There's not much good to be said about Annville. It was a small town with a lot of dirty little secrets, and Jesse Custer knew them all. He was the preacher, the reverend of a small church. It was his first posting, arranged for him by his grandmother, Marie L'Angell, and he hated it.

Two hundred citizens of Annville died in the explosion of Custer's church when the Genesis entity possessed Custer. The police force was decimated when the Saint of Killers came through, hunting for Custer.