The town is said to be named after the fictional home town of Uncle Josh from the work of comedian
Cal Stewart, who was widely known for his phonograph records. The village had no name at that time and some of the young men formed a baseball team to compete with the surrounding
Hammond,
Springfield and
Albany teams. The team members named themselves the "Pumpkin Center" baseball team. Over time the residents of the surrounding cities and villages began referring to the area as Pumpkin Center and the name stuck. ==References==