Cleveland

Formed May 2, 1890 (5^th county)

Cleveland County (295,514), Norman (127,991)                

The Art Deco style courthouse was built in 1939 and sits on Peters between Comanche and Eufaula streets.  The site is two blocks west of United States Highway 77.  Walter T. Vahlberg designed this masonry courthouse.  The building was enlarged in 1980.  It was organized on May 2, 1890 as an original county (5^th county) and had a 1906 courthouse in Norman, the only county seat.  Cleveland County is named for President Grover Cleveland.  Norman was named after a Santa Fe Railroad engineer. 

Cleveland County government consists of a treasurer, a sheriff, an assessor, and a clerk (executive).  It has 3 Commissioners (legislative.)  Ten District Court Judges serve Cleveland, Garvin and McClain counties and a court clerk serves Cleveland County (judicial.)  The county is located in the center of Oklahoma.  The county center is 6.8 miles East-Southeast of Norman.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Oklahoma, Pottawatomie, McClain, Grady, and Canadian counties.  The Canadian River is the majority of the western border and the entire southern border for the county. 

The area of the county is 536 square miles.  It is 71 out of 77 in the state.  It ranks 3 out of 77 in population in the state.  It has a density of 551.3 persons per square mile making it 3 out of 77 in the state.  Cleveland County has 95.4% of its population in its incorporated areas.  Interstate Highway 35 comes in from Oklahoma County on the north and goes into McClain County on the south.  Interstate Highway 44 crosses the northwest corner of the county from Oklahoma County into McClain County.  United States Highway 77 parallels Interstate Highway 35 from north to south remaining in Cleveland County longer before entering McClain County.  The county is shaped like a right angle triangle facing to the southwest.  Oklahoma City is just to the north.  Norman is in the north and west of the county.  Norman is the county seat and the largest city.  It is 43.3% of the county population.  This county is in the Oklahoma City Metropolitan Statistical Area.