Circle Back, also Circleback, is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

in Bailey County,

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

, United States. According to the

Handbook of Texas The Texas State Historical Association (TSHA) is an American nonprofit educational and research organization dedicated to documenting the history of Texas. It was founded in Austin, Texas, United States, on March 2, 1897. In November 2008, the ...

, the community had a population of 10 in 2000.

History

The community was named after the circle-shaped

brand A brand is a name, term, design, symbol or any other feature that distinguishes one seller's goods or service from those of other sellers. Brands are used in business, marketing, and advertising for recognition and, importantly, to create and ...

used by a cattle ranch to the south. At one time, Circle Back had around a dozen houses, a

filling station A filling station (also known as a gas station [] or petrol station []) is a facility that sells fuel and engine lubricants for motor vehicles. The most common fuels sold are gasoline (or petrol) and diesel fuel. Fuel dispensers are used to ...

, and a combination store/post office. The community had four different postmasters: Gordon A. Sharman on February 25, 1931, Leaburn H. Harper on January 18, 1944, Bulah L. Harper on September 19, 1951, and Nella Boyce on August 26, 1953. The post office shut down that next year and got its mail from nearby

Sudan Sudan, officially the Republic of the Sudan, is a country in Northeast Africa. It borders the Central African Republic to the southwest, Chad to the west, Libya to the northwest, Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the east, Eritrea and Ethiopi ...

. The community had around 100 residents in 1949 and served

cattle Cattle (''Bos taurus'') are large, domesticated, bovid ungulates widely kept as livestock. They are prominent modern members of the subfamily Bovinae and the most widespread species of the genus '' Bos''. Mature female cattle are calle ...

and

sheep Sheep (: sheep) or domestic sheep (''Ovis aries'') are a domesticated, ruminant mammal typically kept as livestock. Although the term ''sheep'' can apply to other species in the genus '' Ovis'', in everyday usage it almost always refers to d ...

ranches. Raymond and Elizabeth Gage were members of a local

Independent Order of Odd Fellows The Independent Order of Odd Fellows (IOOF) is a non-political, non-sectarian international fraternal order of Odd Fellowship. It was founded in 1819 by Thomas Wildey in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Evolving from the Odd Fellows, Order ...

from the late 1940s to the 1960s. Local store owner Sarah "Zue" Smart managed it until it burned around 1965. The population plunged to 49 in 1980 and the only residents left were the pastor of the local

Baptist Baptists are a Christian denomination, denomination within Protestant Christianity distinguished by baptizing only professing Christian believers (believer's baptism) and doing so by complete Immersion baptism, immersion. Baptist churches ge ...

church, his wife, and their two children by the middle of the decade. Its population was 10 from 1990 through 2000 but was reduced by two in 2014.

Geography

Circle Back is located at the intersection of Farm to Market Roads 298 and 3397, northwest of

Lubbock Lubbock ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat of Lubbock County. With a population of 272,086 in 2024, Lubbock is the 10th-most populous city in Texas and the 84th-most populous in the United States. The city is in the ...

and some away from Needmore in eastern Bailey County.

Education

Circle Back had a school that hosted six grade levels from 1918 to 1956. The Circle Back school district then joined with the Sudan Independent School District in 1957, after the division of Lamb and Bailey counties. The community continues to be served by the Sudan ISD today.

References

{{authority control Unincorporated communities in Bailey County, Texas Unincorporated communities in Texas