Franklin

Formed April 30, 1803 (11^th county)

Franklin County (1,323,800), Columbus (905,839)

The Modern steel and glass courthouse was built in 2010 and is located on High Street at Mound Street.  United States Highway 23 is High Street.  Design Group, Inc., and Arquitectonica are the architects.  A number of other county and city buildings surround the courthouse.  There were 1840, 1887, and 1972 versions earlier all in Columbus, the only county seat.  The county was formed on April 30, 1803 from parts of Ross and Wayne counties as the 11^th county.  It is named for United States Statesman Benjamin Franklin.  Columbus is named for explorer Christopher Columbus.  He is also the namesake of Columbiana County. 

Franklin County government consists of an auditor, a sheriff, an attorney, and a coroner (executive).  It has 3 Commissioners (legislative.)  Twenty-six Common Pleas Court Judges and a court clerk serve Franklin County (judicial.)  Franklin County is in the center of Ohio.  Cincinnati, Ohio is southwest and Cleveland, Ohio is northeast of the county.  The county center is in Columbus 4.3 miles North of the city center.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Delaware, Licking, Fairfield, Pickaway, Madison, and Union counties. 

The area of the county is 539.9 square miles.  It is 17 out of 88 in the state.  It ranks 1 out of 88 in population in the state.  It has a density of 2451.9 persons per square mile making it 2 out of 88 in the state.  Franklin County has 92.5% of its population in its incorporated areas.  Interstate 70 crosses the county from east to west from Fairfield County to Madison County.  Interstate Highway 71 goes northeast to southwest from Delaware County to Pickaway County.  United States Highway 23 enters from the north, Delaware County, and exits to the south, Pickaway County.  United States Highway 33 comes from Union County, northwest, and goes to Fairfield County, southeast.  United States Highway 40 parallels Interstate Highway 70 from Licking to Madison counties.  United States Highway 62 goes northeast to southwest from Licking County to Pickaway County.  The Ohio state capitol is located in this county.  The county is an overall rectangle.  Columbus dominates the center of the county and extends into Delaware and Fairfield counties.  Columbus is the county seat and the largest city.  It is 68.4% of the county population.  This county is in the Columbus Metropolitan Statistical Area.