Westchester

Formed November 1, 1683 (10^th county)

Westchester County (1,004,445), White Plains (59,553), Yonkers (211,585)

The Modern skyscraper was constructed in 1974.  There was an 1857 courthouse also in White Plains and a 1787 courthouse in Bedford.  Bedford and White Plains were both the county seat until 1870.  The courthouse is on Martin Luther King Boulevard at Martine Avenue.  New York State Highway 22 is four blocks east of the site.  Welton Becket & Associates are the architects.  The building was renovated and enlarged in 2005.  Westchester County was founded on November 1, 1683 as an original county (10^th county.)  It is named for Chester, England.  The county seat is named for the abundance of trees.  Westchester County was the birthplace for 3 New York Governors, Daniel D. Tompkins, John T. Hoffman, and George E. Pataki. 

Westchester County government consists of a sheriff and 17 Legislators.  Eight County Court Judges, Eleven Family Court Judges, and One Surrogate Court Judge serve Westchester County.  The county is on the southeast border with Connecticut.  New York City, New York is directly south of the county.  The county center is 9 miles North-Northwest of White Plains nearer Pleasantville.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Putnam County and Connecticut and Nassau and Bronx counties and New Jersey and Rockland and Orange counties.  

The area of the county is 500 square miles.  It is 46 out of 62 in the state.  It ranks 7 out of 62 in population in the state.  It has a density of 2008.9 persons per square mile making it 7 out of 62 in the state.  Westchester County has 72.9% of its population in its incorporated areas.  Interstate Highway 87 enters the county from the northwest, Rockland County, and exits to the south, Bronx County.  Interstate Highway 95 comes from Connecticut, northeast, and goes to Bronx County, south.  United States Highway 6 cuts the northwest corner from Putnam County, north, to Orange County, west.  United States Highway 9 travels north to south from Putnam County to Bronx County.  United States Highway 202 enters from the north, Putnam County, and joins United States Highway 6 west, Orange County.  The county is shaped like the number 7 turned backwards.  White Plains is on the southeast border of the county.  Yonkers is in the southwest corner of the county.  White Plains is the county seat and Yonkers is the largest city.  White Plains is 5.9% of the county population while Yonkers is 21.1% of the county population.  This county is in the New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island Metropolitan Statistical Area.