Cecil

Formed June 6, 1674 (10^th county)

Cecil County (103,726), Elkton (15,820)                

The masonry, tan brick, and concrete 1940 Modern and Art Deco courthouse is unique.  It is sited on Main Street between Church and Groome streets.  United States Highway 40 is seven blocks southwest.  Malone and Williams provided the designs.  There was an 1884 courthouse earlier in Elkton.  Jamestown and Courthouse Point also served as the county seat.  The building was enlarged 1967 and renovated 2009.  A District Courthouse supports the county.  The county gets its name from Cecil Calvert, 2^nd Baron of Baltimore.  He is also the source name for Calvert County.  The county seat is named for the Elk River.  Cecil County was the birthplace of 3 Maryland Governors, Thomas W. Veazey, James B. Groome, and Austin L. Crothers.  The county was created on June 6, 1674 from Baltimore and Kent counties as the 10^th county. 

Cecil County government consists of an executive, an administrator, and a sheriff (executive).  It has 5 Council Members (legislative.)  Eight Circuit Court Judges, Six District Court Judges serve Cecil, Caroline, Kent, Queen Anne’s and Talbot counties and a court clerk and county attorney serve Cecil County (judicial.) Cecil County is on the northeast corner of the state.  Philadelphia, Pennsylvania is northeast and Baltimore, Maryland is southwest of the county.  The county center is 8 miles Southwest of Elkton nearer North East.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Pennsylvania and Delaware and Kent and Harford counties. 

The area of the county is 418 square miles.  It is 18 out of 24 in the state.  It ranks 13 out of 24 in population in the state.  It has a density of 248.1 persons per square mile making it 14 out of 24 in the state.  Cecil County has 29.5% of its population in its incorporated areas.  Interstate Highway 95 crosses the county east to west from Delaware to Harford County.  United States Highway 1 cuts the northwest corner, north to southwest, Pennsylvania to Harford County.  United States Highway 40 parallels Interstate Highway 95 from Delaware to Harford County.  United States Highway 222 enters from the north, Pennsylvania, and terminates.  United States Highway 301 cuts the southeast corner east to south from Delaware to Kent County.  The county is shaped like the number 7.  Elkton is on the eastern border of the county.  Elkton is the county seat and the largest city.  It is 15.3% of the county population.  This county is in the Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington Metropolitan Statistical Area.