King

Formed December 22, 1852 (7^th county)

King County (2,269,667), Seattle (737,018)                

The masonry Beaux Arts courthouse was built in 1916, enlarged in 1931, and remodeled in 1967.  The structure is located on Jefferson Avenue between 3^rd and 4^th avenues.  Interstate Highway 5 is two blocks east of the location.  A. Warren Gould is the architect.  The building appears as twin buildings but are actually one.  An Administration Building was built in 1971.  There have been 1882 and 1890 courthouses earlier in Seattle, the only county seat.  The county was formed on December 22, 1852 from Thurston County as the 7^th county.  King County is named for United States Vice President William R. King.  The county seat was named for a Native American chief.  King County is the birthplace of 4 Washington Governors, Daniel J. Evans, John D. Spellman, Gary F. Locke, and Jay R. Inslee. 

King County government consists of a sheriff, an Executive, and 9 Commissioners.  Fifty Superior Court Judges and Twenty-seven District Court Judges serve King County.  The county is in the western part of the state.  Vancouver, Canada is northwest and Spokane, Washington is east of the county.  The county center is 14.9 miles East-Southeast of Seattle nearer Issaquah.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Snohomish, Chelan, Kittitas, Yakima, Pierce, and Kitsap counties. 

The area of the county is 2115 square miles.  It is 11 out of 39 in the state.  It ranks 1 out of 39 in population in the state.  It has a density of 1073.1 persons per square mile making it 1 out of 39 in the state.  King County has 89.2% of its population in its incorporated areas.  Interstate Highway 5 crosses the county north to south from Snohomish County to Pierce County.  Interstate Highway 90 comes from Kittitas County, east, and terminates.  United States Highway 2 clips the northeast from Chelan County, northeast, to Snohomish County, north.  The county shape could be described as a square head with its mouth open.  Seattle is located on the northwest border of the county.  Seattle is the county seat and the largest city.  It is 32.5% of the county population.  This county is in the Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue Metropolitan Statistical Area.

Pacific