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Pennsylvania State...
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Pennsylvania Counties
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Pennsylvania Counties
There are sixty-seven counties of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in the United States of
America. The city of Philadelphia is coterminous with Philadelphia County, and governmental functions have been
consolidated since 1854. |
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Dauphin County, Pennsylvania
Dauphin County History, Geography, Demographics, Cities and Towns, and Education
County Seat: Harrisburg
Year Organized: 1785
Square Miles: 525 |
Court House: P.O. Box 1295
County Courthouse
Harrisburg, PA 17108-1295
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Etymology - Origin of County Name
Named for the Dauphin, the title of nobility given to the
eldest sons of kings of France.
Demographics:
County QuickFacts:
Census Bureau Quick Facts
History
Created on March 4, 1785, from part
of Lancaster County, and named for the Dauphin, the title of nobility given to
the eldest sons of kings of France. Harrisburg, the county seat, was named for
its founder, John Harris, and was incorporated as a borough on April 13, 1791.
It was chartered as a city on March 19, 1860.
John Harris's trading post stood on the Susquehanna as early as 1720.
Presbyterian groups at Paxton and Manada Gap were the earliest settlers, but
German Lutherans formed the Hummelstown and Middletown communities in the 1760s.
The Paxton Boys movement of 1763–1764 slaughtered helpless Indians and tried to
intimidate the provincial government into providing more defense on the frontier
and more legislative representation. The State's capitol was moved from
Lancaster to Harrisburg in 1812, and the next year Lebanon County was created
from Dauphin's eastern townships. In the mid-nineteenth century Dauphin was a
canal and railroad center. Later, steel mills went up in Steelton. In
Middletown, American Tube and Iron Co. flourished, and railroad cars were made
there. Today, Milton Hershey's industrial legacy is still apparent and AMP is a
national leader. Thirty percent of the land is farmed, and this is a leading
county in sheep and poultry. In total value its farm products rank twenty-fifth
among the state's sixty-seven counties.
Geography
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 558 square miles (1,450 km2), of which, 525
square miles (1,360 km2) of it is land and 32 square miles (83 km2) of it (5.78%) is water. The county is bound to
its western border by the Susquehanna River.
Neighboring Counties:
- Northumberland County (north)
- Schuylkill County (northeast)
- Lebanon County (east)
- Lancaster County (south)
- York County (southwest)
- Cumberland County (west)
- Perry County (west)
Cities and Towns:
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- Berrysburg |
borough |
Incorporated Area |
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- Dauphin |
borough |
Incorporated Area |
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- Elizabethville |
borough |
Incorporated Area |
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- Gratz |
borough |
Incorporated Area |
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- Halifax |
borough |
Incorporated Area |
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- Harrisburg
(County
Seat) |
city |
Incorporated Area |
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- Hummelstown |
borough |
Incorporated Area |
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- Londonderry |
township |
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- Lower Paxton |
township |
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- Lower Swatara |
township |
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- Lykens |
borough |
Incorporated Area |
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- Middle Paxton |
township |
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- Middletown |
borough |
Incorporated Area |
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- Millersburg |
borough |
Incorporated Area |
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- Paxtang |
borough |
Incorporated Area |
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- Penbrook |
borough |
Incorporated Area |
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- Pillow |
borough |
Incorporated Area |
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- Reed |
township |
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- Royalton |
borough |
Incorporated Area |
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- South Hanover |
township |
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- Steelton |
borough |
Incorporated Area |
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- Swatara |
township |
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- Upper Paxton |
township |
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- West Hanover |
township |
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- Wiconisco |
township |
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- Williams |
township |
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- Williamstown |
borough |
Incorporated Area |
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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