Beaver

Formed March 12, 1800 (31^st county)

Beaver County (168,228), Beaver (4,433), Aliquippa (9,244)

The Modern concrete and glass courthouse was erected in 2003.  There was an 1875 courthouse prior to this one.  The structure is located on 3^rd Street between Commerce and Market streets.  Third Street is Pennsylvania State Highway 68 in the town.  Wallover, Mitchell and Bontempo & Associates provided the designs.  Beaver County was founded on March 12, 1800 from parts of Allegheny and Washington counties as the 31^st county with Beaver as the only county seat.  The county and its county seat are named for the Beaver River. 

Beaver County government consists of a treasurer, a sheriff, an attorney, a coroner, and a clerk (executive).  It has 3 Commissioners (legislative.)  Eleven Common Pleas Court Judges and Eight Magistrate Court Judges serve Beaver County (judicial.)  Beaver County is on the western border with West Virginia and Ohio.  The Ohio River flows through the county.  Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania is southeast and Erie, Pennsylvania is north of the county.  The county center is in Beaver .5 miles Northwest of the city center.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Lawrence, Butler, Allegheny, and Washington counties and West Virginia and Ohio. 

The area of the county is 444 square miles.  It is 51 out of 67 in the state.  It ranks 21 out of 67 in population in the state.  It has a density of 378.9 persons per square mile making it 16 out of 67 in the state.  Beaver County has 45.9% of its population in its incorporated areas.  Interstate Highway 76 travels east to west through the county from Butler County to Lawrence County.  United States Highway 30 goes from Allegheny County, east, to West Virginia, west.  The county is a rectangle with the southeast corner sliced away.  The City of Beaver is slightly east of center in the county.  Aliquippa is in the southeast quarter of the county.  Beaver is the county seat and Aliquippa is the largest city.  Beaver is 2.6% of the county population while Aliquippa is 5.5% of the county population.  The largest city is pronounced AL-I-KWIP-PA.  This county is in the Pittsburgh Metropolitan Statistical Area.