Editing Circleville, Ohio (section)

==History==
===Early history===
[[File:Circleville map.png|thumb|left|Map of Circleville's original layout]]
By the mid-18th century, the [[Lenape]] ([[Delaware Indians]]) were pushed west from Pennsylvania by European settlers flowing into the colony. The Lenape were given permission by the [[Wyandot people]] to settle in the Ohio country. One of their settlements was Maguck, a small village built before 1750 on the banks of the [[Scioto River]]. Modern Circleville was built to the north of this site.<ref>{{cite book| first= R. Douglas| last= Hurt| title= The Ohio Frontier: Crucible of the Old Northwest, 1720–1830| location= Bloomington| publisher= Indiana University Press| year= 1998| page= 17}}</ref>

Frontier explorer [[Christopher Gist]] was the first recorded European explorer of the Circleville area. On January 20, 1751, Gist visited Maguck, which had a small population of about 10 families. He wrote in his journal that he had stayed in the town for four days.<ref>{{cite book| editor-last= Darlington| editor-first= William| title= Christopher Gist's Journals| url= https://archive.org/details/christophergists00gistuoft| first= Christopher| last= Gist| year= 1893| author-link= Christopher Gist}}</ref> Between the time of the establishment of the United States and of the city's settlement, the land was owned by the US federal government (As opposed to other land in the county, which was part of the [[Virginia Military District]]).<ref name="Williams">{{cite book|title=History of Franklin and Pickaway counties, Ohio|publisher=Williams Bros|url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=msu.31293104537158|date=1880|access-date=April 24, 2018}}</ref>{{rp|213–4}}
<!--The land became part of [[Washington Township, Pickaway County, Ohio|Washington Township]], which only legally split from Circleville between March and May 1833, after a lengthy petition and appeal process.<ref name="Williams"/>{{rp|214}}-->

Circleville was founded by European-American settlers in 1810, as people relocated westward after the [[American Revolutionary War]].<ref name="VanCleaf"/>{{rp|32–3}}
One such settler was George Hitler Sr., who migrated to Circleville in 1799 with his wife and 4 children, with seven more being born in Circleville after they resettled. One of these children, Dr. Gay Hitler, used to be a dentist. Numerous features of the town are named after this family, these being two 'Hitler' roads, Hubert Hitler Road, Hitler Pond, Hitler-Park, and Hitler-Ludvig cemetery.<ref>[https://www.amusingplanet.com/2018/03/the-good-hitlers-of-circleville.html The Good Hitlers of Circleville]</ref><ref>[https://www.spiegel.de/geschichte/schraege-geschichte-wie-die-hitlers-nach-ohio-kamen-a-e41b43f6-14e5-467e-a0b1-b20b8712ed9c Wie die Hitlers nach Ohio kamen]</ref> There is no connection between the family and [[Adolf Hitler]], whose surname was defined much later.

===Establishment===
On January 12, 1810, Pickaway County was established by order of the [[Ohio General Assembly]]. On February 19 of that year, the assembly appointed David Bradford, George Jackson, and John Pollock to choose the location for the county seat. The men ventured across the county and inspected numerous sites. The Hopewell fortifications were still intact at this time, and were selected as the site for Circleville's construction.  A history of the county published in 1880 suggests that the men thought the site location would spur the preservation and maintenance of the Hopewell mounds. The group was subsequently assigned appointed director [[Daniel Dreisbach]] to oversee them on July 25. Dreisbach was to purchase the land, determine lots, and distribute them. At the time, the land was owned by [[Jacob Zeiger]], Zeiger Jr., and Samuel Watt; Dreisbach purchased 200 acres for a sum of $800 to $900.<ref name="VanCleaf">{{cite book|editor-last=Van Cleaf|editor-first=Aaron R.|title=History of Pickaway County, Ohio, and Representative Citizens|publisher=Biographical Publishing Company|location=Chicago|url=https://archive.org/details/historyofpickawa02vanc|date=1906|access-date=April 24, 2018}}</ref>{{rp|31–32}}

