Formed March 10, 1682 (1st county)
Philadelphia County (1,603,799), Philadelphia (1,603,799)
The Modern 1994 Hall of Justice augments the 1871 Queen Anne and Romanesque Revival courthouse. There has also been a 1707 courthouse in Philadelphia. The courthouse complex is at Market Street and 6th Street. The courthouse is five blocks south of United States Highway 30. John McArthur and Thomas U. Walter provided the courthouse designs. A 2015 Family Courthouse also augments the main courthouse. Philadelphia County was formed on March 10, 1682 as an original county. The county and county seat names are derived from the Biblical location term meaning “brotherly love.” Philadelphia County is the birthplace of 4 Pennsylvania governors, Thomas Mifflin, Edwin S. Stuart, John C. Bell, Jr., and Thomas W. Corbett, Jr.
Philadelphia County government consists of a sheriff, a Mayor, and 17 Council Members. One hundred and five Common Pleas Court Judges and Twenty-seven Magistrate Court Judges serve Philadelphia County. The county is on the southeast border with New Jersey. The Delaware River forms its eastern border. Harrisburg, Pennsylvania is northwest and Trenton, New Jersey is northeast of the county. The county center is in Philadelphia 5.2 miles North-Northeast of the city center. The county is surrounded clockwise by Bucks County and New Jersey and Delaware and Montgomery counties.
The area of the county is 143 square miles. It is 66 out of 67 in the state. It ranks 1 out of 67 in population in the state. It has a density of 11215.4 persons per square mile making it 1 out of 67 in the state. Philadelphia County has 100.0% of its population in its incorporated areas. Interstate Highway 76 travels through the county from east to west from New Jersey to Montgomery County. Interstate Highway 95 goes northeast to southwest from Bucks County to Delaware County. United States Highway 1 comes from Bucks County, northeast, and follows the county line with Montgomery County into Delaware County, southwest. United States Highway 13 parallels Interstate Highway 95 from Bucks to Delaware counties. United States Highway 30 comes from New Jersey, east, and goes into Montgomery County, northwest. The county resembles a ship tilted up on the east. The City and County of Philadelphia are identical. This county is in the Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington Metropolitan Statistical Area.
Philadelphia
