Barry

Formed April 29, 1829 (14^th county)

Barry County (62,428), Hastings (7,512)                

The old dark red brick and stone Richardsonian Romanesque courthouse, built in 1892, was augmented by a Courts Building in 1994.  Albert E. French is the courthouse architect.  The county was organized on April 29, 1829 from Native American Territory as the 14^th county with Hastings as the only county seat.  The building sits on a square at Court, Church, State, and Broadway streets.  Michigan State Highway 37 is Broadway in the town.  The courthouse features a bell tower and a fountain on the grounds.  Barry County is named for United States Postmaster William Taylor Barry.  The county seat is named for Detroit entrepreneur Eurotas P. Hastings. 

Barry County government consists of a sheriff, an administrator, an attorney, a treasurer and a clerk (executive).  It has 8 Commissioners (legislative.)  Two Circuit Court Judges, Two District Court Judges, One Probate Court Judge and court clerk serve Barry County (judicial.) The county is in southwest Michigan.  Grand Rapids, Michigan is north of the county.  The county center is 4 miles South-Southwest of Hastings.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Ionia, Eaton, Calhoun, Kalamazoo, Allegan, and Kent counties. 

The area of the county is 577 square miles.  It is 61 out of 83 in the state.  It ranks 32 out of 83 in population in the state.  It has a density of 108.2 persons per square mile making it 28 out of 83 in the state.  Barry County has 22.9% of its population in its incorporated areas.  There are no Interstates or United States Highways in the county.  The county is a rectangle.  Hastings is in the northern third of the county.  Hastings is the county seat and the largest city.  It is 12.0% of the county population.  This county is in the Grand Rapids-Wyoming Metropolitan Statistical Area.