Dallas

Formed March 30, 1846 (60^th county)

Dallas County (2,611,491), Dallas (1,304,317)

The castle courthouse in Dallas County was built in 1892; however, the functioning courthouse is a Modern structure of steel and concrete built in 1966.  The building is located in the block between Commerce and Jackson and Houston and Market streets just east of Interstate 35 East at the Commerce/Downtown exit.  The old courthouse is across Commerce.  The Associated Architects and Engineers designed the skyscraper facility.  Five courthouses for the county have all been in Dallas.  A 1983 Criminal Courthouse augments the main courthouse.  The county was organized on March 30, 1846 from parts of Robertson and Nacogdoches counties as the 60^th county.  Dallas County and city were named for United States Vice President George Mifflin Dallas.  Dallas County is the birthplace of 1 Texas Governor, William P. Clements, Jr. 

Dallas County government consists of a sheriff, a County Judge, and 4 Commissioners.  Thirty-two District Court Judges and Twenty-nine County Court Judges serve Dallas County.  The county is mainly square shaped with the Trinity River cutting from the West to the Southeast.  Dallas is a huge city with the center of the county within its city limits.  Dallas is the county seat and the largest city.  It is 50.0% of the county population.  The city limits of Dallas extend into Collin, Denton, Kaufman, and Rockwall counties.  The county is located in north central Texas and is part of a four-county area called the Metroplex.  The county center is in Dallas 2.4 miles North-Northeast of the city center.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Collin, Rockwall, Kaufman, Ellis, Tarrant, and Denton counties. 

The area of the county is 880 square miles.  It is 174 out of 254 in the state.  It ranks 2 out of 254 in population in the state.  It has a density of 2967.6 persons per square mile making it 1 out of 254 in the state.  Dallas County has 99.6% of its population in its incorporated areas.  Interstate Highway 20 crosses east to west, Kaufman County to Tarrant County.  Interstate Highway 30 goes from the northeast, Rockwall County, into the west, Tarrant County.  Interstate Highway 35 East enters from Denton County on the northwest and exits into Ellis County on the south.  Interstate Highway 45 originates in Dallas County and travels south into Ellis County.  United States Highway 67 enters with Interstate Highway 30 from Rockwall County and exits to the southwest into Ellis County.  United States Highway 75 comes from the north, Collin County, and terminates in Dallas County.  United States Highway 80 enters from Kaufman County, east, and terminates in Dallas County.  United States Highway 175 originates in Dallas County and passes to the southeast into Kaufman County.  This county is in the Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington Metropolitan Statistical Area.

Wylie