Hoke

Formed January 1, 1911 (100^th county)

Hoke County (52,081), Raeford (4,558)                

The 1912 tan brick courthouse looks like a courthouse.  It sits at the corner of Edinborough Avenue and Main Street.  North Carolina State Highway 211 is Main Street.  Milburn, Hester & Company are the architects.  The building was renovated in 1986.  It features columns and veteran memorials on the grounds.  The county was established on January 1, 1911 from parts of Cumberland and Robeson counties as the 100^th and last county with Raeford as the only county seat.  It is named for Civil War General Robert F. Hoke.  Raeford is the combined names of two settlers, MacRae and Williford. 

Hoke County government consists of a manager, a register, a sheriff, an attorney, and a clerk (executive).  It has 5 Commissioners (legislative.)  Twenty-four Superior Court Judges serve Hoke, Alamance, Anson, Cumberland, Harnett, Johnston, Lee, Montgomery, Moore, Randolph, Richmond, Scotland, Stanly, Union, and Wake counties, Four District Court Judges serve Hoke and Moore counties and a court clerk serves Hoke County (judicial.)  The county is in southeast North Carolina.  Fayetteville, North Carolina is directly east and Charlotte, North Carolina is west of the county.  The county center is 5.1 miles North-Northwest of Raeford nearer Silver City.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Moore, Cumberland, Robeson, Richmond, and Scotland counties.  United States Highways 15/501 clips the western tip of the county from Moore County, northwest, to Scotland County, southwest. 

The area of the county is 392 square miles.  It is 71 out of 100 in the state.  It ranks 50 out of 100 in population in the state.  It has a density of 132.9 persons per square mile making it 43 out of 100 in the state.  Hoke County has 8.8% of its population in its incorporated areas.  United States Highway 401 travels east, Cumberland County, to southwest, Scotland County.  The county is an overall diamond shape.  Raeford is in the southern third of the county.  Raeford is the county seat and the largest city.  It is 8.8% of the county population.  This county is in the Fayetteville Metropolitan Statistical Area.