Adapted from Albert C.T. Antrei, and Allen D. Roberts, A History of Sanpete County. Utah State Historical Society, 1999; “Centerfield History” Centerfield City, accessed April 14, 2020.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, Centerfield is named because of its location in the center of what Sanpete Settlers called the Field. The area was settled in 1871 as settlers moved from the fort in Gunnison to settle the surrounding area. Three large forms under the United Order of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints were located in the field in the 1870s.
By 1876, some residents of the town decided they wanted their own school house, so that their children would not have to risk the three mile walk to Gunnison for school. Some schooling was conducted in private residences, and a log school house (doubling as a community hall) was constructed in 1882. Some children attended this school, while the parents of others continued to send their children to the school in Gunnison.
In the early 1900s, more and more people settled in the Centerfield area, and the town saw some unique construction, including adobe homes, and a stone church with a mansard roof. An opera house that was originally used for plays was also used for basketball in 1912, and later roller skating and dances, until it burned down in 1927.
The town was incorporated in 1909, and the name was decided due to location (one account says this was not due to the being in the center of the field after all, but because the town was between Gunnison and Axtell). The town has mostly remained an agricultural center and over its history has produced sugar beets, peas, cabbage, cattle (for both meat and dairy production) and turkeys. The city has seen increased growth in recent years, and is approximately 1,475, up from 1,048 in 2000.