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History · Circleville

Circleville’s post office opened in 1861, and 64% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1888 on and the census since 1880.

1861first post office
0on the National Register
64%homes built before 1940
Quick answers

How Circleville began

When was Circleville founded?

1861

The Circleville post office opened in 1861, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 122 in 18802020 census: 153165 years
Founding year: the first Circleville post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Circleville’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

★ What stands out · Help out

Start Circleville’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Circleville’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
On the map

Circleville on the map, 1888 to 1961

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Circleville. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Circleville on the 1888 USGS mapCircleville on the 1894 USGS mapCircleville on the 1961 USGS map1888Hiawatha sheet · 1:125,000

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Circleville.

The story

How Circleville came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Circleville.

Read it all →

Circleville was founded in 1863. It may have been named after Circleville, Ohio, or because the town "circled" around the prairie.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Circleville, 1861 to 1910

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1861Post officeThe Circleville post office opens
  3. 1888On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  4. 20th century
  5. 1910CensusPopulation peaks at 265
By decade

No old photos in the archives yet

Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.

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People over time

Circleville, census by census

010020018801900192019401960198020002020Peak: 265

Peaked at 265 in 1910; 153 people lived here in 2020.

15 censuses, 1880–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Circleville’s Wikipedia page.

Famous people

Famous people close to Circleville

Nobody well known was born in Circleville itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.

See all →

Questions about Circleville’s history

What year was Circleville founded?

The Circleville post office opened in 1861, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021). How TownRatings grades history →

From Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.