Pottawatomie

Formed September 22, 1891 (14^th county)

Pottawatomie County (72,449), Shawnee (31,279)

The masonry Art Deco structure of the county courthouse was built in 1934.  It is located nine blocks east of United States Highway 177 on the corner of Broadway and 10^th streets.  A. C. Davis, Branson A. Davis, and Albon Davis were the designers of this structure.  Tecumseh was the first county seat.  Its 1897 courthouse was replaced when the county seat moved to Shawnee in 1930.  The county was created on September 22, 1891 as the 14^th county.  The county was originally called County B.  Both the county and the county seat were named for their respective Native American tribes.  Pottawatomie means “people of the place of fire.”  Pottawatomie County is the birthplace of 1 Oklahoma Governor, C. Bradford Henry. 

Pottawatomie County government consists of a treasurer, a sheriff, an assessor, and a clerk (executive).  It has 3 Commissioners (legislative.)  Four District Court Judges serve Pottawatomie and Lincoln counties and a court clerk serves Pottawatomie County (judicial.)  The county is just to the east and south of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.  The county center is in Shawnee 8.2 miles Southwest of the city center.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Lincoln, Okfuskee, Seminole, Pontotoc, McClain, Cleveland, and Oklahoma counties. 

The area of the county is 788 square miles.  It is 41 out of 77 in the state.  It ranks 9 out of 77 in population in the state.  It has a density of 91.9 persons per square mile making it 10 out of 77 in the state.  Pottawatomie County has 69.0% of its population in its incorporated areas.  Interstate Highway 40 crosses the northern part of the county from Seminole County, east, to Oklahoma County, northwest.  United States Highway 177 goes north to south through the county from Lincoln County to McClain County.  United States Highway 270 comes in from Seminole County on the east, joins Interstate Highway 40, and goes into Oklahoma County on the northwest.  The Canadian River is the southern border of this basically rectangular county.  Shawnee is in the northern third of the county.  Shawnee is the county seat and the largest city.  It is 43.2% of the county population.  The county is pronounced POT-TA-WAT-OE-MEE.  This county is in the Shawnee Micropolitan Statistical Area.