Chatham

Formed June 4, 1771 (28^th county)

Chatham County (76,270), Pittsboro (4,543), Siler City (7,714)

The red and brown brick Neo-Classical facility was erected in 1881 in a city square at Hillsboro, East, South, and West streets.  United States Highway 15 is Hillsboro Street in the town.  Thomas B. Womack provided the designs.  It was enlarged in 1930 and rebuild in 2011.  An Annex was added in 1984 and a Judicial Center was built in 2013.  The county was taken from Orange County on 1771 as the 28^th county.  Pittsboro has always been the county seat.  The county and county seat are named for William Pitt, the Earl of Chatham.  He is also the source name for Pitt County.  Chatham County was the birthplace for 1 North Carolina Governor, Charles Manly. 

Chatham County government consists of a manager, a register, a sheriff, an attorney, and a clerk (executive).  It has 5 Commissioners (legislative.)  Twenty-one Superior Court Judges serve Chatham, Alexander, Alleghany, Ashe, Cabarrus, Caswell, Davidson, Davie, Forsyth, Guilford, Iredell, Orange, Rockingham, Rowan, Stokes, Surry, Wilkes, and Yadkin counties, Thirteen District Court Judges serve Chatham and Orange counties and a court clerk serves Chatham County (judicial.)  The county is in the center of the state.  The geographical center of North Carolina is 10 miles southwest of Sanford in the county.  Raleigh, North Carolina is directly east and Greensboro, North Carolina is northwest of the county.  The county center is in Pittsboro .2 miles Northwest of the city center.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Orange, Durham, Wake, Lee, Moore, Randolph, and Alamance counties. 

The area of the county is 709 square miles.  It is 20 out of 100 in the state.  It ranks 36 out of 100 in population in the state.  It has a density of 107.6 persons per square mile making it 51 out of 100 in the state.  Chatham County has 21.2% of its population in its incorporated areas.  United States Highways 15/501 enter the county from the north, Orange County, and exit to the south, Lee County.  United States Highway 64 travels east to west from Wake County to Randolph County.  United States Highway 421 passes northwest, Randolph County, to southeast, Lee County.  The county is shaped like an arrowhead is a leg sticking out of the southeast.  Pittsboro is located slightly south and east of center in the county.  Siler City is on the western border of the county.  Pittsboro is the county seat and Siler City is the largest city.  Pittsboro is 6.0% of the county population while Siler City is 10.1% of the county population.  This county is in the Durham-Chapel Hill Metropolitan Statistical Area.

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