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Washington Counties

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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.

Stevens County, Washington

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

County Seat: Colville
Year Organized: 1854
Square Miles: 2,478

Court House:

215 S Oak Street, Room 214
County Courthouse
Colville, WA 99114-2862

Etymology - Origin of County Name

Isaac Ingalls Stevens, the first governor of the Washington Territory.

Demographics:

County QuickFacts: Census Bureau Quick Facts

County History

Stevens County was created 20 January 1863 from Walla Walla County.

Named after Washington Territory's first governor, Stevens County stretches 100 miles along the east bank of Lake Roosevelt (once the left bank of the Columbia) above the Spokane River in the Selkirk Mountains. The Hudson's Bay Company founded the first European community in the county at Fort Colvile near Kettle Falls. Americans were first attracted by mineral riches in the 1850s and within 60 years, the county was one of the state's top silver and copper producers. Approximately 41,000 people make their homes there and work in forest products, agriculture, tourism and recreation, and public services. The character of the county is decidedly rural, but increasingly, commuters are making the southern end of the county a bedroom community of Spokane. The largest municipalities are Chewelah, Colville, Kettle Falls, Marcus, Northport, and Springdale, but only 7 percent of the population live within their limits.
File 7995: Full Text >

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 2,541 square miles (6,580 km²), of which, 2,478 square miles (6,419 km²) of it is land and 62 square miles (161 km²) of it (2.45%) is water.

Neighboring Counties:

Pend Oreille County, Washington - east
Spokane County, Washington - southeast
Lincoln County, Washington - southwest
Ferry County, Washington - west

It also shares its northern border with the Kootenay Boundary Regional District of British Columbia, Canada.

Cities and Towns:

- Chewelah	city	Incorporated Area
- Colville (County Seat)	city	Incorporated Area
- Kettle Falls	city	Incorporated Area
- Marcus	town	Incorporated Area
- Northport	town	Incorporated Area
- Springdale	town	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."