New Hanover

Formed January 1, 1729 (10^th county)

New Hanover County (225,705), Wilmington (115,456)

The classic Queen Anne 1892 red brick and stone courthouse was augmented in 2004 with a Judicial Annex.  It is located at the intersection of Princess and 3^rd streets.  The courthouse is located on United States Highway 17 Business as 3^rd Street.  The courthouse had 1914, 1924, and 1988 remodelings.  A. S. Eichberg is the building designer.  The courthouse features a working clock tower.  The county was created on January 1, 1729 from Craven County as the 10^th county with Wilmington as the only county seat.  New Hanover County is named for the British House of Hanover.  The county seat is named for the Earl of Wilmington. 

New Hanover County government consists of a manager, a register, a sheriff, an attorney, and a clerk (executive).  It has 5 Commissioners (legislative.)  Fourteen Superior Court Judges serve New Hanover, Bladen, Brunswick, Carteret, Columbus, Craven, Duplin, Greene, Jones, Lenoir, Onslow, Pamlico, Pender, Robeson, Sampson, and Wayne counties, Twenty-one District Court Judges serve New Hanover and Pender counties and a court clerk serves New Hanover County (judicial.)  The county is on the southeast coast of the state.  Fayetteville, North Carolina is northwest and Charleston, South Carolina is southwest of the county.  The county center is in Wilmington 3.9 miles East of the city center.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Pender County and the Atlantic Ocean and Brunswick County. 

The area of the county is 329 square miles.  It is 80 out of 100 in the state.  It ranks 11 out of 100 in population in the state.  It has a density of 686.0 persons per square mile making it 6 out of 100 in the state.  New Hanover County has 56.1% of its population in its incorporated areas.  Interstate Highway 40 enters the county from the north, Pender County, and terminates.  United States Highway 17 crosses northeast to southwest from Pender County to Brunswick County.  United States Highways 74/76 originate and head west into Brunswick County.  United States Highway 117 parallels Interstate Highway 40 from Pender County to termination.  United States Highway 421 comes from Pender County and terminates.  The county is a funnel.  Wilmington is on the western border of the county.  Wilmington is the county seat and the largest city.  It is 51.2% of the county population.  This county is in the Wilmington Metropolitan Statistical Area.