Some tourist trade came from fishermen on Toledo Bend Reservoir. In the 1980s Center manufacturers processed timber and poultry products. The 1980 population tabulations showed 3,903 Whites, 1,906 Blacks, 5 Filipinos, and 13 Asian Indians. The town's growth has generally been slow and steady: its population grew from 1,684 in 1910 to 3,010 in 1940 and to 5,827 in 1980. Electrical power was available at Center by 1909. Local telephone service was started in 1905 and became part of the Bell telephone system in 1915. The Gulf, Beaumont and Great Northern Railway arrived at Center by 1904. Gibson's "Irish Castle," which still stood in the 1980s and was a popular tourist attraction. In 1882 the town's frame courthouse burned, and it was replaced by J. Sam Weaver surveyed the community's site in 1869. Finally, in August of that year some Center residents stole the county records and moved them to Center, thereby permanently establishing Center as the county seat. In an election called in January 1866 Center was voted the new county seat, but a number of people disputed the results, and no action was taken for some months. The community was involved in the Regulator-Moderator War. Wilson and Jesse Amason donated the land for the town. Center is seventeen miles from the Louisiana border and 118 miles north of Beaumont at the center of Shelby County.
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