Circle, MT

Circle is a town and the county seat of McCone County, Montana, in the Redwater Valley of the state’s eastern prairie. The 2020 census counted 591 residents. Montana Highway 200 runs east toward Sidney and west toward Jordan, while Highway 200S leads south toward Glendive. The Redwater River flows northeast from the Circle area toward the Missouri River. Circle Public Schools serve kindergarten through twelfth grade, and county-seat duties give the town reach beyond its size.

The town’s name comes from the Circle Ranch, a cattle operation established along the Redwater in the 1880s. Rancher Seth Mabry branded cattle with a plain circle, and the name followed the nearby settlement. The McCone County Museum keeps that story in its original train depot, caboose, schoolhouse, church, homestead house, farm equipment, and wildlife collection. The county fair and PRCA rodeo bring the wider ranch country into town each year. Circle is a small Montana county seat with a river valley, a railroad museum campus, and a name that started with a cattle brand.