Pike

Formed March 8, 1814 (50^th county)

Pike County (58,537), Milford (1,103), Matamoras (2,361)

The 1873 red brick Italianate and Second Empire courthouse stands out.  The courthouse is on Broad Street at Peach Aly.  United States Highway 6 is Broad Street.  George Barton is the building designer.  A County Administration Building was added in 1985.  An 1815 courthouse also exists in Milford, the only county seat.  The county was founded on March 8, 1814 from a part of Wayne County as the 50^th county.  It is named for explorer Zebulon Pike.  Milford is named for either Milford Haven, Wales or Well’s Mill at the ford of the Delaware River. 

Pike County government consists of a sheriff and 3 Commissioners.  Two Common Pleas Court Judges and Four Magistrate Court Judges serve Pike County.  The county is on the northeast border with New Jersey and New York.  The Delaware River forms its eastern border.  Philadelphia, Pennsylvania is south and Harrisburg, Pennsylvania is southwest of the county.  The county center is 17.2 miles West of Milford nearer Hemlock Farms.  The county is surrounded clockwise by New York and New Jersey and Monroe and Wayne counties. 

The area of the county is 567 square miles.  It is 40 out of 67 in the state.  It ranks 42 out of 67 in population in the state.  It has a density of 103.2 persons per square mile making it 39 out of 67 in the state.  Pike County has 5.9% of its population in its incorporated areas.  Interstate Highway 84 travels through the county from east to west from New York to Wayne County.  United States Highway 6 enters from New York, east, and exits to Wayne County, northwest.  United States Highway 209 comes from New York and goes to Monroe County, south.  The county could be described as a fat letter J pointing southwest.  Milford is located on the central east border.  Matamoras is northeast of Milford on the border.  Milford is the county seat and Matamoras is the largest city.  Milford is 1.9% of the county population while Matamoras is 4.0% of the county population.  The largest city is pronounced MAT-A-MOER-AS.  This county is in the New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island Metropolitan Statistical Area.