Content deleted Content added
Keystone18 (talk | contribs) →Canada: combine sentences |
m Reverted 1 edit by 2409:40C1:10DE:42E8:85E2:37E8:755F:B98 (talk) to last revision by 142.68.88.194 |
||
| (29 intermediate revisions by 21 users not shown) | |||
Line 3:
{{Use American English|date=August 2021}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2022}}
A '''county seat''' is an administrative center, [[seat of government]], or capital city of a [[county]] or [[parish (administrative division)|civil parish]]. The term is in use in five countries
==Function==▼
[[File:QACourthouse QueenstownMD.jpg|thumb|The old Queen Anne's County [[courthouse]] in [[Maryland]], U.S.]]▼
In most of the [[United States]], [[county (United States)|counties]] are the [[administrative division|political subdivisions]] of a [[U.S. state|state]]. The city, town, or populated place that houses county government is known as the '''seat''' of its respective county. Generally, the county legislature, county courthouse, sheriff's department headquarters, hall of records, jail and correctional facility are located in the county seat, though some functions (such as highway maintenance, which usually requires a large garage for vehicles, along with asphalt and salt storage facilities) may also be located or conducted in other parts of the county, especially if it is geographically large.▼
A county seat is usually an incorporated [[municipality]]. The exceptions include the county seats of counties that have no incorporated municipalities within their borders, such as [[Arlington County, Virginia]], where the county seat is the entire county.<ref>{{cite web|title=Counties in Virginia and the Location of Their Seats of Government|url=http://www.dhcd.virginia.gov/CommissiononLocalGovernment/PDFs/county.seats.pdf|publisher=Virginia Commission on Local Government|access-date=10 April 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181113040156/http://www.dhcd.virginia.gov/CommissiononLocalGovernment/PDFs/county.seats.pdf|archive-date=13 November 2018|url-status=dead}}</ref> [[Ellicott City, Maryland|Ellicott City]], the county seat of [[Howard County, Maryland]], is the largest unincorporated county seat in the United States, followed by [[Towson, Maryland|Towson]], the county seat of [[Baltimore County, Maryland]]. Likewise, some county seats may not be incorporated in their own right, but are located within incorporated municipalities. For example, [[Cape May Court House, New Jersey]], though unincorporated, is a section of [[Middle Township, New Jersey|Middle Township]], an incorporated municipality. In some states, often those that were among the original [[Thirteen Colonies]], county seats include or formerly included "Court House" as part of their name, such as [[Spotsylvania Courthouse, Virginia]].▼
==Canada==
In [[Canada]], the [[Provinces and territories of Canada|provinces]] of [[Ontario]], [[Quebec]], [[New Brunswick]], [[Prince Edward Island]], and [[Nova Scotia]] have counties as an administrative division of government below the provincial level, and thus county seats. In the provinces of Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia the term "shire town" is used in place of county seat.<ref>{{
==China==
Line 58 ⟶ 52:
[[File:Allentown.jpg|thumb|[[Allentown, Pennsylvania]], the third-largest city in [[Pennsylvania]] and county seat of [[Lehigh County, Pennsylvania|Lehigh County]]]]
[[File:Renville County Courthouse MN.jpg|thumb|Many county seats in the United States feature a historic courthouse, such as this one in [[Renville County, Minnesota]].]]
