Formed May 10, 1643 (3rd county)
Suffolk County (797,941), Boston (675,632)
The governmental masonry courthouse was built in 1939. It is on Somerset at Ashburton streets. Massachusetts State Highway 3 is two blocks north of the site. Desmond and Lord provided the building designs. There is a 1999 Juvenile Court in Boston, the only county seat. There are augmenting courthouses in Brighton, Chestertown, Chelsea, Dorchester, East Boston, Roxbury, South Boston, and West Roxbury. The county was created on May 10, 1643 but in 1793 Norfolk County split away. The county is an original county (3rd county.) The county is named for Suffolk County, England. The county seat is named for Boston, England. Suffolk County was the birthplace of 18 Massachusetts Governors, Thomas Cushing III, James Bowdoin II, Samuel Adams, Increase Sumner, Moses Gill, Christopher Gore, Samuel T. Armstrong, Edward Everett, Henry J. Gardner, Roger Wolcott, Curtis Guild, Jr., Alvan T. Fuller, James M. Curley, Leverett A. Saltonstall, Maurice J. Tobin, Robert F. Bradford, Paul A. Dever, and Edward J. King. The Massachusetts state capitol is located in this county.
Suffolk County doesn’t have a unified government as each township governs (executive) (legislative.) Seventeen District Court Judges and Twelve Probate/Juvenile Court Judges serve Suffolk County (judicial.) The county is in eastern Massachusetts. Worcester, Massachusetts is west and Providence, Rhode Island is southwest of the county. The county center is in Boston .9 miles Southeast of the city center. The county is surrounded clockwise by Essex County and the Atlantic Ocean and Plymouth, Norfolk, and Middlesex counties.
The area of the county is 58 square miles. It is 13 out of 14 in the state. It ranks 4 out of 14 in population in the state. It has a density of 13757.6 persons per square mile making it 1 out of 14 in the state. Suffolk County has 100.0% of its population in its incorporated areas. Interstate Highway 90 originates in the county and heads west into Middlesex County. Interstate Highway 93 crosses north to south from Middlesex County into Norfolk County. United States Highway 1 comes from Essex County, north, and joins Interstate Highway 93 into Norfolk County. United States Highway 20 originates and parallels Interstate Highway 90 into Middlesex County. The county looks like a slash mark with an extra island on the northwest. Boston is the entire county except for three small cities in the northeast. Boston is the county seat and the largest city. It is 84.7% of the county population. This county is in the Boston-Cambridge-Quincy Metropolitan Statistical Area.
Boston
Chelsea
Revere
Winthrop
