On November 25, 1859, the first post office was established and called
Zanzenberg after the ancestral home of the town founder Dr. Charles Ganahl.
Originally opened in the home of Dr. Ganahl, the post office stayed there
until 1872 when it was moved to the south side of the Guadalupe River, where
a sizable community was building. When the post office was reopened it was
called Center Point due to its location on the trade routes, mentioned
above.
Founded largely by settlers from western Tennessee, the community continued
to grow as relatives and neighbors from Tennessee converged on the banks of
the Guadalupe to call Zanzenburg/Center Point their new home. On September
1, 1857, the first native of Center Point came into this world when Daniel
C. Nowlin, son of Dr. James Crispin Nowlin and Ann Gathings Nowlin, was
born. Daniel served as Kerr County Surveyor, sheriff of Lincoln County, New
Mexico, and then to Wyoming where he was a prominent sheep rancheruntil his
death on February 5, 1925.
The first attempt at incorporating Center Point came on August 9, 1889 for
“school purposes” as cited in minutes of Kerr County Commissioners Court,
Book D Pages 385-387.
At the turn of the 20th century Center Point was a thriving trade center and
remained so until like so many communities in America it became the victim
of progress as the emergence of new highways passed it by. Once again, on
March 1, 1913, Center Point voted itself an incorporated city, appointed a
mayor, city clerk, commissioners’ health officer, and then, in October of
the same year, dissolved itself by a popular vote of the people. It remained
unincorporated until the mid-1990s, when it was once again voted that
incorporation was the way to go. Within less than two years, it was once
again voted that the incorporation should be dissolved. As such Center Point
remains as one of the largest unincorporated communities in the state of
Texas.
