Blount

Formed February 6, 1818 (8^th county)

Blount County (59,130), Oneonta (6,935)               

The red brick courthouse features veteran memorials, and Liberty Bell replica and a stone wall.  The 1954 facility is on 2^nd Avenue between 2^nd and 3^rd streets.  Its site is on Alabama State Highway 75.  There was also an 1888 courthouse in Oneonta.  Martin J. Lide provided the Modern designs.  An Annex was added in 1996.  Blount County is named for Tennessee Governor Willie G. Blount.  Oneonta, New York is the namesake for the county seat.  Blount County was created on February 6, 1818 from Montgomery County and land ceded by the Creek Nation as the 8^th county.  Blountsville was the original county seat.  It moved to Oneonta in 1889. 

Blount County government consists of a sheriff, revenue commissioner, and coroner (executive).  It has 4 commissioners (legislative.)  A Circuit Judge, a District Judge, a Probate Judge, a District Attorney, and a County Clerk serve Blount County (judicial.)  The county is in north central Alabama northeast of Birmingham, Alabama.  The center of the county is 9.7 miles Northwest of Oneonta nearer Cleveland.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Marshall, Etowah, St. Clair, Walker, Jefferson, and Cullman counties.  Oneonta is slightly south and east of the center of the county.  Oneonta is the county seat and the largest city.  It is 11.7% of the county population. 

The county has an area of 644.8 square miles.  It ranks 39 out of 67 in size.  It ranks 23 out of 67 in population in the state.  It has a density of 92.3 persons per square mile making it 23 out of 67 in the state.  Blount County has 27.6% of its population in its incorporated areas.  Interstate Highway 65 crosses the southwest tip of the county from Cullman County, northwest to Jefferson County, south.  United States Highway 31 parallels Interstate Highway 35 from Cullman County to Jefferson County.  United States Highway 231 comes in from Cullman County and exits southeast into St. Clair County.  United States Highway 278 crosses the far north part of the county from Etowah County, east, to Cullman County, west.  The county is a lumpy rectangle leaning northeast to southwest.  The county is in the Birmingham-Hoover Metropolitan Statistical Area.