The first sale of property in the new town was followed with a celebration: a barbecue, and the manufacture of a several-hundred-pound wheel of cheese, which was transported to the barbecue on a sled. A competition for the honor of constructing the first house also took place. By 1827, the town had a population of 725 people, 102 individual houses, a courthouse, jail, government office building, a private and public school, one church, nine stores, three pharmacies, three groceries, and a market house. All buildings were made with brick, except the jail, which was made out of stone.<ref name="VanCleaf"/>{{rp|32–3}}

The settlement was formally incorporated as the town of Circleville in 1814, and it was made a city on March 25, 1853.<ref name="VanCleaf"/>{{rp|36–8}}
<!--
Etymology - derived from the town plan<ref name="VanCleaf"/>{{rp|34}}

It derived its name from the circular portion of a large, ancient [[earthworks (archaeology)|earthwork]] of what is known now to have been a remnant of the Native American [[Hopewell culture]]; the town was built on top of the remains of this. The original town plan integrated Circleville into the remains of the Hopewell earthworks with a street layout {{convert|1,100|ft|abbr=on}} diameter circle. This was connected to a {{convert|900|ft|abbr=on}} square. These dated from the early [[Common Era]]; the Hopewell tradition flourished until about CE500. An octagonal courthouse was built directly in the center circle of the town (at the present-day intersection of Court and Main streets<ref name="VanCleaf"/>{{rp|35}}).<ref name=History>{{cite web|url= http://www.ci.circleville.oh.us/205/History-of-Circleville|title=History of Circleville|publisher=City of Circleville|website=ci.circleville.oh.us|access-date=May 11, 2015}}</ref>

The Hopewell circles were documented by [[Caleb Atwater]], a resident and historian who was considered an early archeologist; the earthworks were illustrated by Plate 5 of his ''Description of the Antiquities Discovered in the State of Ohio and Other Western States'', a 160-page report he published in 1820 in the first volume of the ''Transactions'' of the American Antiquarian Society.<ref name= boewe>{{cite book| url= https://archive.org/details/johndcliffordsin00john | url-access= registration | quote= Clifford - Indian Antiquities”. | first1= John D.| last1= Clifford| first2= Constantine Samuel| last2= Rafinesque| title= John D. Clifford's Indian Antiquities| editor-first= Charles E. |editor-last= Boewe| publisher= University of Tennessee Press| year= 2000| isbn= 9781572330993}}</ref>-->

===Squaring the circle===
Over time, residents grew dissatisfied with Circleville's unusual layout. Some believed the design was kept only due to "childish sentimentalism", while others complained that the lots were irregular and inconvenient, and that a circular plan wasted space that could otherwise be used to generate revenue. Additionally, the space around the central courthouse had become unpresentable. People from the countryside would hitch their horses around the courthouse, which would draw hogs and domestic animals to the area and surrounding city.<ref name="VanCleaf"/>{{rp|34}}

In March 1837, at the request of the town, the Ohio General Assembly authorized the requested alterations given the consent of all property owners in the circle. In March 1838, after no activity, the assembly authorized alterations to any quadrant given consent from property owners in the quarter.<ref name="VanCleaf"/>{{rp|34}} The "Circleville Squaring Company" was created to convert the town plan into a squared grid, as was the typical style of platted towns.<ref name=History>{{cite web|url= http://www.ci.circleville.oh.us/205/History-of-Circleville|title=History of Circleville|publisher=City of Circleville|website=ci.circleville.oh.us|access-date=May 11, 2015}}</ref> The southeast corner was the first to be altered later in March, followed by the northwest quarter in September. The northeast corner was only squared in 1849, and the southwest was reformed in 1856. This process required intense construction work, such as destroying, moving, or constructing buildings and grading and repaving roads. Due to these changes, no traces of the original earthworks remain aside from a section of elevated ground at the corner of Pickaway and Franklin streets.<ref name="VanCleaf"/>{{rp|34–5}}
A history of the county makes note that the citizens of Circleville regret the rare circular layout of the town was ever changed.<ref name="VanCleaf"/>{{rp|34}}

The only drawings of Circleville before its squaring were made by G. F. Wittich. He made sketches of the courthouse, the circle, and the other buildings in 1836. Wittich used these drawings along with information from residents to create a map around 1860, of which he produced a watercolour rendition in 1870.<ref name="VanCleaf"/>{{rp|36}}

