The National Road reached Centerville in 1832, and the town became one of Indiana’s early pike towns, spaced about a day’s wagon journey from others such as Richmond, Cambridge City, and Terre Haute. Named for the turnpikes that controlled entry to toll roads, these towns served travelers on busy toll-road segments of the National Road in the early 19th century. Centerville was filled with the sounds of blacksmith hammers, animals, children, and passing wagons, stages, and coaches, while Hoosiers, travelers from the East, free and enslaved African Americans, and European laborers and travelers mixed in its streets. Travelers arrived by Conestoga wagon, fine coach, horseback, or on foot, carrying everything from a few possessions to flocks and herds. Pike towns offered rest, meals, news, and business opportunities, and many Hoosiers prospered by selling supplies, offering lodging, and repairing vehicles for the hundreds passing through each day. Over time, Centerville and other pike towns grew from National Road service centers into prosperous communities with diverse local economies. Centerville’s brick and stone buildings, many in the Federal style, reflect the wealth brought by the road during its heyday from 1830 to 1850, and more than 100 of its buildings are listed in the National Register of Historic Places. In the 1920s, the automobile revived the National Road, and in 1926 it became U.S. Route 40, a transcontinental highway from Atlantic City, NJ, to San Francisco, CA. Gas stations, diners, and motels created a new era of prosperity, and until the 1970s, U.S. 40 remained one of the nation’s primary east-west routes. In 2002, the U.S. Secretary of Transportation designated the Historic National Road from Maryland to Illinois an All-American Road, and Indiana continues to preserve its road, structures, and landscapes along this historic corridor.