Center Hill

Duane's take

The way I tell it, this comes straight from the official marker for Center Hill, out in Houston County, so let me spin it just the way the record lays it down. Now, before there was a Center Hill, there were three little communities scratching out a life in this corner of Houston County. Corinth, Old Zion, and Randolph.

Early settlers had put down roots, built homes, worked the land, and gathered for worship at the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, over in Corinth. That congregation raised up a building in the late 1850s that did double duty, church on Sunday, school through the week, serving all the surrounding communities. It stood for a good while.

Then, in 1881, fire took it. Just like that, gone. Now you might think that'd be the end of things out here.

But that's not how people in Houston County were wired. They looked at the ash and they started planning. Two years after that fire, in 1883, a husband and wife, George W. and Loucetta A.

Julian, stepped forward and donated three acres right here at this site for a new Methodist church building. Three acres, freely given. And because of where those acres sat, right in the middle of things, the place was named Center Hill.

Central location, central name. The new building didn't just hold Sunday services either. A community school called Center Ridge met inside those same walls, carrying on that old tradition of church and school sharing one roof.

Then, in 1914, a separate school structure went up, one mile northeast of here. That school kept its doors open through 1935, when it was merged with the Kennard School District. But the story of Center Hill doesn't stop with any one building or any one institution.

These communities stayed woven together. The cemetery established at Corinth back in 1864 is still the place area citizens lay their people to rest. And descendants of those early settlers, they're still here.

That is the thing about a place named for where it stands. It tends to stay put.

What the marker says

Early settlers in this part of Houston County established homes in the nearby communities of Corinth, Old Zion, and Randolph. Community life centered around farming and church activities. Settlers met together for worship at the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, in Corinth. A building erected there in the late 1850s served as both church and school for the surrounding communities until it was destroyed by fire in 1881. Sensitive to the need for a new church structure to serve area residents, George W. and Loucetta A. Julian donated three acres at this site in 1883 for a new Methodist church building. Because of its central location, it was named Center Hill. A community school, named Center Ridge, also met in the church building. A separate school structure was erected one mile northeast in 1914 and continued in service until 1935, when the school was merged with the Kennard School District. Center Hill maintained its ties to the earlier communities, and area citizens continue to use the cemetery established at Corinth in 1864. Descendants of early settlers remain in the area.