Suffolk County, Massachusetts
| Suffolk County, Massachusetts | ||
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| County | ||
| County of Suffolk | ||
Suffolk County Courthouse
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 Location in the U.S. state of Massachusetts |
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 Massachusetts's location in the U.S. |
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| Founded | May 10th, 1643 | |
| Named for | Suffolk | |
| Seat | Boston | |
| Largest city | Boston | |
| Area | ||
| • Total | 120 sq mi (311 km2) | |
| • Land | 58 sq mi (150 km2) | |
| • Water | 62 sq mi (161 km2), 52% | |
| Population (est.) | ||
| • (2015) | 778,121 | |
| • Density | 13,229/sq mi (5,108/km²) | |
| Congressional districts | 5th, 7th, 8th | |
| Time zone | Eastern: UTC-5/-4 | |
Suffolk County is a county in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, in the United States. As of 2014, the population was 767,254 making it the fourth-most populous county in Massachusetts. The county seat is Boston, the state capital and largest city. The county government was abolished in late 1999, and so Suffolk County today functions only as an administrative subdivision of state government and a set of communities grouped together for some statistical purposes.
Suffolk County is included in the Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH Metropolitan Statistical Area.
The county was created by the Massachusetts General Court on May 10, 1643, when it was ordered "that the whole plantation within this jurisdiction be divided into four shires". Suffolk initially contained Boston, Roxbury, Dorchester, Dedham, Braintree, Weymouth, and Hingham. The county was named after Suffolk, England, which means "southern folk."
In 1731, the extreme western portions of Suffolk County, which included Uxbridge, were split off to become part of Worcester County. In 1793, most of the original Suffolk County (including Milton) except for Boston, Chelsea, Hingham, and Hull (which remained in Suffolk) split off and became Norfolk County. Hingham and Hull would leave Suffolk County and join Plymouth County in 1803.Revere was set off from Chelsea and incorporated in 1846 and Winthrop was set off from Revere and incorporated in 1852. In the late 19th century and early 20th century, Boston annexed several adjacent cities and towns including Hyde Park, Roxbury, West Roxbury, and Dorchester from Norfolk County and Charlestown and Brighton from Middlesex County, resulting in an enlargement of Suffolk County.
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