Northampton

Formed March 11, 1752 (7^th county)

Northampton County (312,955), Easton (28,126), Bethlehem (75,795)

The Modern glass and concrete 2005 courthouse replaced a classy 1861 courthouse.  It is located on Washington Street at 7^th Street.  Pennsylvania State Highway 611 passes four blocks east of the site.  Ricci Greene Associates are the architects.  Northampton County was established on March 11, 1752 from a part of Bucks County as the 7^th county with Easton as the only county seat.  The county is named for Northamptonshire, England.  The county seat is named for the estate of William Penn’s father-in-law.  Northampton County is the birthplace of 1 Pennsylvania governor, George Wolf. 

Northampton County government consists of a sheriff and 9 Council Members.  Seven Common Pleas Court Judges and Fifteen Magistrate Court Judges serve Northampton County.  The county is on the eastern border with New Jersey.  The Delaware River forms the eastern border.  Philadelphia, Pennsylvania is south and Harrisburg, Pennsylvania is southwest of the county.  The county center is 10.3 miles North-Northwest of Easton nearer Belfast.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Monroe County and New Jersey and Bucks, Lehigh, and Carbon counties. 

The area of the county is 377 square miles.  It is 59 out of 67 in the state.  It ranks 13 out of 67 in population in the state.  It has a density of 830.1 persons per square mile making it 7 out of 67 in the state.  Northampton County has 46.1% of its population in its incorporated areas.  Interstate Highway 78 crosses the county from east to west from New Jersey to Lehigh County.  United States Highway 22 parallels Interstate Highway 78 from New Jersey to Lehigh County.  The county looks like a hopping kangaroo.  Easton is on the eastern border of the county.  Bethlehem is located on the southwest border of the county and extends into Lehigh County.  Easton is the county seat and Bethlehem is the largest city.  Easton is 9.0% of the county population while Bethlehem is 24.2% of the county population.  This county is in the Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton Metropolitan Statistical Area.