Mercer

Formed February 22, 1838 (17^th county)

Mercer County (387,340), Trenton (90,860)

The Modern 1995 stone and concrete Civil Courthouse replaced a 1902 version.  It is located on Broad Street at Livingstone Street.  Broad Street is United States Highway 1 in the town.  Clarke Caton Hintz and Faridy Thorne Frayiak are the architects.  A Criminal Courthouse had been added in 2012.  The county was organized on February 22, 1838 from Burlington, Hunterdon, Somerset, and Middlesex counties as the 17^th county.  Trenton has always been the county seat.  Mercer County is named for Revolutionary War General Hugh Mercer.  The county seat is named for settler William Trent.  Mercer County was the birthplace for 2 New Jersey Governors, Charles S. Olden and Robert S. Green. 

Mercer County government consists of an executive, a sheriff, an administrator and a clerk (executive).  It has 7 Commissioners (legislative.)  Eighteen Superior Court Judges and a prosecutor serve Mercer County (judicial.)  The county is located on the western border with Pennsylvania.  The geographical center of New Jersey is 5 miles southeast of Trenton in the county.  Philadelphia, Pennsylvania is south and Newark, New Jersey is northeast of the county.  The county center is 6.9 miles North of Trenton in Lawrenceville.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Somerset, Middlesex, Monmouth, and Burlington counties and Pennsylvania and Hunterdon County.  

The area of the county is 226 square miles.  It is 16 out of 21 in the state.  It ranks 12 out of 21 in population in the state.  It has a density of 1713.9 persons per square mile making it 8 out of 21 in the state.  Mercer County has 34.1% of its population in its incorporated areas.  Interstate Highway 95 enters the county from the northeast, Middlesex County, exits into Burlington County, reenters and finally exits southwest into Pennsylvania.  United States Highway 1 comes from Middlesex County, northeast, and goes into Pennsylvania, southwest.  United States Highway 130 parallels Interstate Highway 95 from Middlesex to Burlington counties.  United States Highway 206 travels north to south from Somerset County to Burlington County.  The New Jersey state capitol is located in this county.  The county is a popped kernel of popcorn with little descriptive shape.  Trenton is on the southwest border with Pennsylvania.  Trenton is the county seat and the largest city.  It is 23.5% of the county population.  This county is in the Trenton-Ewing Metropolitan Statistical Area.