San Bernardino

Formed April 26, 1853 (34^th county)

San Bernardino County (2,181,662), San Bernardino (222,068)

The Classical Revival governmental courthouse was built in 1928 using the designs of Howard E. Jones and DeWitt Mitcham. An earlier version existed in 1898 in San Bernardino, the only county seat.  San Bernardino County was formed on April 26, 1853 from Los Angeles County as the 34^th county.  It is located on Arrowhead Street at Court Street six blocks east of Interstate Highway 215.  An annex was added in 1959 and a Justice Center was added in 2012.  There are augmenting courthouses in Barstow, Redlands, and Victorville.  The first Spanish mission in the valley was named for the patron saint of the day, Saint Bernardino of Siena.  The county and city used the mission as their namesakes. 

San Bernardino County government consists of a sheriff, assessor, controller, and treasurer (executive).  It has 5 Supervisors (legislative.)  Seventy-one Superior Court Judges, clerk, and counsel serve San Bernardino County (judicial.)  The county is in southern California just east of Los Angeles, California and north of Riverside, California.  This huge county extends from 60 miles east of Los Angeles, California all the way to the Arizona and Nevada borders.  The Colorado River joins the border with Arizona.  The Mohave Desert is the majority of the county.  The county center is 58.8 miles Northeast of San Bernardino nearer Lucerne Valley.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Inyo County and Nevada and Arizona and Riverside, Orange, Los Angeles, and Kern counties.  The county looks like a shopping cart with no front wheels.  San Bernardino is in the extreme southwest corner of the county.  San Bernardino is the county seat and the largest city.  It is 10.2% of the county population.  The county and county seat are pronounced SAN BER-NAR-DEE-NOE. 

The area of the county is 20062 square miles.  It is 1 out of 58 in the state.  It ranks 5 out of 58 in population in the state.  It has a density of 108.7 persons per square mile making it 31 out of 58 in the state.  San Bernardino County has 86.2% of its population in its incorporated areas.  Interstate Highway 10 goes southeast to west from Riverside County to Los Angeles County.  Interstate Highway 15 enters from Nevada on the northeast and goes into Riverside County to the south.  Interstate Highway 40 comes from Arizona in the east and terminates in the county.  Other Interstate Loops are in the county.  United States Highway 95 comes in from Nevada, northeast, travels along the county’s east side, and exits into Riverside County, south.  United States Highway 395 enters from Kern County on the northwest and terminates in the county.  This county is in the Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario Metropolitan Statistical Area.