Monroe

Formed February 23, 1821 (53^rd county)

Monroe County (759,444), Rochester (211,321)

The glass and concrete Modern courthouse was built in 1964.  It replaced an 1896 courthouse in Rochester.  There were also 1822 and 1851 courthouses in Rochester, the only county seat.  The structure is located on Exchange Boulevard at Court Street.  Interstate Highway 490 is two blocks south of the courthouse.  Ricci Greene Architects and SWBR Architects designed the new courthouse.  A District Courthouse supplements the county.  Monroe County was founded on February 23, 1821 from parts of Genesee and Ontario counties as the 53^rd county.  The county is named for United States President James Monroe.  The county seat is named for settler Nathaniel Rochester. 

Monroe County government consists of a sheriff and 29 Legislators.  Six County Court Judges, Six Family Court Judges, and Two Surrogate Court Judges serve Monroe County.  The county is in the northwest part of the state.  Lake Ontario and Canada are on its northern border.  Buffalo, New York is west and Albany, New York is east of the county.  The county center is 14.2 miles Northwest of Rochester nearer Hilton.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Canada and Wayne, Ontario, Livingston, Orleans, and Genesee counties. 

The area of the county is 1366 square miles.  It is 12 out of 62 in the state.  It ranks 9 out of 62 in population in the state.  It has a density of 556.0 persons per square mile making it 14 out of 62 in the state.  Monroe County has 33.5% of its population in its incorporated areas.  Interstate Highway 90 crosses the county east to west from Ontario County to Genesee County.  The county is shaped like the State of Ohio.  Rochester dominates the center of the county.  Rochester is the county seat and the largest city.  It is 27.8% of the county population.  This county is in the Rochester Metropolitan Statistical Area.