Crime Scene and Trauma Cleanup in Circleville, OH

Circleville is a city in Pickaway County and its county seat, located along the Scioto River about 25 miles south of Columbus.

Circleville was established in 1810 as the seat of the newly created Pickaway County, and it was built directly on top of a large circular earthwork built by the Hopewell culture in the early centuries of the Common Era.

The city is named for its original layout: the town was platted inside the earthwork's 1,100-foot-diameter circle, with an octagonal courthouse at the center and streets arranged in two concentric rings with others radiating outward.

Circleville's nickname is "Roundtown," a holdover from its days as a literally circular town.

Unhappy with the impractical radial plan, residents formed the Circleville Squaring Company, authorized in 1837, which gradually converted the town to a standard square grid by 1856 — a project sometimes called one of America's earliest urban redevelopment efforts — and in the process leveled nearly all of the ancient earthworks.

The 2020 census counted 13,927 residents in Circleville.

Circleville has about 5,800 households according to Census Bureau figures for 2020–2024, and only about 56 percent of its homes are owner-occupied.

Circleville is famous across Ohio for the Circleville Pumpkin Show, a street festival begun in 1903 by Mayor George Haswell that is billed as "The Greatest Free Show on Earth."

The Pumpkin Show, held over four days each October, draws more than 400,000 visitors — roughly 30 times the city's population — and puts more than 100,000 pounds of pumpkins, squash and gourds on display.

The show's giant-pumpkin record is 1,964 pounds, set by Circleville growers Robert and Jo Liggett at the 2014 Pumpkin Show.