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Washington Counties

There are 39 counties in the state of Washington.

Washington was carved out of the western part of Washington Territory and admitted to the Union as the 42nd state in 1889. The first counties were created from unorganized territory in 1845.

Jefferson County, Washington

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

County Seat: Port Townsend
Year Organized: 1854
Square Miles: 1,809

Court House:

1820 Jefferson Street, PO Box 1220
County Courthouse
Port Townsend, WA 98368-6951

Etymology - Origin of County Name

Thomas Jefferson, the third president of the United States.

Demographics:

County QuickFacts: Census Bureau Quick Facts

History

Jefferson County was formed out of Thurston County on December 22, 1852, by the legislature of Oregon Territory, and included the northern 4,854 square miles (12,571 km²) portion of the Olympic Peninsula. On April 26, 1854 the legislature of Washington Territory created Clallam County from the northwestern 2,670 square miles (6,916 km²) portion of this original area

Jefferson County, located on the Olympic Peninsula in northwestern Washington, was created by the Oregon Territorial Legislature on December 22, 1852, from a portion of Lewis County. It was named in honor of President Thomas Jefferson who, by commissioning the Lewis and Clark Expedition (1804-1806), was instrumental in the exploration of the Pacific Northwest. Jefferson County has an area of 2,184 square miles, 1,814 square miles of land and 369 square miles of water. Approximately 60 percent of the county comprises the Olympic National Park and Olympic National Forest; another 20 percent is under the jurisdiction of other federal and state agencies. The Washington Territorial legislature determined the boundary lines in 1877. The county is bounded on the north by Clallam County and the Strait of Juan de Fuca, on the south by Grays Harbor and Mason Counties; on the east by Hood Canal and Admiralty Inlet; and the on the west by the Pacific Ocean. The county seat is Port Townsend.
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Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 2,184 square miles (5,655 km²), of which, 1,814 square miles (4,699 km²) of it is land and 369 square miles (956 km²) of it (16.91%) is water.

The county is split in three parts by its landforms:

Eastern Jefferson County along the Strait of Juan de Fuca, Admiralty Inlet, and Puget Sound
Central Jefferson County, which is uninhabited and lies in the Olympic Mountains within Olympic National Park and Olympic National Forest
Western Jefferson County, along the Pacific Ocean.

Because of the mountainous barrier, there is no road lying entirely within Jefferson County that connects the eastern and western parts. The most direct land route between the two ends of the county involves a drive of approximately 100 miles along U.S. Route 101 through neighbouring Clallam County. The mountains also block the damp Chinook winds, which make the climate very much more wet in the West than the so-called Eastern "banana belt" in the rain shadow. The original formation of Jefferson County during a time when the Oregon Territory was poorly explored is now generally recognized as a geographical error, but an error which cannot be conveniently rectified.

Neighboring Counties:

Island County, Washington - northeast
Kitsap County, Washington - southeast
Mason County, Washington - south/southeast
Grays Harbor County, Washington - south/southwest
Clallam County, Washington - northwest
San Juan County, Washington - northeast (water boundary only, in Strait of Juan de Fuca).

Cities and Towns:

- Port Townsend (County Seat)	city	Incorporated Area
- Sequim	city	Incorporated Area

County Resources:

Enter County Resources and Information Here

County Resource Guide

Counties: US Map

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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