Henderson

Formed December 15, 1838 (68^th county)

Henderson County (116,279), Hendersonville (15,127)

The 1995 masonry and concrete Modern Classical and Greek Revival courthouse replaced a 1904 version.  It sits on Groove Street at 3^rd Avenue.  United States Highway 25 passes one block to the north of the courthouse.  Grier-Fripp Architects provided the building designs.  The facility features columns.  The 1904 courthouse continues to house county administrative offices.  Henderson County was formed on December 15, 1838 from Buncombe County as the 68^th county with Hendersonville as the only county seat.  The county and county seat are named for Leonard Henderson, Chief Justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court.  He is also the namesake of the county seat of Vance County. 

Henderson County government consists of a manager, a register, a sheriff, an attorney, and a clerk (executive).  It has 5 Commissioners (legislative.)  Twenty-seven Superior Court Judges serve Henderson, Avery, Buncombe, Burke, Caldwell, Catawba, Cherokee, Clay, Cleveland, Gaston, Graham, Haywood, Jackson, Lincoln, Macon, Madison, McDowell, Mecklenburg, Mitchell, Polk, Rutherford, Swain, Transylvania, Watauga, and Yancy counties, Eight District Court Judges serve Henderson, Polk, and Transylvania counties and a court clerk serves Henderson County (judicial.)  The county is on the southern border with South Carolina.  Asheville, North Carolina is directly north and Charlotte, North Carolina is east of the county.  The county center is 4.9 miles Northwest of Hendersonville.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Buncombe, Rutherford, and Polk counties and South Carolina and Transylvania County. 

The area of the county is 375 square miles.  It is 73 out of 100 in the state.  It ranks 26 out of 100 in population in the state.  It has a density of 310.1 persons per square mile making it 16 out of 100 in the state.  Henderson County has 30.9% of its population in its incorporated areas.  Interstate Highway 26 travels through the county from north to south from Buncombe County to Polk County.  United States Highway 25 comes from Buncombe County, north, and goes into South Carolina, south.  United States Highway 64 goes east to west from Rutherford County to Transylvania County.  United States Highway 74 is joined with Interstate Highway 26 from Buncombe to Polk counties.  United States Highway 74 Alternate clips the northeast corner from Rutherford County, east, to Buncombe County, north.  United States Highway 176 originates and heads southeast into Polk County.  The county looks like a fat funnel.  Hendersonville is south and east of center in the county.  Hendersonville is the county seat and the largest city.  It is 13.0% of the county population.  This county is in the Asheville Metropolitan Statistical Area.