Marion

Formed March 14, 1844 (25^th county)

Marion County (375,906), Ocala (63,587)

The Modern style glass and steel office building doesn’t look much like a courthouse.  It was built in 1963 at 1^st Avenue and 1^st Street.  United States Highway 27 is three blocks west of the site.  J. Vance Duncan & Kemp and Bunch & Jackson are the combined designers.  It was expanded in 1991 and 2010.  There was a 1907 courthouse in Ocala earlier since it was the county seat.  The county was formed on March 14, 1844 from Alachua, Orange and Hillsborough counties as the 25^th county.  Lake and Sumter counties were created from Marion County.  General Francis Marion is the namesake of the county.  Ocala was named after a Native American village.  Marion County was the birthplace of 3 Florida Governors, John W. Martin, C. Farris Bryant, and Kenneth H. MacKay, Jr. 

Marion County government consists of a manager, sheriff, and appraiser (executive).  It has 5 Commissioners (legislative.)  Twenty-eight Circuit Court Judges serve Marion, Citrus, Hernando, Lake, and Sumter counties and Four County Court Judges, clerk, and county attorney serve Marion County (judicial.) The county is in the center of the part to the northeast of Tampa, Florida and northwest of Orlando, Florida.  The St. Johns River forms its eastern border.  The center of the county is 8.1 miles North-Northeast of Ocala nearer Anthony.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Putnam, Volusia, Lake, Sumter, Citrus, Levy, and Alachua counties. 

The area of the county is 1579 square miles.  It is 5 out of 67 counties in the state.  It ranks 18 out of 67 in population in the state.  It has a density of 238.1 persons per square mile making it 29 out of 67 in the state.  Marion County has 19.1% of its population in its incorporated areas.  Interstate Highway 75 enters from Alachua County on the north and exits into Sumter County on the south.  United States Highway 27 enters from Levy County, northwest, and exits into Lake County, south.  United States Highway 41 goes north to south in the far west of the county from Levy County to Citrus County.  United States Highway 301 comes from Alachua County, north, and goes to Sumter County, south.  United States Highway 441 goes north to south, Alachua County to Lake County.  The overall shape of the county is rectangular.  Ocala is located in the southwest quarter of the county.  Ocala is the county seat and the largest city.  It is 16.9% of the county population.  The county seat is pronounced OE-KAE-LA.  This county is in the Ocala Metropolitan Statistical Area.