Montgomery

Formed September 10, 1784 (15^th county)

Montgomery County (856,559), Norristown (35,792)

The domed masonry Neo-Classical facility was built in 1854 and remodeled in 1904, 1914, and 1942.  The structure was enlarged in 1929.  The courthouse is on Penn Street at Swede Street.  United States Highway 202 passes three blocks to the east.  Napoleon LeBrun provided the designs.  An Annex supports the courthouse.  The county was created from Philadelphia County on September 10, 1784 as the 15^th county with Norristown as the only county seat.  Montgomery County is named for American Revolutionary War General Richard Montgomery.  The county seat is named for settler Isaac Norris.  Montgomery County is the birthplace of 3 Pennsylvania governors, David R. Porter, Francis R. Shunk, and John F. Hartranft. 

Montgomery County government consists of a sheriff and 3 Commissioners.  Twenty-nine Common Pleas Court Judges and Thirty-one Magistrate Court Judges serve Montgomery County.  Montgomery County is in southeast Pennsylvania.  Philadelphia, Pennsylvania is directly east and Harrisburg, Pennsylvania is west of the county.  The county center is 10.1 miles North-Northwest of Norristown nearer Skippack.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Lehigh, Bucks, Philadelphia, Delaware, Chester, and Berks counties. 

The area of the county is 487 square miles.  It is 47 out of 67 in the state.  It ranks 3 out of 67 in population in the state.  It has a density of 1758.8 persons per square mile making it 3 out of 67 in the state.  Montgomery County has 19.2% of its population in its incorporated areas.  Interstate Highway 76 enters the county from the east, Bucks County, and exits to the west, Chester County.  United States Highway 1 comes from Philadelphia County, southeast, and parallels the county line into Delaware County, southwest.  United States Highway 30 comes from Philadelphia County and goes into Delaware County.  United States Highway 202 enters from the east, Bucks County, and exits west, Chester County.  The county is a rectangle on a slant with two legs extending out of the south end.  Norristown is in the southern quarter of the county.  Norristown is the county seat and the largest city.  It is 4.2% of the county population.  This county is in the Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington Metropolitan Statistical Area.