A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government , or capital city of a county or civil parish . The term is in use in five countries: Canada , China , Hungary , Romania , and the United States . An equivalent term, shire town , is used in the U.S. state of Vermont and in several other English-speaking jurisdictions, such as Venezuela .
30-425: Minden Hills is a township in and the county seat of Haliburton County , Ontario , Canada . It is an amalgam of the townships of Snowdon, Lutterworth, Anson, Hindon and Minden. It is usually referred to as Minden , after its largest community. The township was formed on January 1, 2001, by combining the townships of Lutterworth, Snowdon, Anson, Hindon and Minden. The primary residential and commercial centre of
60-531: A Superior Court and Sheriff (as an officer of the court ), both located in a designated "shire town". Bennington County, Vermont has two shire towns; the court for "North Shire" is in the shire town Manchester , and the Sheriff for the county and court for "South Shire" are in the shire town Bennington. In 2024, Connecticut , which had not defined their counties for anything but statistical, historical and weather warning purposes since 1960, along with ending
90-678: A town in the North Rhine–Westphalia federal state in Germany , was first surveyed in 1858. Before that, the settlement was called Gull River. Settlers were first drawn to the region (via the Bobcaygeon Road , an original colonization road ), because of its timber resources. The town lies on the banks of the Gull River and during the 19th and 20th centuries, loggers used the river to move timber to sawmills downstream. Since
120-410: A county seat may be an independent city surrounded by, but not part of, the county of which it is the administrative center; for example, Fairfax City is both the county seat of Fairfax County, Virginia and completely surrounded by Fairfax County, but the city is politically independent of the county. When the county seat is in the independent city, government offices such as the courthouse may be in
150-667: A county was the magistrate , who oversaw both the day-to-day operations of the county as well as civil and criminal cases. The current number of counties mostly resembled that of the later years of the Qing dynasty . Changes of location and names of counties in Chinese history have been a major field of research in Chinese historical geography, especially from the 1960s to the 1980s. There are 1,355 counties in Mainland China out of
180-412: A mayor, deputy mayor, councillor at large and four councillors elected on the basis of two for Ward 1 and one each for Wards 2 & 3, who are elected to join the mayor at meetings of Minden Hills Council. The members of council elected in 2022 are: Ontario Highway 35 is the major throughfare passing to the east and connects Minden to neighbouring areas and beyond. A Heliport servicing Minden Hospital
210-581: A total of 2,851 county-level divisions. In Taiwan , the first counties were first established in 1661 by the Kingdom of Tungning . The later ruler Qing empire inherited this type of administrative divisions. With the increase of Han Chinese population in Taiwan, the number of counties also grew by time. By the end of Qing era, there were 11 counties in Taiwan. Protestant missionaries in China first romanized
240-598: Is a section of Middle Township , an incorporated municipality. In some states, often those that were among the original Thirteen Colonies , county seats include or formerly included "Court House" as part of their name, such as Spotsylvania Courthouse, Virginia . Most counties have only one county seat. However, some counties in Alabama , Arkansas , Georgia , Iowa , Kentucky , Massachusetts , Mississippi , Missouri , New Hampshire , New York , and Vermont have two or more county seats, usually located on opposite sides of
270-546: Is also located here. The Gull River flooded in April 2013, leading to a state of emergency declaration on April 20. By May 3, officials were predicting another two weeks of abnormally high water levels in the Trent-Severn Waterway system. The excess water that was held back in the reservoir lakes north of Minden was being slowly released and moved through the village so as not to cause increased damage. The use of
300-757: Is home to the Agnes Jamieson Gallery, named after Dr. Agnes Jamieson , the first female coroner in Ontario . The Gallery houses the largest known collection of André Lapine 's work. Both Lapine and Jamieson lived in Minden during part of their lives. The Cultural Centre is also home to the Minden Hills Museum, which includes seven heritage buildings, including a school, a blacksmith shop and a church. R.D. Lawrence Place, an interactive learning centre celebrating Canadian author Ron Lawrence ,
330-657: Is the only airport in Minden. The closest airport is south in Peterborough, Ontario . Minden Hospital provides local health needs, with more advance care to the south in Peterborough or to the north-west in Bracebridge, Ontario . Ontario Provincial Police Haliburton Detachment is located in Minden. Fire services is provided by Minden Hills Fire Department and ambulance by Haliburton County Em's, both located along highway 35. County seat In Canada ,
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#1732793102152360-752: The People's Republic of China . Xian have existed since the Warring States period and were set up nationwide by the Qin dynasty . The number of counties in China proper gradually increased from dynasty to dynasty. As Qin Shi Huang reorganized the counties after his unification, there were about 1,000. Under the Eastern Han dynasty , the number of counties increased to above 1,000. About 1400 existed when
390-542: The Sui dynasty abolished the commandery level (郡 jùn), which was the level just above counties, and demoted some commanderies to counties. In Imperial China, the county was a significant administrative unit because it marked the lowest level of the imperial bureaucratic structure; in other words, it was the lowest level that the government reached. Government below the county level was often undertaken through informal non-bureaucratic means, varying between dynasties. The head of
420-522: The United States , a county is an administrative or political subdivision of a state that consists of a geographic area with specific boundaries and usually some level of governmental authority. The city, town, or populated place that houses county government is known as the seat of its county. Generally, the county legislature, county courthouse, sheriff's department headquarters, hall of records, jail and correctional facility are located in
450-411: The provinces of Ontario , Quebec , New Brunswick , Prince Edward Island , and Nova Scotia have counties as an administrative division of government below the provincial level, and thus county seats. In the provinces of Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia the term "shire town" is used in place of county seat. County seats in China are the administrative centers of the counties in
