Typical of Utah's early settlers, the Centerville folk began a wall in 1853 to protect their small community. It was never completed. In 1854, a second wall began to rise, six feet wide at the bottom and about eight feet tall, around the nine blocks that then constituted the town. When expected Indian attacks failed to materialize, this effort, too, was abandoned. By 1855,the town boasted a population of 194.

Centerville's land was fertile, and soon there were healthy crops of wheat and vegetables. But, also in concert with other early communities, farmers found crickets and grasshoppers were anxious to feast on their hardearned crops. In one instance,local lore says, one of the neighborhood's fabled east winds came just in time to blow hungry pests into the Great Salt Lake,saving  the crops.

Shoemakers, carpenters, cabinetmakers, wheelwrights, rock masons, a butcher and others traded services as needed. When LDS Church leader Brigham Young promoted a silk industry among the women of Utah Territory, some in Centerville took up sericulture. Housewives traded eggs, butter, garden produce and the work of their hands for the merchandise offered in the local stores. They also carded wool and spun yarn for clothing and other household items, made their own candles and soap, generated starch from potatoes and knit warm weather accessories for their families.

In 1866, William Reeves built a station to serve the Wells Fargo stagecoach. When the Utah Central Railroad came through the area in 1870, making stagecoaches an anachronism, the building converted into an amusement hall where dances were held and local thespians put on their performances. It was known for a time as the Elkhorn Hall and served as a community center and church while the Centerville Ward Chapel was under construction in 1879_80.

As Centerville grew, the need for central services became more pressing. In 1915, a few local residents petitioned Davis County to incorporate the town so that a culinary water system could be developed. That first system consisted of wirewrapped woodstave pipes, which were not replaced by metal pipes until 1936. Centerville was upgraded to a thirdclass city in 1956.The addition of Weber Basin water as an aid to irrigation was hailed as the major event of the following year.