Placer

Formed April 25, 1851 (29^th county)

Placer County (404,740), Auburn (13,778), Roseville (147,796)

The capitol-like Classical Revival structure was built in 1894 and restored in 1986.  John Curtis was the building architect.  The facility is located at Maple Street and Lincoln Way.  Interstate Highway 80 passes just west of the courthouse.  An 1854 courthouse was also located in Auburn, the only county seat.  There is also an augmenting courthouse in Roseville.  Placer County was created on April 25, 1851 from parts of Sutter and Yuba counties as the 29^th county.  Auburn was named after Auburn, New York.  Placer is Spanish for “place”.  It is a name given to a sandy or gravelly location where gold particles are mixed with the sand. The county seat of El Dorado County has the same source for its name. 

Placer County government consists of a sheriff, assessor, controller, and treasurer (executive).  It has 5 Supervisors (legislative.)  Ten Superior Court Judges, clerk, and counsel serve Alameda County (judicial.)  The county is the Sierra Nevada Mountains northeast of Sacramento.  The American River is the southern border.  Nevada is its eastern border.  The county center is 10.6 miles Northeast of Auburn nearer Foresthill.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Nevada County and Nevada and El Dorado, Sacramento, and Sutter counties.  The county is shaped like a golf club facing toward the southwest.  Auburn is in the southwest quarter on the southern border.  Roseville is in the extreme southwest corner of the county.  Auburn is the county seat and Roseville is the largest city.  Auburn is 3.4% of the county population while Roseville is 36.5% of the county population.  The county is pronounced PLA-SUR.  The county seat is pronounced A-BURN.  

The area of the county is 1407 square miles.  It is 33 out of 58 in the state.  It ranks 22 out of 58 in population in the state.  It has a density of 287.7 persons per square mile making it 18 out of 58 in the state.  Placer County has 72.1% of its population in its incorporated areas.  Interstate Highway 80 enters from Nevada County on the north and exits to the southwest into Sacramento County.  This county is in the Sacramento-Arden Arcade-Roseville Metropolitan Statistical Area.