Center Star, spelled Centre Star into the 1900s, took its name from a U.S. Postal Service star route, as the local post office, operating from 1850 to 1914 except between 1902 and 1913, served as the center of a route for this part of the county. This area was one of the oldest settlements in Lauderdale County. Settlers arriving in the early 1800s encountered both Chickasaw and Cherokee Indians, whose dividing line at one time overlapped here, and remains of Indian villages were found southwest of this location. Fertile land south of Center Star attracted cotton planters seeking the old fields cleared by the Indians, and plantations in the area included Phillips/Taylor, Cunningham, Douglas, and Williams, while nearby communities included Bellview, Big Oak, and Houstontown. Bellview Road ran from the mouth of Bluewater Creek to Center Star. The oldest active Methodist congregation in Lauderdale County was organized near the mouth of Bluewater Creek in June 1818, later moved near Center Star, was named Driskill's Chapel about 1893, and in later years became Center Star Methodist Church. The Cumberland Presbyterian Church was organized at the Goodsprings Campground in 1839, divided in April 1861, and a church was then organized at Center Star. Center Star was also a rallying point where Captain Edward A. O'Neal organized his Calhoun Guard on May 26, 1861, later designated Company I, 9th Alabama Infantry Regiment; he was later promoted to Brigadier General and became Governor of Alabama after the war. On May 9, 1864, a two-hour skirmish took place here between Colonel William A. Johnson's Confederate Fourth Alabama Cavalry and a combined Union force from the 7th Illinois Cavalry and the 9th Ohio Regiment under Colonel Richard Rowett. The Center Star Voting Beat was created in 1870, Masonic Lodge 25 was activated here in 1888, and community schools existed before land was bought in 1916 for Center Star Elementary School about one-quarter mile north of the Old Huntsville Road; the school was relocated near the intersection of CR 33 and Highway 72 in 1949 and closed in 1965, and the Allen Thornton Trade School opened in that building in August 1967. Early commercial activity at Center Star included general merchandise stores, a sorghum mill, blacksmith shop, gristmill, cotton gin, and doctors' offices.