Merge a County
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  Political Geography & Demographics (Moderators: muon2, 15 Down, 35 To Go)
  Merge a County
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Author Topic: Merge a County  (Read 3691 times)
Dr. MB
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« on: October 22, 2017, 11:15:04 PM »

Like the "Move a County" thread but instead merge two (or more) counties.

I'd merge Loving and Winkler County, TX. And also Hopkins and Delta County.
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jimrtex
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« Reply #1 on: October 23, 2017, 12:32:05 AM »

Like the "Move a County" thread but instead merge two (or more) counties.

I'd merge Loving and Winkler County, TX. And also Hopkins and Delta County.
Why Hopkins+Delta and not Lamar+Delta?

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Strudelcutie4427
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« Reply #2 on: October 23, 2017, 01:05:11 AM »

San Francisco and San Mateo because why not? They're both rich, obscenely liberal, and prone to earthquakes
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Mike Thick
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« Reply #3 on: October 23, 2017, 03:04:38 AM »

Kalawao and Maui.
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muon2
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« Reply #4 on: October 23, 2017, 08:16:58 AM »
« Edited: October 24, 2017, 08:46:47 AM by muon2 »

This would make my hobby of visiting every county easier. Ideally I'd merge counties where one is off the main roads, so I wouldn't have to go so far out of my way to visit. Here are some from my travels in the Great Lakes states (2010 pop).

IL: Hardin (4320) and Pope (4470) are the two least populated counties in the state. Merging would allow a visit either by taking the ferry at Cave-in-Rock or by a short detour from I-24, but needing to do both.

IN: Ohio (6128) and Switzerland (10613) are the 1st and 6th least populated counties. Switzerland has a bridge over the Ohio river, but Ohio county is off the path for most travels. I'll be using the scenic river road to visit them next month, which is about the only choice if one crosses near Florence.

MI: Luce (6631) and Alger (9601) are the 2nd and 7th least populated counties. The UP is beautiful, but out of the way. When I drove across it in 2008 I had to pick either Luce or Delta and skip the other without a lot of extra miles. Even then I had to detour slightly to get Luce, which lacks a scenic road along Superior. It's tempting to merge tiny Keweenaw, but it has Isle Royale NP and one should have an excuse to visit it.

OH: Noble (14645) and Morgan (15054) are the 3rd and 4th least populated counties. Of the many underpopulated counties in SE OH, Morgan is really off the main highways and isn't on the Ohio river. At least Noble has I-77.

WI: Florence (4423) and Forest (9304) are the 2nd and 5th least populated counties. I went up to northern WI last month to complete the state, but Florence was just too much of a detour and is the only county in WI I haven't visited. It's better reached from the UP, so I'll have to hit Florence when I'm in Iron MI.

edited to color counties based on my personal visits (green=yes, red=not yet)
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VPH
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« Reply #5 on: October 23, 2017, 01:29:18 PM »

I don't think this is actually a good idea but if I had to, Elk and Chautauqua counties in KS. Both small, have a similar history, a similar economic base. Both are struggling mightily, and they've consistently been two of the poorer counties in KS (even in 1950 they were!).
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KingSweden
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« Reply #6 on: October 23, 2017, 01:40:08 PM »

I would reserve this exclusively for small, rural counties. I’m WA, Asotin, Columbia and Garfield counties could all be merged in the far southeast corner of the state, past Walla Walla on US 12.
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President Punxsutawney Phil
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« Reply #7 on: October 23, 2017, 02:39:05 PM »

Kenedy and Cameron counties in TX
Norfolk and Virginia Beach in VA
Orange and Alamance in NC
Del Norte and Humboldt in CA
Gaugea and Cuyahoga in OH
Wayne and Macomb in MI
Rockland and Orange in NY
DeKalb and Fulton in GA
Miami-Dade and Monroe in FL
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America Needs a 13-6 Progressive SCOTUS
Solid4096
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« Reply #8 on: October 23, 2017, 03:18:53 PM »
« Edited: October 23, 2017, 03:22:32 PM by Solid4096 »

Too many Texas counties

Merge this cluster of low population counties!



