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Massachusetts State...
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Massachusetts Counties
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Massachusetts Counties
Massachusetts consists of the 14 counties. Massachusetts has abolished seven of its
fourteen county governments, leaving five counties with county-level local government (Barnstable, Bristol,
Dukes, Norfolk, Plymouth) and two, Nantucket County and Suffolk County, with combined county/city government. |
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Norfolk County, Massachusetts
Norfolk County History, Geography, Demographics, Cities and Towns, and Education
County Seat: Dedham
Year Organized: 1793
Square Miles: 400 |
Court House: 614 High Street
County Administration Building
Dedham, MA 02026-1897
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Etymology - Origin of County Name
For the English county of Norfolk
Demographics:
County QuickFacts: Census Bureau Quick
Facts
History
Norfolk County consists of twenty-eight eastern Massachusetts communities, mostly located to the South and West
of Boston. The County was incorporated as a regional governmental entity in 1793, and has its county seat at the
town of Dedham.
The county is not fully contiguous; the towns of Brookline and Cohasset are each part of Norfolk County but are
separated from the majority of Norfolk County (and each other) by either water or other counties. At the county's
formation, Hingham and Hull were to be part of it, but joined Plymouth County instead, leaving Cohasset as an enclave of
Norfolk County. Brookline became an exclave of Norfolk County in 1873 when the neighboring town of West Roxbury was
annexed by Boston (thus leaving Norfolk County to join Suffolk County) and Brookline refused to be annexed by Boston
after the Brookline-Boston annexation debate of 1873.
Geography
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 444 square miles (1,150 kmē), of which, 400
square miles (1,035 kmē) of it is land and 44 square miles (115 kmē) of it (10%) is water.
Neighboring Counties:
- Northeast: Suffolk County; North Atlantic Ocean
- Southeast: Plymouth County
- South: Bristol County
- Southwest: Providence County, R.I.
- Northwest: Worcester County; Middlesex County
Cities and Towns:
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- Avon |
town |
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- Bellingham |
town |
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- Braintree |
town |
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- Brookline |
town |
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- Canton |
town |
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- Cohasset |
town |
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- Dedham
(County Seat) |
town |
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- Dover |
town |
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- Foxborough |
town |
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- Franklin |
city |
Incorporated Area |
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- Holbrook |
town |
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- Medfield |
town |
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- Medway |
town |
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- Millis |
town |
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- Milton |
town |
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- Needham |
town |
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- Norfolk |
town |
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- Norwood |
town |
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- Plainville |
town |
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- Quincy |
city |
Incorporated Area |
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- Randolph |
town |
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- Sharon |
town |
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- Stoughton |
town |
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- Walpole |
town |
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- Wellesley |
town |
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- Westwood |
town |
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- Weymouth |
town |
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- Wrentham |
town |
County Resources:
Enter County Resources and Information Here
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County Resource Guide
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The history of our nation can be seen as a prolonged struggle to define the relative roles and powers of our governments: federal, state, and local. And the names we've given our counties, our most locally based jurisdictions, reflects the "characteristic
features of our 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." |
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