Dauphin

Formed March 4, 1785 (16^th county)

Dauphin County (286,399), Harrisburg (50,088)                

A masonry Art Deco facility was erected in 1941.  An 1860 version existed earlier.  The courthouse sits on the riverbank at the intersection of Market and Front streets.  Interstate Highway 83 is six blocks southeast of the site.  Ritchie Lawrie and M. Edwin Green were the building architects.  The building was renovated in 2004.  The county was organized on March 4, 1785 from a part of Lancaster County as the 16^th county with Harrisburg as the only county seat.  Dauphin County is named for Louis-Joseph, Dauphin of France.  The county seat is named for city founder, John Harris.  Harrisburg is on the western border of the county. 

Dauphin County government consists of a sheriff and 3 Commissioners.  Eight Common Pleas Court Judges and Eighteen Magistrate Court Judges serve Dauphin County.  The county is in south central Pennsylvania.  Philadelphia, Pennsylvania is east and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania is northwest of the county.  The Susquehanna River forms its western border.  The county center is 9.2 miles East of Harrisburg nearer Hoernerstown.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Northumberland, Schuylkill, Lebanon, Lancaster, York, Cumberland, and Perry counties. 

The area of the county is 558 square miles.  It is 41 out of 67 in the state.  It ranks 14 out of 67 in population in the state.  It has a density of 513.3 persons per square mile making it 10 out of 67 in the state.  Dauphin County has 31.2% of its population in its incorporated areas.  Interstate Highway 76 travels through the county from east to west from Lancaster County to Cumberland County.  Interstate Highway 81 enters from Lebanon County, northeast, and exits to Cumberland County.  Interstate Highway 83 originates and travels west into Cumberland County.  United States Highway 22 comes from Lebanon County, northeast, and goes into Perry County, northwest.  United States Highway 209 enters from Schuylkill County, northeast, and terminates.  United States Highway 322 comes in from Lancaster County, southeast, and joins United States Highway 22 into Perry County, northwest.  United States Highway 422 enters from Lebanon County and terminates.  The Pennsylvania state capitol is located in this county.  The county shape is an upside down capital letter J.  Harrisburg is the county seat and the largest city.  It is 17.5% of the county population.  The county is pronounced DA-FIN.  This county is in the Harrisburg-Carlisle Metropolitan Statistical Area.