▲===Function===
▲[[File:QACourthouse QueenstownMD.jpg|thumb|The old
▲In most of the [[United States]], a [[
▲A county seat is usually an incorporated [[municipality]]. The exceptions include the county seats of counties that have no incorporated municipalities within their borders, such as [[Arlington County, Virginia]], where the county seat is the entire county.<ref>{{cite web|title=Counties in Virginia and the Location of Their Seats of Government|url=http://www.dhcd.virginia.gov/CommissiononLocalGovernment/PDFs/county.seats.pdf|publisher=Virginia Commission on Local Government|access-date=10 April 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181113040156/http://www.dhcd.virginia.gov/CommissiononLocalGovernment/PDFs/county.seats.pdf|archive-date=13 November 2018|url-status=dead}}</ref> [[Ellicott City, Maryland|Ellicott City]], the county seat of [[Howard County, Maryland]], is the largest unincorporated county seat in the United States, followed by [[Towson, Maryland|Towson]], the county seat of [[Baltimore County, Maryland]]. Likewise, some county seats may not be incorporated in their own right, but are located within incorporated municipalities. For example, [[Cape May Court House, New Jersey]], though unincorporated, is a section of [[Middle Township, New Jersey|Middle Township]], an incorporated municipality. In some states, often those that were among the original [[Thirteen Colonies]], county seats include or formerly included "Court House" as part of their name, such as [[Spotsylvania Courthouse, Virginia]].
===U.S. counties with more than one county seat===
Most counties have only one county seat.
There are 36 counties with multiple county seats in 11 states:
Line 106 ⟶ 104:
====New England====
In [[New England]], counties have served mainly as dividing lines for the states' judicial systems. [[Rhode Island]] has no county level of government and thus no county seats, and [[Massachusetts]] has dissolved many but not all of its county governments.
In 2024, [[Connecticut]], which had not defined their counties for anything but statistical, historical and weather warning purposes since 1960, along with ending the use of county seats in particular, will fully transition with the permission of the [[United States Census Bureau]] to a system of [[Councils of governments in Connecticut|councils of government]] for the purposes of boundary definition and as county equivalents.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Proposed Change to County Equivalents in Connecticut|url=https://www2.census.gov/geo/pdfs/reference/ct_county_equiv_change.pdf|website=US Census Bureau}}</ref>
====South Dakota====
Two counties in [[South Dakota]], [[Oglala Lakota County, South Dakota|Oglala Lakota]] and [[Todd County, South Dakota|Todd]], have their county seat and government services centered in a neighboring county.
====Virginia====
In [[Virginia]], a county seat may be an [[independent city (United States)|independent city]] surrounded by, but not part of, the county of which it is the administrative center; for example, [[Fairfax, Virginia|Fairfax City]] is both the county seat of [[Fairfax County, Virginia]] and completely surrounded by Fairfax County, but the city is politically independent of the county. When the county seat is in the independent city, government offices such as the courthouse may be in the independent city under an agreement, such as in [[Albemarle County, Virginia|Albemarle]], or may in be [[enclave and exclave|enclave]]s of the county surrounded by the independent city, such as in [[Fairfax County, Virginia|Fairfax]]. Others, such as [[Prince William County, Virginia|Prince William]], have the courthouse in an enclave surrounded by the independent city and have the county government, the Board of Supervisors, in a different part of the county, far from the county seat. The following counties have their county seat in an independent city:
*[[Albemarle County, Virginia|Albemarle County]] ([[Charlottesville, Virginia|Charlottesville]])
*[[Alleghany County, Virginia|Alleghany County]] ([[Covington, Virginia|Covington]])
Line 134 ⟶ 132:
|-
|
* [[List of
* [[List of
* [[List of
* [[List of
* [[List of
* [[List of
* [[List of
* [[List of
* [[List of
* [[List of
|
* [[List of
* [[List of
* [[List of
* [[List of
* [[List of
* [[List of
* [[List of
* [[List of
* [[List of
* [[List of
|
* [[List of
* [[List of
* [[List of
* [[List of
* [[List of
* [[List of
* [[List of
* [[List of
* [[List of
* [[List of
|
* [[List of
* [[List of
* [[List of
* [[List of
* [[List of
* [[List of
* [[List of
* [[List of
* [[List of
* [[List of
|
* [[List of
* [[List of counties in Tennessee|Tennessee]]
* [[List of
* [[List of
* [[List of
* [[List of
* [[List of
* [[List of
* [[List of
* [[List of
|}
| |||