Durham County, North Carolina: History and Information

Durham County, North Carolina

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

County Seat: Durham
Year Organized: 1881
Square Miles: 291

Court House:

200 E Main St
County Government Admin. Complex
Durham, NC 27701-3649

Etymology - Origin of County Name

It was named for the city of Durham which was named in honor of Dr. Bartlett Snipes Durham who donated the land on which the railroad station was located.

Demographics:

History

Durham was formed in 1881 from Orange and Wake. It was named for the city of Durham which was named in honor of Dr. Bartlett Snipes Durham who donated the land on which the railroad station was located. The building of the railroad station was the beginning of the town of Durham. It is in the central section of the State and bounded by Wake, Chatham. Orange, Person, and Granville counties. The present land area is 290.32 square miles and the population in 2000 was 223,314. Durham, incorporated in 1866 as the Town of Durham in Orange County, is the county seat.

Neighboring Counties:

Wake

Chatham

Orange

Person

Granville

Cities and Towns:

- Durham (County Seat)

city

Incorporated Area

County Resources:

Enter County Resources and Information Here

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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