Pickaway

Formed March 1, 1810 (41^st county)

Pickaway County (58,537), Circleville (13,927)

The dark brown stone Romanesque structure was constructed in 1847 and completely remodeled in 1888.  It is situated at the intersection of Franklin and Court streets.  United States Highway 22 is one block to the north of the site.  N. B. Kelly was the original architect and Weary & Kramer designed the remodeling.  The courthouse features a tower with a working clock.  Other county offices are along Franklin Street.  Pickaway County was organized on March 1, 1810 from parts of Ross, Fairfield, and Franklin counties as the 41^st county with Circleville as the only county seat.  The county is named for a derivative of a Native American tribe’s name.  The county seat name comes from its establishing on a Native American circular earthwork. 

Pickaway County government consists of an auditor, a sheriff, an attorney, and a coroner (executive).  It has 3 Commissioners (legislative.)  Three Common Pleas Court Judges and a court clerk serve Pickaway County (judicial.)  Pickaway County is in the southern part of Ohio.  Columbus, Ohio is north and Cincinnati, Ohio is southwest of the county.  The county center is 7.2 miles North-Northwest of Circleville nearer South Bloomfield.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Franklin, Fairfield, Hocking, Ross, Fayette, and Madison counties. 

The area of the county is 501.9 square miles.  It is 25 out of 88 in the state.  It ranks 45 out of 88 in population in the state.  It has a density of 116.6 persons per square mile making it 47 out of 88 in the state.  Pickaway County has 44.0% of its population in its incorporated areas.  Interstate Highway 71 clips the northwest corner of the county from Franklin County, north, to Madison County, northwest.  United States Highway 22 goes east to west from Fairfield County to Fayette County.  United States Highway 23 passes north to south from Franklin County to Ross County.  United States Highway 62 parallels Interstate Highway 71 from Franklin to Madison counties.  The county is a rectangle with an added foot sticking down and east from the southeast corner.  The county seat is located in the southeast quarter of the county.  Circleville is the county seat and the largest city.  It is 23.8% of the county population.  This county is in the Columbus Metropolitan Statistical Area.