Cuyahoga

Formed June 7, 1807 (25^th county)

Cuyahoga County (1,264,813), Cleveland (372,632)                

The 1912 masonry Beaux Arts facility is at the corner of Lakeside Avenue at Ontario Street.  United States Highway 6 is three blocks south of the site.  Israel J. Lehman and Theodore Schmitt provided the building designs.  The large structure features columns.  There was an 1858 version earlier in Cleveland, the only county seat.  Cuyahoga County was organized on June 7, 1807 from Geauga County as the 25^th county.  The county name is Native American for “crooked river.”  The county seat is named for founder Moses Cleaveland.  Cuyahoga County is the birthplace of 5 Ohio Governors, Harry L. Davis, Frank J. Lausche, Thomas J. Herbert, Richard F. Celeste, and George V. Voinovich. 

Cuyahoga County government consists of a sheriff and 11 Council Members.  Forty-seven Common Pleas Court Judges serve Cuyahoga County.  Cuyahoga County is in northeast Ohio.  Lake Erie forms its northern border.  Akron, Ohio is south and Toledo, Ohio is northwest of the county.  The county center is in Cleveland 6.1 miles South of the city center.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Canada and Lake, Geauga, Portage, Summit, Medina, and Lorain counties.

 The area of the county is 1246 square miles.  It is 2 out of 88 in the state.  It ranks 1 out of 88 in population in the state.  It has a density of 1027.39 persons per square mile making it 5 out of 88 in the state.  Cuyahoga County has 98.9% of its population in its incorporated areas.  Interstate Highway 71 originates in the county and heads southwest into Medina County.  Interstate Highway 77 originates and goes south into Summit County.  Interstate Highway 80 crosses southeast to west from Summit County to Lorain County.  Interstate Highway 90 enters from the east, Lake County, and exits to the west, Lorain County.  United States Highway 6 comes in from the east, Lake County, and goes to the west, Lorain County.  United States Highway 20 parallels Interstate Highway 90 from Lake to Lorain counties.  United States Highway 42 originates and parallels Interstate Highway 71 into Medina County.  United States Highway 322 originates and goes east into Geauga County.  United States Highway 422 originates and heads southeast into Geauga County.  James Garfield, the 20^th President, was born and is buried in this county.  The county resembles a footed vase with the top northwest corner broken away.  The county seat dominates the northern border of the county.  Cleveland is the county seat and the largest city.  It is 31.0% of the county population.  The county is pronounced KIE-OE-GA.  This county is in the Cleveland-Elyria-Mentor Metropolitan Statistical Area.