Mecklenburg

Formed November 6, 1762 (26^th county)

Mecklenburg County (1,115,526), Charlotte (874,607)

The Modern masonry and concrete skyscraper facility was constructed in 2007.  It is located at the intersection of 4^th and McDowell streets.  Interstate Highway 277 is two blocks to the east.  Schekel & Shultz Architects, HRD Architecture, and Kallmann, McKinnell & Wood Architects combined on the building designs.  The courthouse features columns and the Bill of Rights panels on the front.  A 1989 County Administration Building augments the courthouse.  There were 1836, 1897, and 1928 versions of the courthouse in Charlotte, the only county seat.  The county was formed on November 6, 1762 from Anson County as the 26^th county.  Mecklenburg County is named for German Princess Charlotte of Mecklenburg.  She is also the source name for the county seat. 

Mecklenburg County government consists of a manager, a register, a sheriff, an attorney, and a clerk (executive).  It has 9 Commissioners (legislative.)  Twenty-seven Superior Court Judges serve Mecklenburg, Avery, Buncombe, Burke, Caldwell, Catawba, Cherokee, Clay, Cleveland, Gaston, Graham, Haywood, Henderson, Jackson, Lincoln, Macon, Madison, McDowell, Mitchell, Polk, Rutherford, Swain, Transylvania, Watauga, and Yancey counties and Seventy-three District Court Judges and a court clerk serve Mecklenburg County (judicial.)  The county is on the southern border with South Carolina.  Greensboro, North Carolina is northeast and Asheville, North Carolina is northwest of the county.  The county center is in Charlotte 2.9 miles North of the city center.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Iredell, Cabarrus, and Union counties and South Carolina and Gaston and Lincoln counties. 

The area of the county is 546 square miles.  It is 37 out of 100 in the state.  It ranks 2 out of 100 in population in the state.  It has a density of 2043.1 persons per square mile making it 1 out of 100 in the state.  Mecklenburg County has 94.0% of its population in its incorporated areas.  Interstate Highway 77 travels through the county north to south from Iredell County to South Carolina.  Interstate Highway 85 enters from Cabarrus County, northeast, and exits into Gaston County, west.  United States Highway 21 parallels Interstate Highway 77 from Iredell County to South Carolina.  United States Highway 29 parallels Interstate Highway 85 from Cabarrus to Gaston counties.  United States Highway 74 crosses east to west from Union County to Gaston County.  United States Highway 521 originates and goes south into South Carolina.  James K. Polk, the 11^th President, was born in this county.  The county looks like a fat lazy capital letter L.  Charlotte dominates the south central part of the county.  Charlotte is the county seat and the largest city.  It is 78.4% of the county population.  The county is pronounced MEK-LEN-BERG.  This county is in the Charlotte-Gastonia-Concord Metropolitan Statistical Area.

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