Bradford

Formed December 31, 1858 (36^th county)

Bradford County (28,306), Starke (5,789)

The yellow brick building with concrete columns was built in 1969 and remodeled and enlarged in 2002.  It is located on United States Highway 301 (Temple Avenue) at Georgia Street.  Frank G. George is the architect.  Veteran memorials are in front of the building.  Lake Butler (1858) and Starke (1884) have been the county seats.  Bradford County is named for Civil War Veteran Captain Richard Bradford.  The county seat was named for Governor Starke Perry or for settler Thomas Starke.  Governor Perry is also the namesake for the county seat of Taylor County.  Bradford County was formed on December 31, 1858 from Columbia County as the 36^th county.  Bradford County was the birthplace of 1 Florida Governor, Charley E. Johns. 

Bradford County government consists of a manager, sheriff, and appraiser (executive).  It has 5 Commissioners (legislative.)  Twelve Circuit Court Judges serve Bradford, Alachua, Baker, Gilchrist, Levy, and Union counties and a County Court Judges, clerk, and county attorney serve Bradford County (judicial.) The county is located in north central Florida.  Jacksonville, Florida is northeast and Gainesville, Florida is southwest.  The center of the county is 2.4 miles Southwest of Starke.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Baker, Clay, Putnam, Alachua, and Union counties. 

The area of the county is 293 square miles.  It is 65 out of 67 counties in the state.  It ranks 50 out of 67 in population in the state.  It has a density of 96.6 persons per square mile making it 39 out of 67 in the state.  Bradford County has 25.4% of its population in its incorporated areas.  United States Highway 301 comes north to south in the county, Clay County to Alachua County.  The county shape is a letter C with a flat straight eastern border.  Starke is located in the eastern quarter of the county.  Starke is the county seat and the largest city.  It is 20.5% of the county population.

Starke