Circleville is a town in Piute County,

Utah Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is one of the Four Corners states, sharing a border with Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. It also borders Wyoming to the northea ...

, United States. The population was 550 at the 2020 census.

Geography

According to the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...

, the town has a total area of 9.1 square miles (23.5 km²), all land. The

American Discovery Trail The American Discovery Trail is a system of recreational trails and roads that collectively form a coast-to-coast hiking and biking trail across the mid-tier of the United States. Horses can also be ridden on most of this trail. The coastal tr ...

runs through Circleville.

Climate

The

Köppen Climate Classification The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (te ...

subtype for this climate is "

Dfb DFB may refer to: Music * Dem Franchize Boyz, an Atlanta hip hop group * Dysfunctional Family BBQ, a New York festival Sport * DFB-Pokal, a football cup competition in Germany Organisations * Furka Steam Railway (), Switzerland * German Footbal ...

" (Warm Summer Continental Climate).

History

In the area that became Circleville, the first European colonizers arrived in 1864. They were

Mormon Mormons are a religious and cultural group related to Mormonism, the principal branch of the Latter Day Saint movement started by Joseph Smith in upstate New York during the 1820s. After Smith's death in 1844, the movement split into several ...

settlers from

Mormonism Mormonism is the theology and religious tradition of the Latter Day Saint movement of Restorationism, Restorationist Christianity started by Joseph Smith in Western New York in the 1820s and 1830s. As a label, Mormonism has been applied to va ...

's largest denomination the

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a nontrinitarian restorationist Christian denomination and the largest denomination in the Latter Day Saint movement. Founded durin ...

(LDS Church). The town is located within Circle Valley which gets its name from its circular shape. The valley is completely encircled by mountains except where the

Sevier River The Sevier River (pronounced "severe") is a -long river in the Great Basin of southwestern Utah in the United States. Originating west of Bryce Canyon National Park, the river flows north through a chain of high farming valleys and steep canyon ...

enters and exits the valley in the north and south. In April 1866, the settlement was the site of the Circleville Massacre, a

lynching Lynching is an extrajudicial killing by a group. It is most often used to characterize informal public executions by a mob in order to punish an alleged or convicted transgressor or to intimidate others. It can also be an extreme form of i ...

of 27

Southern Paiute The Southern Paiute people () are a tribe of Native Americans who have lived in the Colorado River basin of southern Nevada, northern Arizona, and southern Utah. Bands of Southern Paiute live in scattered locations throughout this territory an ...

men, women, and children by LDS settlers during the

Black Hawk War The Black Hawk War was a conflict between the United States and Native Americans in the United States, Native Americans led by Black Hawk (Sauk leader), Black Hawk, a Sauk people, Sauk leader. The war erupted after Black Hawk and a group of ...

. In 2016, a monument was dedicated in the town park to remember the Native American people murdered during the massacre. On June 28, 1866, the town was abandoned by the original settlers due to the war. A few settlers began to trickle back into the area in 1873 Utah State Archives
and the town was re-established in 1874 when Charles Wakeman Dalton crossed the mountain from

Beaver Beavers (genus ''Castor'') are large, semiaquatic rodents of the Northern Hemisphere. There are two existing species: the North American beaver (''Castor canadensis'') and the Eurasian beaver (''C. fiber''). Beavers are the second-large ...

with two of his wives and family. Circleville became an incorporated community on August 24, 1921. Local residents were interested in facilitating the public services which municipal government provides, and they were particularly interested in building a culinary water system.

Demographics

As of the

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

of 2000, there were 505 people, 172 households, and 132 families residing in the town. The

population density Population density (in agriculture: Standing stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geog ...

was 55.7 people per square mile (21.5/km²). There were 222 housing units at an average density of 24.5 per square mile (9.5/km²). There were 172 households, out of which 37.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 68.0% were

married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...

living together, 5.8% had a female householder with no husband present, and 22.7% were non-families. 22.1% of all households were made up of individuals, and 14.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.94 and the average family size was 3.45. In the town, the population was spread out, with 34.7% under the age of 18, 5.9% from 18 to 24, 18.4% from 25 to 44, 23.2% from 45 to 64, and 17.8% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females, there were 98.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 98.8 males. The racial makeup of the town was 97.23%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 0.20%

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

, 0.40% Native American, 0.20% Asian, 0.20%

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe th ...

, 0.99% from other races, and 0.79% from two or more races.

Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...

or Latino of any race were 4.36% of the population. The median income for a household in the town was $32,083, and the median income for a family was $36,875. Males had a median income of $25,536 versus $19,063 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...

for the town was $12,919. About 8.7% of families and 12.8% of the population were below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...

, including 15.2% of those under age 18 and 12.5% of those age 65 or over.

Notable people

Notable outlaw

Butch Cassidy Robert LeRoy Parker (April 13, 1866 – November 7, 1908), better known as Butch Cassidy, was an American train robbery, train and bank robbery, bank robber and the leader of a gang of criminal outlaws known as the "Butch Cassidy's Wild Bunch, ...

(1866–1908) grew up in Circle Valley just a mile south of Circleville. His family's small cabin, on the outskirts of town, is still standing on the land they homesteaded.

Charlie Siringo Charles Angelo Siringo (February 7, 1855 – October 18, 1928) was an American lawman, detective, bounty hunter, and agent for the Pinkerton National Detective Agency during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Early life Siringo was born o ...

visited Circleville while in pursuit of the

Wild Bunch The Wild Bunch, also known as the Doolin–Dalton Gang, or the Oklahombres, were a gang of American outlaws based in the Indian Territory in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. They were active in Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas, and Oklahoma Terr ...

. Siringo wrote, "a week was spent in the straggling village of Circleville, and I found out all about 'Butch's' early life and much about his late doings. His true name was Parker, his nickname being 'Sallie' Parker when a boy. This nickname of itself was enough to drive a sensitive boy to the 'bad'. I had hard work to keep from falling in love with Miss Parker, the pretty young sister of 'Butch' Cassidy. She was the deputy postmistress in Circleville, and I made her acquaintance." Lula Parker Betenson (b. 1884), sister of "Butch" Cassidy, lived in Circleville, dying aged 96 in 1980. Betenson's 1975 book ''Butch Cassidy, My Brother,'' co-authored with Dora Flack, recounts her memory that Cassidy visited Circleville in 1924, adding to the controversy over whether he had died previously in

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

. This visit by Cassidy to Circleville is also reported by author W. C. Jameson in ''Butch Cassidy: Beyond the Grave.''Jameson, W.C. '' Butch Cassidy: Beyond the Grave''. 2012. Carrie Allen, born in Circleville in 1889, was a spinster and a school teacher. She wrote a history of Circleville. She died in 1983 in Circleville.

Sources

External links

Town of Circleville, Utah
{{authority control Towns in Piute County, Utah Towns in Utah Populated places established in 1864 1864 establishments in Utah Territory