===20th century===
[[File:Circleville Pumpkin Water Tower crop.jpg|thumb|The Circleville Pumpkin Water Tower]]
During April 1967, Bingman's Drug Store and several neighboring buildings on West Main Street in downtown Circleville were destroyed. Lee Holbrook, the husband of a drug store employee, brought a wooden box containing bundled [[dynamite]] into the store, wherein it detonated during a struggle with the store's staff. Holbrook and four employees died in the blast and ensuing fire, and nearly thirty others were injured.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.dispatch.com/news/20170415/bombing-in-67-rocked-united-circleville|title=Bombing in '67 rocked, united Circleville|last=Zachariah|first=Holly|newspaper=[[The Columbus Dispatch]]|date=15 April 2017|access-date=15 April 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.circlevilleherald.com/news/new-book-focuses-on-circleville-bombing/article_0ecd7487-2e8a-5d0a-a064-feda69efd940.html|title=New book focuses on 1967 Circleville bombing|last=Collins|first=Steven|publisher=Circleville Herald|date=23 March 2017|access-date=15 April 2017}}</ref><ref>Foster, J.; Red Raku Press (2017), When Normal Blew Up: The Story of the People Who Died and the People Who Lived on, Lockhart, Texas.</ref>

On October 13, 1999, an [[Tornado intensity|F-3]] tornado hit the city, set off by a squall line moving through the region. The tornado touched down on the north side of town, dealing considerable damage to a barber's shop and a masonry building. A furniture store also received a hole in its roof, and it was reported that items from inside the store were sucked out.<ref name="NWSDamage">
{{cite web|url=http://www.erh.noaa.gov/er/iln/101399pns.htm |title=October 13, 1999 Public Information Statement |website=NOAA.gov |publisher=[[National Weather Service]], [[National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration]], US Dept. of Commerce |location=Wilmington, Ohio |date=October 14, 1999 |access-date=March 30, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030310012352/http://www.erh.noaa.gov/er/iln/101399pns.htm |archive-date=March 10, 2003 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Damage to nearby buildings occurred as the tornado moved east across the north-central part of town. The tornado moved into a residential area in the Northwood Park neighborhood, destroying several homes and damaging trees and vehicles.

=== Circleville letters mystery ===

Starting in 1977,<ref>{{Cite web|last=Hewitt|first=Les|date=2016-10-05|title=Circleville Letters Mystery Still Unsolved|url=https://www.historicmysteries.com/circleville-letters-mystery/|access-date=2020-08-25|website=Historic Mysteries|language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=The Mysterious Circleville Letter Writer|url=https://unsolved.com/gallery/poison-pen-murder/|access-date=2020-08-25|website=Unsolved Mysteries|language=en-US}}</ref> residents began receiving mysterious letters from an unknown source identified only as "Writer". The letters contained threats of violence and supposed blackmail, often as means of coercing the receiver to comply with the Writer's will (e.g., voting for the Writer's preferred candidate in the county election). On January 27, 1983, the Writer hung up a sign visible from the bus route of Circleville School, containing obscenities regarding the 13-year-old daughter of bus driver Mary Gillispie. Upon observation of the sign, Gillispie discovered a booby-trapped box containing a loaded gun, which was rigged to fire upon attempted removal of the sign. Gillispie and her husband Ronald had previously received letters from the Writer accusing her of engaging in an extramarital affair with school superintendent Gordon Massie. Ronald had been killed under mysterious circumstances 6 years prior, in August 1977.

While the Gillispies' brother-in-law Paul Freshour was sentenced to 10 years in prison for the boobytrap incident in 1984, letters continued to circulate during his imprisonment. It was only after Freshour's release in 1994 that the Writer ceased threatening the residents of Circleville.<ref>{{Cite news |title=The Circleville letters: You've got hate mail |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/pictures/circleville-letters-mail-gallery/ |date=2022-12-23 |access-date=2023-04-29 |publisher=CBS NEWS}}</ref>

As of August 2024, the identity of the Writer remains unknown.<ref>{{Cite news |title=Updates about the Circleville Mystery Writer |url=https://www.sciotopost.com/updates-about-the-circleville-mystery-writer/ |last=Schlichter |first=Brandon |date=2023-03-23 |access-date=2023-04-29 |work=The Scioto Post}}</ref>{{better source needed|date=December 2024}}