Where is Center Point compared with Kerrville?
Center Point is about eight miles southeast of Kerrville on the Guadalupe River.
Kerr County · Guadalupe River · Midpoint town
Where Is Center Point, Texas?
Center Point sits on the Guadalupe River about eight miles southeast of Kerrville, between Kerrville and Comfort. Its name is itself a map lesson: tradition says the community was chosen as a “center point” between two different pairs of Hill Country towns.
Where is Center Point on the Texas Hill Country map?
Center Point sits southeast of Kerrville on the Guadalupe River and northwest of Comfort. Fredericksburg lies to the northeast; Bandera to the southwest. Those four larger anchors explain both the town’s position and the origin story of its name.
The first Center Point was not called Center Point—and sat on the other side of the river
Dr. Charles de Ganahl opened a post office in his home on the north side of the Guadalupe in 1859. He named it Zanzenburg after his ancestral home in the Austrian Tyrol.
In 1872 a new postmaster moved the postal operation to the south side of the river and renamed the growing community Center Point. The move shifted the official center of the town along with the name.
Was Center Point really the center point?
Local tradition says the name reflected two midpoint relationships: halfway between Kerrville and Comfort, and halfway between Fredericksburg and Bandera. That claim is too good not to test.
Using the game’s coordinates and straight-line distance, the first pair works remarkably well: Center Point is roughly nine miles from Kerrville and eight miles from Comfort. The Fredericksburg–Bandera pair is less exact in straight-line geometry; Center Point is considerably closer to Bandera.
That does not disprove the old name story. Nineteenth-century “halfway” could describe travel routes, road mileage, wagon time or local perception rather than geometric distance. The useful thing is to show both the tradition and the measurement instead of pretending they are the same claim.
The railroad tried to move the town center back across the Guadalupe
In 1888 Charles de Ganahl’s widow, Virginia de Ganahl, deeded 200 acres to the San Antonio and Aransas Pass Railway. She hoped railroad development would pull the population back to the north side of the river around a proposed community called Ganahl.
The attempt did not erase Center Point. The south-bank community retained its identity and continued as a local trade center. The episode is a miniature example of nineteenth-century town competition: move the post office, move the depot, and perhaps the “center” of settlement moves too.
Then the highway partially bypassed the trade center
In the 1920s, paved-road development skirted the edge of town. Surrounding communities gained better transportation of their own, reducing Center Point’s old advantage as a central trade location.
The town survived, but its history is unusually geographic from beginning to end: north bank to south bank, proposed shift back north, and finally a modern highway pulling traffic outward.
Testing the name
Is Center Point actually the midpoint?
The Kerrville–Comfort claim holds up strikingly well (≈9.6 vs ≈8.0 miles). The Fredericksburg–Bandera claim doesn’t, in straight-line terms — old “halfway” likely meant road travel.
A town that moved
The town crossed the Guadalupe twice
The community’s center kept crossing the river: north-bank Zanzenburg (1859), south-bank Center Point (1872), and an 1888 railway bid to pull it back north to a proposed town called Ganahl.
Transportation reshapes trade
Post office → railroad → highway
A 1920s paved highway skirted the edge of town instead of running through it — weakening Center Point’s old advantage as a central trade location without erasing the town.
Split the corridor
Can you pin Center Point?
Split the Guadalupe corridor between Kerrville and Comfort.
Tap or click the map to drop your pin.
Nearby Hill Country towns
The Guadalupe corridor cluster, measured from the game’s coordinate data.
- ComfortKendall Co.8.0 mi east
- KerrvilleKerr Co.9.6 mi northwest
- BanderaBandera Co.15.0 mi south
- IngramKerr Co.15.4 mi northwest
- MedinaBandera Co.16.1 mi southwest
- SisterdaleKendall Co.18.8 mi east
Approx. straight-line distances, measured from the game's coordinates — not driving distances.
Center Point map questions
Why is it called Center Point?
Tradition says the town was considered halfway between Kerrville and Comfort and also between Fredericksburg and Bandera.
What was Center Point originally called?
The first local post office was called Zanzenburg and operated on the north side of the Guadalupe before the post office moved south and became Center Point in 1872.
Did the railroad try to create another town there?
Yes. In 1888 land was donated to the railway in hopes of shifting settlement north around a proposed community called Ganahl, but Center Point retained its identity.