While the Church might not agree with my assessment of history:
At one time (ex during settling of usa), you'd have towns which at the center was the Church which was a place of meeting and planning, not just of attending mass. (there's a name for this style of town it slips my mind)
The design was quite intentional, the most important buildign built was the Church - it was at the center, farms all around, there was no resources for "building another town center just so that town meetings were in another building" and no idea town business wasn't separate from the Church