The area's growth was spurred by the relocation in 1826 of the Congregational Church building to its present location.

[1] The Centerville Historic District is located in southern Barnstable, roughly midway between the villages of Hyannis and Cotuit.

The district is essentially linear in shape, extending along Main Street from just south of Wilton Drive to a four-way junction with Church Hill Road and Bacon Lane, with a major triangular intersection with Park Street near the district's geographic center.

One, the Congregation Church at the southern end of the district, was built in 1797 and moved to its present location in 1826, an event that (along with an increase in maritime-related economic activity) stimulated development of this area in preference to Centerville's traditional center to the north.

The other church building, originally built in 1876 for a Methodist congregation, has been substantially altered and is no longer historically significant.