Walworth

Formed January 1, 1836 (13^th county)

Walworth County (105,226), Elkhorn (10,255), Whitewater (16,140)

The Modern tan brick courthouse was built in 2004.  It is located on Walworth Street between Church and Broad streets.  Walworth Street is Wisconsin State Highway 11 in this part of the town.  Ayers Associates and Plunkett Raysich combined on the designs.  The 1962 courthouse now serves as the Administration Building.  There was also an 1839 version previously.  Walworth County was founded on January 1, 1836 as the 13^th county with Elkhorn as the only county seat.  The county is named for New York statesman Reuben Hyde Walworth.  The county seat was named for local wildlife antlers spotted in the trees.  Walworth County is the birthplace of 1 Wisconsin Governor, Walter S. Goodland. 

Walworth County government consists of a sheriff and 11 Supervisors.  Four Circuit Court Judges serve Walworth County.  The county is located on the southeast border with Illinois.  Madison, Wisconsin is northwest and Milwaukee, Wisconsin is northeast of the county.  The county center is 2.8 miles South of Elkhorn.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Waukesha, Racine, and Kenosha counties and Illinois and Rock and Jefferson counties. 

The area of the county is 555.1 square miles.  It is 54 out of 72 in the state.  It ranks 15 out of 72 in population in the state.  It has a density of 189.6 persons per square mile making it 14 out of 72 in the state.  Walworth County has 59.1% of its population in its incorporated areas.  Interstate Highway 43 crosses northeast to southwest in the county from Waukesha County to Rock County.  United States Highway 12 enters from Jefferson County, north, and exits to Illinois, south.  United States Highway 14 cuts the southwest corner from Rock County, west, to Illinois, south.  The county is a rectangle.  Elkhorn is located near the center of the county.  Whitewater is in the northwest corner of the county and extends into Jefferson County.  Elkhorn is the county seat and Whitewater is the largest city.  Elkhorn is 9.8% of the county population while Whitewater is 15.3% of the county population.  This county is in the Whitewater Micropolitan Statistical Area.