List of counties in Delaware

The U.S. state of Delaware is divided into only three counties: New Castle, Kent, and Sussex, the fewest of any state in the United States.[1] The origin of the county boundaries goes back to their former court districts. The powers of the counties' legislative bodies are limited to issues such as zoning and development.

Counties of Delaware
LocationState of Delaware
Number3
Populations162,310 (Kent) – 538,479 (New Castle)
Areas494 square miles (1,280 km2) (New Castle) – 1,196 square miles (3,100 km2) (Sussex)
GovernmentCounty government
SubdivisionsMunicipality

Politics and government

Each county elects a legislative body (known in New Castle and Sussex counties as the County Council, and in Kent County as the Levy Court). The counties are able to raise taxes and borrow money. They also have control over garbage disposal, water supply, sewerage, zoning, development, and building codes.[2]

Most functions which are handled on a county-by-county basis in other states—such as court and law enforcement—have been centralized in Delaware, leading to a significant concentration of power in the Delaware state government. The counties were historically divided into hundreds, which were used as tax reporting and voting districts until the 1960s. However, the hundreds now serve no administrative role; their only current official legal use is in real-estate title descriptions.[3]

History

Following the English conquest of 1664, all of the land on the western side of the Delaware River and Delaware Bay was governed as part of the New York Colony and administered from the town of New Castle. During the brief recapture of the colony by the Dutch in 1673, additional court districts were created around Upland and Whorekill.[4] The latter was also known as Hoornkill, and is now the town of Lewes.[5] The court at New Castle was left with the central portion of the colony. The jurisdiction left to the court at became New Castle County, and the county seat remained at New Castle until 1881 when it was moved to Wilmington. In 1680, Whorekill District was divided into Deale County and St. Jones County.[6] After this division, Lewes became the county seat of Deale, which was later renamed Sussex County.[6] The former Upland District was named after the New Sweden settlement of Upland, and was renamed Chester County in 1682.[7] Chester County is now located within the present boundaries of Pennsylvania.[8]

Lord Baltimore, the Proprietor of Maryland, claimed all present-day Delaware, and organized its northern and eastern portions as Durham County, Maryland. However, this county existed only on paper. The southern and western portions of present-day Sussex County were organized as portions of several adjacent Maryland counties and were not recognized as part of Delaware until the Mason-Dixon Survey was run in 1767.[9] In 1791, with the expansion of Sussex County to the south and west, the county seat was moved to Georgetown.[6] The county seat of St. Jones (renamed Kent County in 1681[6]) is at Dover.[6]

After 2000, a fourth "Appoquinimink County" was proposed to be carved out of New Castle County. The effort intended to end the zoning restrictions of the Unified Development Code on the undeveloped farmland.[10] The proposed boundaries extended beyond the Appoquinimink Hundred to include all land south of the C&D Canal, with Middletown as the proposed seat.

County list

The Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) code, which is used by the United States government to uniquely identify counties, is provided with each entry. The FIPS code for each county links to census data for that county.

County
 FIPS code[11] County seat[6][12] Est.[6][12] History[6][13] Etymology[13] Population[14] Area[12] Map
Kent County 001 Dover1680Created from Whorekill (Hoarkill) District. Formerly known as St. Jones County.named in 1682 by William Penn for the English county of Kent 162,310 800 sq mi
(2,072 km2)
New Castle County 003 Wilmington1664Original County (Formally New Amstel)named in 1673 by Dutch Governor Anthony Colve for the town of New Castle, Delaware as an Anglicization of Nieuw Amstel. 538,479 494 sq mi
(1,279 km2)
Sussex County 005 Georgetown1664Created from Whorekill (Hoarkill) District. Formerly known as Deale Countynamed in 1682 by William Penn for the English county of Sussex, which was his home county 197,145 1,196 sq mi
(3,098 km2)
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References
  1. "How Many Counties are in Your State?". Click and Learn. Archived from the original on 2009-04-22. Retrieved 2009-08-26.
  2. "Chapter Title 9 Counties". Online Delaware Code. Government of Delaware.
  3. "The Hundreds of Delaware: 1700 - 1800, Delaware Department of State:Division of Historical and Cultural Affairs website". The Official Website of the Government of Delaware. Government of Delaware. Archived from the original on 2008-02-20. Retrieved 2008-02-25.
  4. The Historical Society of Delaware (1997). "Delaware Counties". Archived from the original on 2006-07-19. Retrieved 2006-06-01.
  5. Hazel D. Brittingham (1997). "The Name of Whorekill". Lewestown Publishers. Archived from the original on 2011-07-13. Retrieved 2007-04-24.
  6. Delaware Genealogical Society (1997). "Delaware Counties and Hundreds". Delaware Genealogical Society. Archived from the original on 2006-06-13. Retrieved 2006-06-01.
  7. J. Thomas Scharf and Thompson Westcott. "Chapter 1: Topography of Philadelphia". History of Philadelphia 1609–1884. Philadelphia Water Department. Retrieved 2008-02-24.
  8. "Chester County website". Archived from the original on 2008-04-19. Retrieved 2008-04-02.
  9. John Mackenzie. "A brief history of the Mason-Dixon survey line". University of Delaware. Retrieved 2007-04-24.
  10. "Unified Development Code". New Castle County. Archived from the original on December 16, 2004. Retrieved 2008-10-01.
  11. "EPA County FIPS Code Listing". EPA.gov. Retrieved 2008-02-23.
  12. National Association of Counties. "NACo - Find a county". Archived from the original on April 10, 2005. Retrieved 2008-04-30.
  13. The Historical Society of Delaware (1997). "Delaware Counties". Archived from the original on 2006-07-19. Retrieved 2006-06-01.
  14. Delaware Census Data Archived 2016-12-31 at the Wayback Machine

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