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Florida Counties

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Florida Counties

In 1821, there were only two Counties in Florida: Escambia to the west and St. Johns to the east. From these two Counties were formed 67 today.In 1968, the electors of Florida granted local voters the power to adopt charters to govern their counties. Charters are formal written documents that confer powers, duties, or privileges on the county. To date, there are 19 charter Counties in Florida. Collectively these Counties are home to more than 75 percent of Florida's residents.

Dade County, Florida

Dade County History, Geography, Demographics, Cities and Towns, and Education

County Seat: Miami
Year Organized: 1836
Square Miles: 1,945

Court House:

111 NW First St

Suite 2020
Miami, FL 33128-1916

Etymology - Origin of County Name

Major Francis L. Dade, killed at the Dade Battlefield, 1835.

Demographics:

County QuickFacts: Census Bureau Quick Facts

County History

Dade County was created on January 18, 1836 under the Territorial Act of the United States. The county was named after Major Francis L. Dade, a soldier killed in 1835 in the Second Seminole War, at what has since been named the Dade Battlefield. At the time of its creation, Dade County included the land that now contains Palm Beach and Broward counties, together with the Florida Keys from Bahia Honda Key north and the land of present day Miami-Dade County. The county seat was originally at Indian Key in the Florida Keys, then in 1844, the County seat was moved to Miami. The Florida Keys from Key Largo to Bahia Honda were returned to Monroe County in 1866. In 1888 the county seat was moved to Juno, near present-day Juno Beach, Florida, returning to Miami in 1899. In 1909, Palm Beach County was formed from the northern portion of what was then Dade County, and then in 1915, Palm Beach County and Dade County contributed nearly equal portions of land to create what is now Broward County. There have been no significant boundary changes to the county since 1915

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 2,431 square miles (6,297 km²), of which, 1,946 square miles (5,040 km²) of it is land and 485 square miles (1,257 km²) of it (19.96%) is water, most of which is Biscayne Bay, with another significant portion in the adjacent waters of the Atlantic Ocean.

Neighboring Counties:

North: Broward County
East: North Atlantic Ocean
South: Florida Bay
West: Monroe County
Northwest: Collier County

Cities and Towns:

- Aventura	city	Incorporated Area
- Bal Harbour	village	Incorporated Area
- Bay Harbor Islands	town	Incorporated Area
- Biscayne Park	village	Incorporated Area
- Coral Gables	city	Incorporated Area
- Doral	city	Incorporated Area
- El Portal	village	Incorporated Area
- Florida City	city	Incorporated Area
- Golden Beach	town	Incorporated Area
- Hialeah	city	Incorporated Area
- Hialeah Gardens	city	Incorporated Area
- Homestead	city	Incorporated Area
- Indian Creek	village	Incorporated Area
- Key Biscayne	village	Incorporated Area
- Medley	town	Incorporated Area
- Miami (County Seat)	city	Incorporated Area
- Miami Beach	city	Incorporated Area
- Miami Gardens	city	Incorporated Area
- Miami Lakes	town	Incorporated Area
- Miami Shores	village	Incorporated Area
- Miami Springs	city	Incorporated Area
- North Bay Village	city	Incorporated Area
- North Miami	city	Incorporated Area
- North Miami Beach	city	Incorporated Area
- Opa-locka	city	Incorporated Area
- Palmetto Bay	village	Incorporated Area
- Pinecrest	village	Incorporated Area
- South Miami	city	Incorporated Area
- Sunny Isles Beach	city	Incorporated Area
- Surfside	town	Incorporated Area
- Sweetwater	city	Incorporated Area
- Virginia Gardens	village	Incorporated Area

County Resources:

Enter County Resources and Information Here

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."