Covington

Formed December 17, 1821 (31^st county)

Covington County (37,567), Andalusia (8,842)

The masonry structure, which is Covington County courthouse, was built in 1916 at one end of the city square.  Frank Lockwood and Frederick Ausfeld were the designers of this Beaux Arts building.  United States Highway 29 is Church Street going around the square.  The facility features columns and the grounds have a Liberty Bell replica, veteran memorials, and a gazebo.  An earlier courthouse was also in Andalusia built in 1896.  An Administrative Building was added in 1998.  General William Covington provided the name for the county.  Andalusia was named for a region in Spain.  Covington County was formed on December 17, 1821 as the 31^st county from Henry County.  Andalusia has been the only county seat. 

Covington County government consists of a sheriff, revenue commissioner, and coroner (executive).  It has 5 commissioners (legislative.)  Two Circuit Judges, a District Judge, a Probate Judge, a District Attorney, and a County Clerk serve Covington County (judicial.)  The county is in the south part of the state south of Montgomery, Alabama and northeast of Mobile, Alabama.  Florida borders the county on the south.  The center of the county is 6 miles Southeast of Andalusia.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Butler, Crenshaw, Coffee, and Geneva counties and Florida and Escambia and Conecuh counties.  Andalusia is located slightly northwest of center in the county.  Andalusia is the county seat and the largest city.  It is 23.5% of the county population.  The county seat is pronounced AN-DA-LOO-SHA.

The county has an area of 1030.5 square miles.  It ranks 8 out of 67 in size.  It ranks 31 out of 67 in population in the state.  It has a density of 36.5 persons per square mile making it 42 out of 67 in the state.  Covington County has 55.8% of its population in its incorporated areas.  United States Highway 29 comes in from the north, Crenshaw County, and goes into Escambia County to the west.  United States Highway 84 goes east to west from Coffee County into Conecuh County.  The county is a rectangle with a cut-out in the northeast corner.