Formed November 1, 1683 (4th county)
New York County (1,694,250), Manhattan (1,694,250)
A 1927 masonry facility sits on Chambers Street between Broadway and Lafayette streets. An 1872 courthouse preceded the current structure. Guy Lowell is the architect of this Classical Romanesque building. New York State Highway 9 Alternate is four blocks northwest of the site. There are also a Criminal Courthouse (1941), a Civil Courthouse (1960), a Family Courthouse (1975), and a Surrogate Courthouse (1907.) The county was formed on November 1, 1683 as an original county (4th county.) New York County, like the state, is named for the Duke of York and Albany. He is also the namesake for Albany County and its county seat. Manhattan is Native American for “land of many hills.” Like all of the New York City counties, there is not a distinction for the county seat other than the neighborhood in which the courthouse is located. New York County was the birthplace for 8 New York Governors, John Jay, Morgan Lewis, John Tayler, Hamilton Fish, Theodore Roosevelt, Jr., Alfred E. Smith, Herbert H. Lehman, and W. Averell Harriman.
New York County government consists of a president, an administrator, a sheriff, a comptroller, an attorney, an assessor, and a clerk (executive). It has 7 Council Members (legislative.) Ninety-two County Court Judges serve New York, Bronx, Kings, Queens, and Richmond counties and Thirty Family Court Judges serve New York County (judicial.) New York County is the Island of Manhattan. The Hudson River forms its western border with New Jersey. The county center is in the Manhattan section of New York City 6.8 miles North-Northeast of the downtown. The county is surrounded clockwise by Bronx, Queens, Kings, and Richmond counties and New Jersey.
The area of the county is 34 square miles. It is 62 out of 62 in the state. It ranks 3 out of 62 in population in the state. It has a density of 49830.9 persons per square mile making it 1 out of 62 in the state. New York County has 100.0% of its population in its incorporated areas. Interstate Highway 95 enters the county from Bronx County, northeast, and exits its New Jersey, west. United States Highway 1 parallels Interstate Highway 95 from Bronx County into New Jersey. United States Highway 9 comes in from the north, Bronx County, and joins Interstate Highway 95 west into New Jersey. Ulysses S. Grant, the 18th President, is buried in this county. Theodore Roosevelt, the 25th President, was born in this county. The county is shaped like a skinny soda bottle. New York County and the Manhattan section of New York City are one in the same therefore there is no separate largest city. The county seat functions in the Manhattan section of New York City. New York County is 19.2% of New York City’s population. This county is in the New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island Metropolitan Statistical Area.
Manhattan
