Centerville is a small city in Leon County, Texas, and the county seat, located on Interstate 45 roughly halfway between Dallas and Houston. With a population of 905 at the 2020 census, it is a compact government and service center for a rural, heavily wooded corner of East Central Texas. The town sits between two branches of Keechi Creek, at the junction of Interstate 45, Texas Highways 7 and 75, and Farm Road 1119, a position that has made it a familiar stopping point for travelers on the Dallas-to-Houston corridor. The town takes its name from its location near the geographic center of Leon County, and it became the county seat on January 24, 1850. Its anchor is the 1887 county courthouse, recently restored, which stands at the heart of a small downtown and marks Centerville's long role as the county's administrative center. Leon County's identity is closely tied to the outdoors; the county is known for its deer population, and Centerville promotes itself as the heart of the "Deerest Place in Texas." Today Centerville functions as a quiet rural community and a practical crossroads. The Centerville Independent School District, a two-campus district serving roughly 668 students, is central to local life, and the town's businesses cater both to residents and to interstate travelers. Just to the southwest, Lake Limestone—a reservoir of more than 12,000 acres on the Navasota River—offers fishing, boating, and shoreline recreation. The combination of a halfway-between location, abundant hunting and fishing country, and a slower pace makes Centerville appealing to those who want rural living with easy interstate access in both directions.