Richland

Formed March 1, 1808 (31^st county)

Richland County (124,933), Mansfield (47,541)

The Modern style tan brick structure, built in 1968, is on Park Street at Diamond Street.  Ohio State Highway 13 is Diamond Street in the town.  Thomas Gene Zaugg & Associates provided the designs.  The building has columns and the grounds feature canons and veteran memorials.  There have been 1812, 1827 and 1873 courthouses in Mansfield, the only county seat.  Richland County was formed on March 1, 1808 from Fairfield County as the 31^st county.  The county name is descriptive of the local land.  The county seat is named for United States Surveyor Jared Mansfield. 

Richland County government consists of an auditor, a sheriff, an attorney, and a coroner (executive).  It has 3 Commissioners (legislative.)  Five Common Pleas Court Judges and a court clerk serve Richland County (judicial.)  The county is in north central Ohio.  Cleveland, Ohio is northeast and Columbus, Ohio is southwest of the county.  The county center is in Mansfield 2.8 miles Northwest of the city center.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Huron, Ashland, Knox, Morrow, and Crawford counties. 

The area of the county is 496.9 square miles.  It is 26 out of 88 in the state.  It ranks 23 out of 88 in population in the state.  It has a density of 251.4 persons per square mile making it 25 out of 88 in the state.  Richland County has 58.7% of its population in its incorporated areas.  Interstate Highway 71 travels through the county from northeast to southwest from Ashland County to Morrow County.  United States Highway 30 crosses east to west from Ashland County to Crawford County.  The county is a tall rectangle with the southern quarter shifted to the east.  Mansfield is located southeast of the center of the county.  Mansfield is the county seat and the largest city.  It is 38.1% of the county population.  This county is in the Mansfield Metropolitan Statistical Area.