480-420: The 1940s the town has become an increasingly popular summer destination given its close proximity to larger cities in southern Ontario . The population grows dramatically during the summer months as a result of tourism. The Minden Times and The Highlander are the local newspapers, and the local post office on Water St. serves residents with lock boxes and three rural routes. The Minden Hills Cultural Centre
510-698: The Ontario Disaster Relief Assistance Program totaled 1.8 million dollars by November 2013, in addition to an estimated 2.2 million dollars in insured claims. The township spent $ 370,000 on flood related costs. Residents of Minden Hills were again affected by flooding only four years after the massive flood of 2013. Watershed flooding was at its maximum capacity in the reservoir lakes of the Trent Severn Waterway only to be hit with 129 millimeters of rain in late April, increasing flood levels. A state of emergency
540-495: The county seat is the entire county. Ellicott City , the county seat of Howard County, Maryland , is the largest unincorporated county seat in the United States, followed by Towson , the county seat of Baltimore County, Maryland . Likewise, some county seats may not be incorporated in their own right, but are located within incorporated municipalities. For example, Cape May Court House, New Jersey , though unincorporated,
570-491: The county seat, though some functions (such as highway maintenance, which usually requires a large garage for vehicles, along with asphalt and salt storage facilities) may also be located or conducted in other parts of the county, especially if it is geographically large. A county seat is usually an incorporated municipality . The exceptions include the county seats of counties that have no incorporated municipalities within their borders, such as Arlington County, Virginia , where
600-420: The county. Examples include Harrison County, Mississippi , which has both Biloxi and Gulfport as county seats, and Hinds County, Mississippi , which has both Raymond and the state capital of Jackson . The practice of multiple county seat towns dates from the days when travel was difficult. There have been few efforts to eliminate the two-seat arrangement, since a county seat is a source of civic pride for
630-625: The independent city under an agreement, such as in Albemarle , or may in be enclaves of the county surrounded by the independent city, such as in Fairfax . Others, such as Prince William , have the courthouse in an enclave surrounded by the independent city and have the county government, the Board of Supervisors, in a different part of the county, far from the county seat. The following counties have their county seat in an independent city: Bedford
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#1732793102152660-421: The reservoir lakes north of Minden to collect water was necessary to avert a threat to the essential utilities of water, hydro and sewage treatment. However, it extended the flood damage area north throughout the entire Gull River Watershed. Many of the properties on those lakes were damaged. Residents of the area were evacuated from their homes on short notice and remained out until mid-May. Claims by residents to
690-777: The state's area, has no borough government or borough seat. One borough, the Lake and Peninsula Borough , has its borough seat located in another borough, namely King Salmon in Bristol Bay Borough . In Louisiana , which is divided into parishes rather than counties, county seats are referred to as "parish seats". In New England , counties have served mainly as dividing lines for the states' judicial systems. Rhode Island has no county level of government and thus no county seats, and Massachusetts has dissolved many but not all of its county governments. In Vermont , Massachusetts , and Maine county government consists only of
720-580: The term as hien . When Taiwan became a Japanese colony in 1895, the hierarchy of divisions also incorporated into the Japanese system in the period when Taiwan was under Japanese rule. By September 1945, Taiwan was divided into 8 prefectures ( 州 and 廳 ), which remained after the Republic of China took over. There are 13 county seats in Taiwan, which function as county-administered cities , urban townships , or rural townships . In most of
750-416: The towns involved, along with providing employment opportunities. There are 33 counties with multiple county seats in 11 states: Alaska is divided into boroughs rather than counties; the county seat in these case is referred to as the "borough seat"; this includes six consolidated city-borough governments (one of which is styled as a "municipality"). The Unorganized Borough, Alaska , which covers 49% of
780-458: The township is Minden, located just off Highway 35 ( 44°55′34″N 78°43′33″W / 44.92611°N 78.72583°W / 44.92611; -78.72583 ). The township also includes the smaller communities of Blairhampton, Brady Lake, Buller, Carnarvon, Deep Bay, Dutch Line, Gelert, Hindon Hill (abandoned community), Howland, Ingoldsby, Irondale, Kilcoo Harbour, Lochlin, Lutterworth, Miners Bay, and Moore Falls. Minden, named after
810-624: The use of county seats in particular, will fully transition with the permission of the United States Census Bureau to a system of councils of government for the purposes of boundary definition and as county equivalents. Two counties in South Dakota , Oglala Lakota and Todd , have their county seat and government services centered in a neighboring county. Their county-level services are provided by Fall River County and Tripp County , respectively. In Virginia ,
840-449: Was a venue of the 2015 Pan Am Games , hosting canoe events. In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada , Minden Hills had a population of 6,971 living in 3,229 of its 6,019 total private dwellings, a change of 14.5% from its 2016 population of 6,088 . With a land area of 847.37 km (327.17 sq mi), it had a population density of 8.2/km (21.3/sq mi) in 2021. The town's council includes
870-538: Was an independent city from 1968 to 2013, while also being the county seat of Bedford County . Bedford reverted to an incorporated town, and remains the county seat, though is now part of the county. The state with the most counties is Texas, with 254, and the state with the fewest counties is Delaware, with 3. Minden Wild Water Preserve The Minden Wild Water Preserve is a current natural canoeing and kayaking slalom facility in Minden, Ontario , Canada, and
900-638: Was put into place on May 6, 2017, for the town of Minden Hills. The Gull River through Minden recorded 5 centimeters lower than the record 2013 flood. A new automated sandbag machine was purchased earlier in March, helping with handling sandbags at a much faster rate for flood relief, with close to 40,000 sandbags being filled by the end of the weekend. Provincial aid was provided after Reeve Brent Devolin had been in contact with Premier Kathleen Wynne . The Ontario Disaster Relief Assistance Program offered reimbursement for homeowners affected. Minden Wild Water Preserve
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