Circleville

Circleville is on State Highway 95 one mile south of the San Gabriel River and seventy miles south of Waco in Williamson County. The town was settled in 1853 by three brothers, skilled craftsmen, James, Joseph, and William Eubank, and named for its semicircle of homes. In its early days it had a general store, a gristmill, a gin, a molasses press, tin and pewter shops, a blacksmith shop, a carding factory, a school, a church, and, from 1857 to 1911, a post office. The Kansas, Texas and Missouri Railroad ran through town in the 1880s; several train wrecks occurred there because of an ill-designed curve near the San Gabriel River. The school was consolidated with the Jonah school in 1949. In 1980 Circleville had a cattle auction barn, two stores, a tavern, and a population of fifty. In 1990 and again in 2000 the population was forty-two.