Forsyth

Formed January 16, 1849 (78^th county)

Forsyth County (382,584), Winston-Salem (249,562)

A masonry Modern building was built in 1975 and is located on Main and 2^nd streets.  United States Highway 421 is three blocks south of the courthouse.  An 1895 courthouse was in Winston-Salem, the only county seat, earlier.  Fred W. Butner, Jr., provided the designs.  The county was created from Stokes County on January 16, 1849 as the 78^th county.  Forsyth County is named for Colonel Benjamin Forsyth, War of 1812 hero.  The county seat is a combined city made up of Winston, named for Revolutionary War hero Joseph Winston, and Salem, a derivative of the Hebrew word for “peace.” 

The area of the county is 412 square miles.  It is 66 out of 100 in the state.  It ranks 4 out of 100 in population in the state.  It has a density of 928.6 persons per square mile making it 4 out of 100 in the state.  Forsyth County has 84.4% of its population in its incorporated areas.  Interstate Highway 40 crosses the county from east to west from Guilford County to Davie County.  Interstate Highway 74 comes from the north, Stokes County, and joins Interstate Highway 40 to the east, Guilford County.  United States Highway 52 is joined with Interstate Highway 74 from Stokes County, splits and continues south into Davidson County.  United States Highway 158 enters from Rockingham County, northeast, and exits into Davie County, southwest.  United States Highway 311 comes from Stokes County and goes to Guilford County. 

Forsyth County government consists of a manager, a register, a sheriff, an attorney, and a clerk (executive).  It has 7 Commissioners (legislative.)  Twenty-one Superior Court Judges serve Forsyth, Alexander, Alleghany, Ashe, Cabarrus, Caswell, Chatham, Davidson, Davie, Guilford, Iredell, Orange, Rockingham, Rowan, Stokes, Surry, Wilkes, and Yadkin counties and Thirty-two District Court Judges and a court clerk serve Forsyth County (judicial.)  The county is in the northern part of the state.  Greensboro, North Carolina is directly east and Charlotte, North Carolina is southwest of the county.  The county center is in Winston-Salem 4.1 miles East-Northeast of the city center.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Stokes, Rockingham, Guilford, Davidson, Davie, Yadkin, and Surry counties.  The county is an overall rectangle with a bump on the southwest corner.  Winston-Salem dominates the center and south in the county.  Winston-Salem is the county seat and the largest city.  It is 65.2% of the county population.  This county is in the Winston-Salem Metropolitan Statistical Area.

Tobaccoville