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San Francisco, San Joaquin,
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Santa Barbara, Santa Clara,
Santa Cruz, Shasta,
Sierra, Siskiyou,
Solano, Sonoma,
Stanislaus, Sutter,
Tehama, Trinity,
Tulare, Tuolumne,
Ventura, Yolo,
Yuba
California Counties
 Click Image to Enlarge California CountiesThe U.S. state of California is divided into fifty-eight counties. On January 4, 1850, the California constitutional committee recommended the formation of 18 counties. They were Benicia, Butte, Fremont, Los Angeles, Mariposa, Monterey, Mount Diablo, Oro, Redding, Sacramento, San Diego, San Francisco, San Joaquin, San Jose, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Sonoma, and Sutter. On April 22, the Counties of Branciforte, Calaveras, Coloma, Colusi, Marin, Mendocino, Napa, Trinity, and Yuba were added. Benicia was renamed Solano, Coloma to El Dorado, Fremont to Yola, Mt. Diablo to Contra Costa, San Jose to Santa Clara, Oro to Tuolumne, and Redding to Shasta. One of the first state legislative acts regarding Counties was to rename Branciforte County to Santa Cruz, Colusi to Colusa, and Yola to Yolo.The last California county to have been established is Imperial County in 1907. |
Santa Cruz County, CaliforniaSanta Cruz County History, Geography, Demographics, Cities and Towns, and Education
Etymology - Origin of County NameIn the original act, the county was given the name of Branciforte after the Spanish pueblo founded there in 1797. Less than two months later, the name was changed to Santa Cruz. Established in 1791 and completed in 1794, the Santa Cruz Mission was destroyed by earthquake in 1857, but a smaller-scale replica was erected in 1931. Santa Cruz signifies "holy cross." Demographics:County QuickFacts: Census Bureau Quick Facts County HistorySanta Cruz County is a county located on the Pacific coast of the U.S. state of California, just south of the San Francisco Bay Area. The county seat is Santa Cruz. Santa Cruz County was one of the original counties of California, created in 1850 at the time of
statehood. GeographyAccording to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 607 square miles (1,573 kmē), of
which, 445 square miles (1,153 kmē) of it is land and 162 square miles (419 kmē) of it (26.67%) is
water. Of California's counties, only San Francisco is physically smaller. Neighboring Counties:
Cities and Towns:
County Resources: |
County Resources
The history of our nation was a prolonged struggle to define
the relative roles and powers of our governments: federal, state, and local.
And the names given the counties, our most locally based jurisdictions,
reflects the "characteristic features of this country!"
But age, size and colorful names of our counties isn't the only reason to explore counties' role in American history, or the history of county government itself. In fact, the story of county government reflects the larger meanings of American history. Today's counties are the most flexible, locally responsive and creative governments in the US. They are the most diverse, varying in size, population, geography, and governmental structure. In their politics and policies, they express a 1990's political slogan "Think globally, act locally." |
