Durham

Formed April 17, 1881 (97^th county)

Durham County (324,849), Durham (283,588)

The Modern tan brick and concrete courthouse was erected in 2013.  It is located on Dillard Street at Mangum Street.  United States Highway 15 Business is Mangum Street.  There were 1885 and 1916 courthouses earlier.  O’Brien/Atkins Associates are the architects.  The 1979 Judicial Building augments the courthouse.  Durham County was formed from Orange and Wake counties on April 17, 1881 as the 97^th county with Durham as the only county seat.  The county and county seat are named for landowner Bartlett Durham.  Durham County was the birthplace for 1 North Carolina Governor, William B. Umstead. 

Durham County government consists of a manager, a register, a sheriff, an attorney, and a clerk (executive).  It has 5 Commissioners (legislative.)  Sixteen Superior Court Judges serve Durham, Beaufort, Bertie, Camden, Chowan, Currituck, Dare, Edgecombe, Franklin, Gates, Granville, Halifax, Hertford, Hyde, Martin, Nash, Northampton, Pasquotank, Perquimans, Person, Pitt, Tyrrell, Vance, Warren, Washington, and Wilson counties and Twenty-four District Court Judges and a court clerk serve Durham County (judicial.)  Durham County is in eastern North Carolina.  Raleigh, North Carolina is directly east and Greensboro, North Carolina is west of the county.  The county center is in Durham 2.2 miles North-Northeast of the city center.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Person, Granville, Wake, Chatham, and Orange counties. 

The area of the county is 298 square miles.  It is 88 out of 100 in the state.  It ranks 6 out of 100 in population in the state.  It has a density of 1090.1 persons per square mile making it 3 out of 100 in the state.  Durham County has 87.3% of its population in its incorporated areas.  Interstate Highway 40 enters the county from the southeast, Wake County, and exits to the west, Orange County.  Interstate Highway 85 comes from the northeast, Granville County, and joins Interstate Highway 40 into Orange County.  United States Highway 15 is joined with Interstate Highway 85 from Granville County, splits and heads southwest into Chatham County.  United States Highway 70 parallels Interstate Highway 40 from Wake to Orange counties.  United States Highway 501 travels in from the north, Person County, and joins United States Highway 15 into Chatham County.  The county is shaped like a capital letter L.  The City of Durham dominates the southwest part of the county and extends into Orange and Wake counties.  Durham is the county seat and the largest city.  It is 87.3% of the county population.  This county is in the Durham-Chapel Hill Metropolitan Statistical Area.

Raleigh