Centrally Located

Although Centreville was not incorporated until 1794, colonial settlement in Queen Anne's County dated to the 1630s. When officials moved the county seat and its supporting government functions, they chose a name that reflected the town's central location and a spelling that signaled Americans' post-Revolutionary War admiration of France. Street names such as Liberty and Commerce reflected the hopes of a newborn nation built on trade. In 1796, the new Queen Anne's County courthouse opened, and the nearby Corsica River, with easy access to shipping, trading, and naval waters, favored the town's growth. Today, Centreville's economy still centers on supporting regional farms and county government. As the seat of Queen Anne's County, Centreville is home to the oldest courthouse in continuous use in the state, a Flemish-bond brick building constructed between 1792 and 1796, enlarged and renovated in 1876, with a carved and gilded eagle on the pediment that is a replica of one installed in the 1790s.

Centreville, Maryland · United States