the committee is looking for vendors and also wants to incorporate food vendors and to pull from local eateries.

Susie Zebley, council member at large and committee member, said the 125th celebration is scheduled tentatively for July 16-17 on a couple acres of land that was donated to the borough, which is not yet fully developed but is conducive to erecting tents and provides plenty of space for such a celebration.

“This is a community project,” Zebley said. “We’re meeting in the various areas to see what the interest is and to see if we would have enough volunteers.”

Other events being considered are a flea market and spaghetti dinner, she said.

“We’ve been at this more than a year and then the pandemic came along,” Zebley said. “We had no idea at the beginning of this year, what it would be like the rest of the year (regarding the pandemic). We just wanted to be cautious.”

Zebley was part of Centerville’s 100th anniversary celebration and helped with a book about the borough. She estimated the borough sold “maybe 500 copies.”

That celebration was focused more on each community of Centerville “doing their own thing,” she said.

“This one is a community-wide event. We have the space to do it,” Zebley said.

Centerville, formerly known as Centreville, is located about 15 miles east of the city of Washington in Washington County, the linear Centerville Historic District follows the course of the National Road – now Old National Pike – for about 3,300 feet through the heart of the village of Centerville.

In addition to the major cross streets, State Route 481 and Linton Road, several narrow alleys parallel and cross the National Road. As a result of the present-day U.S. Route 40 having bypassed the village, Centerville remains a quiet, tree-lined community with the National Road – the early-twentieth-century U.S. Route 40 – serving as the main street through town.

The district contains 94 contributing buildings, which includes taverns, residences, shops and service buildings that reflect the activity of the community during all periods of the development and decline of the National Road.

While there is little commercial activity in Centerville today, the historically commercial core of the community is represented by the buildings located near the intersection of Old National Pike and Pennsylvania Route 481 North, with residential resources comprising the majority of the remaining buildings.

The Centerville Historic District represents an intact example of a “pike town” community as defined in the Historic Districts Property Type of the Multiple Property Documentation Form entitled, “Historic Resources of the National Road in Pennsylvania.”

According to various historical publications, the Centerville Historic District was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1996.

The communities that make up Centerville are part of the Bethlehem-Center School District.

“Once the community meetings are wrapped up and information is gathered, we’ll move forward with making plans and deciding what is best to celebrate the 125th anniversary,” LaMendola said.