Wake

Formed June 4, 1771 (31^st county)

Wake County (1,129,393), Raleigh (467,762)

The Modern steel and concrete skyscraper courthouse building was built in 1970.  It is at the intersection of Fayetteville and Martin streets.  United States Highway 70 is three blocks to the west of the courthouse.  Holloway-Reeves and Olsen Associates provided the designs.  A Justice Center was built in 2013.  There have also been 1882 and 1915 courthouses in Raleigh, the only county seat.  The county was organized on June 4, 1771 from parts of Cumberland, Johnston, and Orange counties as the 31^st county.  Wake County is named for Margaret Wake, the wife of Governor William Tryon.  The county seat was named for explorer Sir Walter Raleigh.  Wake County was the birthplace for 1 North Carolina Governor, J. Melville Broughton. 

Wake County government consists of a manager, a register, a sheriff, an attorney, and a clerk (executive).  It has 7 Commissioners (legislative.)  Twenty-four Superior Court Judges serve Wake, Alamance, Anson, Cumberland, Harnett, Hoke, Johnston, Lee, Montgomery, Moore, Randolph, Richmond, Scotland, Stanly, and Union counties and Fifty-four District Court Judges and a court clerk serve Wake County (judicial.)  The county is in eastern North Carolina.  Greensboro, North Carolina is northwest and Charlotte, North Carolina is southwest of the county.  The center of the county is in Raleigh 4.8 miles East-Northeast of the city center.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Granville, Franklin, Nash, Johnston, Harnett, Chatham, and Durham counties. 

The area of the county is 857 square miles.  It is 12 out of 100 in the state.  It ranks 1 out of 100 in population in the state.  It has a density of 1317.8 persons per square mile making it 2 out of 100 in the state.  Wake County has 82.4% of its population in its incorporated areas.  Interstate Highway 40 goes northwest to southeast in the county from Durham County to Johnston County.  United States Highway 1 crosses northeast to southwest from Franklin County to Lee County.  United States Highway 64 passes to east to west from Nash County to Chatham County.  United States Highway 70 parallels Interstate Highway 40 from Durham to Johnston counties.  United States Highway 264 enters from Nash County and terminates.  United States Highway 401 comes from Franklin County, northeast, and goes to Harnett County, southwest.  The North Carolina state capitol is in this county.  Andrew Johnson, the 17^th President, was born in this county.  The county looks like the head of a pick axe.  Raleigh dominates the center of the county and extends into Durham County.  Raleigh is the county seat and the largest city.  It is 41.4% of the county population.  The county seat is pronounced RA-LEE.  This county is in the Raleigh-Cary Metropolitan Statistical Area.

Wake Forest