Formed April 23, 1921 (55th county)
Charlotte County (186,850), Punta Gorda (19,469)
A Modern style light red/tan brick and concrete courthouse serves this county. The building was constructed in 1999 to replace the 1928 courthouse. It is located on Marion Avenue at Nesbit Street. United States Highway 17 is Marion Avenue in this part of the city. Fawley-Byrant Architects provided the designs. The building is under renovation in 2019. It features a working clock and a tower. A County Administration building was built in 1989 in Port Charlotte. The county was named for Charlotte Bay which was named for English Queen Charlotte. The county seat is Spanish for “fat point.” The county was created on April 23, 1921 from De Soto County as the 55th county with Punta Gorda as the only county seat.
Charlotte County government consists of a manager, sheriff, and appraiser (executive). It has 5 Commissioners (legislative.) Thirty-one Circuit Court Judges serve Charlotte, Collier, Glades, Hendry, and Lee counties and Three County Court Judges, clerk, and county attorney serve Charlotte County (judicial.) It is located in southwest Florida on the Gulf of Mexico. Tampa, Florida is north and Cape Coral, Florida is south. The center of the county is 6.6 miles East-Southeast of Punta Gorda. The county is surrounded clockwise by De Soto, Highlands, Glades, Hendry, and Lee counties and the Gulf of Mexico and Sarasota County.
The area of the county is 694 square miles. It is 34 out of 67 counties in the state. It ranks 29 out of 67 in population in the state. It has a density of 269.2 persons per square mile making it 27 out of 67 in the state. Charlotte County has 10.4% of its population in its incorporated areas. Interstate Highway 75 enters from De Soto County, north, and exits into Lee County, south. United States Highway 17 comes in from De Soto County in the north and terminates in the county. United States Highway 41 parallels Interstate Highway 75 but comes from Sarasota County, northwest, and goes into Lee County. The county shape is mostly rectangular with a notch cut out the northwest corner. Punta Gorda is in the western third of the county on Charlotte Bay. Punta Gorda is the county seat and the largest and only incorporated city. It is 10.4% of the county population. This county is in the Punta Gorda Metropolitan Statistical Area.
Punta Gorda
