Dauphin County
Posted by: 
Gosffo
N 40° 15.512 W 076° 52.958
18T E 339901 N 4458152
557.7 Square Miles
Waymark Code: WM62B
Location: Pennsylvania, United States
Date Posted: 01/14/2006
Views: 25
Dauphin County is one of the oldest counties in the nation. Located in south ceneral Pa. with 557.7 square miles. John Harris a native of Yorkshire, Enland arrived with William Penn around 1719. He married and built a log cabin along the river and operated a ferry and trading post. His son took over the business.
Dauphin County was part of Chester County. In 1729 it became Lancaster County and in 1782 it became a county of it's own.
The 1st courthouse was a log cabin on South Front St. (owned by John Harris) The next courthouse was a 2 story brick building on Old Lancaster Road, paid for by funds from the Harris Ferry. (owned by John Harris) In 1812 the Dauphin County court house became the temporary Capital of Pennsylvania. In 1822 the State House was completed and the courthouse was returned to the county.
1860 a second brick courthouse was built on the same site and was enlaarged in 1894. The current courthouse of white Georgian marble stands at Front and market Streets. Built in 1941-43.
Stats for the year 2000
Population - 251,798
Land area - 525.3 square miles
water area - 32.2 square miles (don't tell anyone but we lost .2 square miles from the begining of this page)
Males - 48%
Females - 52%
Average household - 2.39 persons
median household income $41,507
Median monthly rent - $557
Institutionalized population - 4,876
Median monthly mortgage - $1,020
Marker Name: Dauphin County
County: Dauphin
Date Dedicated: 11/24/1970
Marker Type: City
Location: Courthouse, Front & Market Sts., Harrisburg
Category: Government & Politics, Government & Politics 18th Century
Website: Not listed
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