Sumter

Formed January 1, 1800 (26^th county)

Sumter County (105,554), Sumter (43,471)

The tan/yellow brick Beaux Arts courthouse was built in 1907 and renovated in 1965.  There was an 1821 courthouse in Sumter earlier, the only county seat.  Sumter County was founded on January 1, 1800 from Clarendon County as the 26^th county.  The courthouse is on Main Street at Canal Street.  United States Highway 401 passes one block north of the facility.  William Augustus Edwards and Frank C. Walter combined for the courthouse designs.  The courthouse features columns and a statue in front.  A Justice Center was added in 2013 and an Administration Building also augments.  The county and its county seat are named for Revolutionary War General Thomas Sumter.  Sumter County is the birthplace for 3 South Carolina Governors, Richard I. Manning I, Franklin I. Moses, Jr., and Richard I. Manning III. 

Sumter County government consists of a sheriff and 7 Council Members.  Four Circuit Court Judges and Three Family Court Judges serve Sumter, Clarendon, Lee, and Williamsburg counties.  The county is in east central South Carolina.  Columbia, South Carolina is directly west and Charleston, South Carolina is south of the county.  The county center is in Sumter 4.8 miles East of the city center.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Lee, Florence, Clarendon, Calhoun, Richland, and Kershaw counties. 

The area of the county is 682 square miles.  It is 23 out of 46 in the state.  It ranks 15 out of 46 in population in the state.  It has a density of 154.8 persons per square mile making it 16 out of 46 in the state.  Sumter County has 42.2% of its population in its incorporated areas.  Interstate Highway 95 cuts the northeast corner of the county from Florence County, east, to Clarendon County, southeast.  United States Highway 15 comes from Lee County, northeast, and goes into Clarendon County, south.  United States Highway 76 passes east to west from Lee County to Richland County.  United States Highway 378 enters from Clarendon County and joins United States Highway 76 into Richland County.  United States Highway 401 comes from Lee County, northeast, and terminates.  United States Highway 521 goes north to south from Kershaw County to Clarendon County.  The county looks like a small letter d leaning east.  The City of Sumter is located in the western third of the county.  Sumter is the county seat and the largest city.  It is 41.2% of the county population.  This county is in the Sumter Metropolitan Statistical Area.