Multnomah

Formed December 22, 1854 (16^th county)

Multnomah County (815,429), Portland (652,518)

The masonry Neo-Classical Revival courthouse was erected in 1914.  There was an 1866 version earlier also in Portland, the only county seat.  It is located on a square at 4^th Avenue, Salmon Street, 5^th Avenue, and Main Street.  Interstate Highway 405 is nine blocks west of the location.  William H. Whidden and Ion Lewis are the architects.  A Justice Center was added in 1983 and a 2012 supporting courthouse is in Gresham.  A Central Courthouse was built in 2020 to support the county courthouse.  The county was created on December 22, 1854 from Washington and Clackamas counties as the 16^th county.  Multnomah County is named for a local Native American tribe.  The county seat is named for Portland, Maine.  Multnomah County is the birthplace of 4 Oregon Governors, Julius L. Meier, John H. Hall, J. Douglas McKay, and Victor G. Atiyeh. 

Multnomah County government consists of a sheriff and 5 Commissioners.  Forty-one District Court Judges serve Multnomah County.  Multnomah County is in northwest Oregon.  It borders Washington across the Columbia River.  Salem, Oregon is south and Tacoma, Washington is north of the county.  The county center is in Portland 4.9 miles East of the city center.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Washington and Hood River, Clackamas, Washington, and Columbia counties. 

The area of the county is 435 square miles.  It is 36 out of 36 in the state.  It ranks 1 out of 36 in population in the state.  It has a density of 1874.8 persons per square mile making it 1 out of 36 in the state.  Multnomah County has 98.0% of its population in its incorporated areas.  Interstate Highway 5 comes into the county from Washington, north, and goes south into Clackamas County.  Interstate Highway 84 enters from the east, Hood River County, and terminates.  United States Highway 26 comes in from the southeast, Clackamas County, and goes to the west, Washington County.  United States Highway 30 is joined with Interstate Highway 84 from Hood River County, splits and continues northwest into Columbia County.  Multnomah County resembles a lounge chair.  Portland dominates the western third of the county and extends into Clackamas and Washington counties.  Portland is the county seat and the largest city.  It is 80.0% of the county population.  The county is pronounced MULT-NOE-MA.  This county is in the Portland-Vancouver-Beaverton Metropolitan Statistical Area.