Formed April 23, 1921 (56th county)
Glades County (12,884), Moore Haven (1,680)
The 1929 tan brick Classical Revival style courthouse has a governmental look. The building is located on a square surrounded by 5th Street, J Avenue, 6th Street, and I Avenue. United States Highway 27 passes beside the courthouse. Edward Columbus Hosford is the courthouse designer. An annex was added in 1993. Moore Haven is the only county seat for the county. The county is named for the Florida Everglades. Settler James A. Moore gave his name to the county seat. The county was created on April 23, 1921 from De Soto County as the 56th county.
Glades County government consists of a manager, sheriff, and appraiser (executive). It has 5 Commissioners (legislative.) Thirty-one Circuit Court Judges serve Glades, Charlotte, Collier, Hendry, and Lee counties and a County Court Judge, clerk, and county attorney serve Glades County (judicial.) The county is located in south central Florida northwest of Miami, Florida and southeast of Tampa, Florida. The center of the county is 11.4 miles Northwest of Moore Haven. The county is surrounded clockwise by Highlands, Okeechobee, Martin, Palm Beach, Hendry, Lee, Charlotte, and De Soto counties.
The area of the county is 986 square miles. It is 24 out of 67 counties in the state. It ranks 64 out of 67 in population in the state. It has a density of 13.07 persons per square mile making it 65 out of 67 in the state. Glades County has 13.0% of its population in its incorporated areas. United States Highway 27 crosses north to south in the county from Highlands County to Hendry County. Lake Okeechobee is the east border of the county. The county shape is a capital letter L lying on its back. Moore Haven is located in the southeast quarter of the county. Moore Haven is the county seat and the largest city and only incorporated city in the county. It is 13.0% of the county population.
Moore Haven
