Pinellas

Formed January 1, 1912 (48th county)

Pinellas County (959,103), Clearwater (117,387), Saint Petersburg (258,356)

There is nothing unique about the masonry and glass courthouse.  Located at the corner of Court and Fort Harrison, this Modern style structure was built in 1963.  A County Annex was added later.  Florida State Highway 60 is Court Street.  Rader and Associates are the courthouse designers.  A painted dolphin sits at the corner of the courthouse.  There were 1911 and 1918 versions of the courthouse all in Clearwater.  The county name is Spanish for “Point of Pines.”  The county seat’s name is for local springs.  Hillsborough County provided the land for Pinellas County on January 1, 1912 as the 48th county. 

Pinellas County government consists of a manager, sheriff, and appraiser (executive).  It has 5 Commissioners (legislative.)  Forty-eight Circuit Court Judges serve Pinellas and Pasco counties and Sixteen County Court Judges, clerk, and county attorney serve Pinellas County (judicial.) Pinellas County is in west Florida on the Gulf of Mexico.  It is immediately west of Tampa, Florida.  Tampa Bay forms most of its east border.  The center of the county is 5.9 miles Southeast of Clearwater in Largo.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Pasco and Hillsborough counties and the Gulf of Mexico. 

The area of the county is 280 square miles.  It is 66 out of 67 counties in the state.  It ranks 7 out of 67 in population in the state.  It has a density of 3425.4 persons per square mile making it 1 out of 67 in the state.  Pinellas County has 71.3% of its population in its incorporated areas.  United States Highway 19 enters from Pasco County, north, and exits into Manatee County, south.  United States Highway 92 comes in from the east, Hillsborough County, and terminates.  The county looks like an open fish hook.  Clearwater is located in the northern half of the county.  Saint Petersburg is in the southern half of the county.  Clearwater is the county seat and Saint Petersburg is the largest city.  Clearwater is 12.2% of the county population while Saint Petersburg is 26.9% of the county population.  The county is pronounced PI-NAL-LAS.  This county is in the Tampa-Saint Petersburg-Clearwater Metropolitan Statistical Area.

Location in State and Municipalities

Belleair

Belleair Beach

Belleair Bluffs

Belleair Shore

Clearwater

Dunedin

Gulfport

Indian Rocks Beach

Indian Shores

Kenneth City

Largo

Madeira Beach

North Redington Beach

Oldsmar

Pinellas Park

Redington Beach

Redington Shores

Safety Harbor

Saint Pete Beach

Saint Petersburg

Seminole

South Pasadena

Tarpon Springs

Treasure Island

Jerry Fager
Courthouses.co
Annex (Courthouses.co)
Old Courthouse (Courthouses.co)