maybe split that chunk into 3 or 4 larger counties afterwards.
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bagelman
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« Reply #9 on: October 23, 2017, 03:20:51 PM »

Too many Texas counties

Merge this cluster of low population counties!



that county is too big
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Mr. Reactionary
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« Reply #10 on: October 23, 2017, 04:26:56 PM »

Fairfax County, VA and Montgomery county, MD. As part of maryland.
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MarkD
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« Reply #11 on: October 23, 2017, 05:58:13 PM »

St. Louis City and County.
I support a movement called "Better Together," which has lots of smart reasons why remaining separate entities is costing the tax payers more money than re-uniting. St. Louis County has a whopping 90 municipalities, dozens of which are extremely small. We're looking at how Indianapolis, Nashville, and Louisville have consolidated with Marion County, Davidson County, and Jefferson County respectively.
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wxtransit
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« Reply #12 on: October 23, 2017, 08:40:43 PM »

Dallas + Tarrant + Collin + Denton counties...

METROPLEX COUNTY!!!!!

But in all seriousness, merging a few west and panhandle Texas counties together might be a good idea, but not to this extreme:

For example, population "centers" Wink such as Lubbock, Amarillo, and Wichita Falls would be greatly disserviced by the centralization of such a large area.
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Sestak
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« Reply #13 on: October 23, 2017, 08:44:28 PM »

All of Delaware.
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Fubart Solman
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« Reply #14 on: October 23, 2017, 09:15:51 PM »

I'd love to merge Alpine County, CA with a neighboring county, but it's bordered by passes on all sides other than Nevada.

Maybe merge Modoc and Lassen Counties. They're both super conservative and up in the northeast corner of the state.
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Dr. MB
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« Reply #15 on: October 23, 2017, 10:26:18 PM »

I have a few more.

Oregon: Sherman and Gilliam - both low population with only a few thousand combined
Nevada: Esmeralda and Mineral
Idaho: Lewis and Nez Perce
Hawaii: Maui and Kalawao (although I'd prefer to make a Molokai County including Molokai and Lanai)
California: Alpine and Mono
New Mexico: Santa Fe and Los Alamos
Georgia: Charlton and Ware (mostly to get rid of that weird strip that goes down into the swamp)
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cinyc
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« Reply #16 on: October 23, 2017, 11:36:44 PM »

Hawaii: Maui and Kalawao (although I'd prefer to make a Molokai County including Molokai and Lanai)

Lanai probably has more in common with Maui than Molokai. Its economy is tourist-based, with one or two very upscale resorts for the mega-rich. It’s 97% owned by Larry Ellison, the chairman of Oracle.  In contrast, very few non-Hawaiian tourists find their way to Molokai, except perhaps to visit the leper colony in Kalawao County. It’s rural, agricultural and poor.

I don’t think combining the two disparate islands into the same county without Maui is a good fit.
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muon2
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« Reply #17 on: October 23, 2017, 11:53:59 PM »
« Edited: October 24, 2017, 08:50:10 AM by muon2 »

Here are my Plains recommendations based on ease to get to the counties as a traveler.

IA: Adams (4029) and Taylor (6317) are the 1st and 4th least populated counties. Adams has US-34 and Amtrak running through them and together they would be the southern equivalent of Kossuth in northern IA. They also happen to be the only counties along the southern tier of IA I'm missing.

KS: Greeley (1298) and Wallace (1517) are the two smallest counties in the state. They both are on the CO line and are in Mountain Time.

MN: Traverse (3588) and Big Stone (5269) are the 1st and 6th least populated counties. The north-south continental divide is marked near the western end of the border between the two, but if you aren't going to stand at the divide (an old flat river channel) then there's nothing convenient to take one to both.

MO: Knox (4131) and Scotland (4843) are the 3rd and 5th least populated counties. Knox is not particularly on the way from anywhere to anywhere (maybe Quincy to Kirkland, but that makes my point). It was created from Scotland two years after Scotland was created, so it could just have well stayed together.

NE: Arthur (460) and Grant (614) are the 1st and 5th least populated counties. Picking up counties in NE is mostly about going east-west and Arthur is at the western end of NE-92 so it doesn't help to link to anywhere else. I'd combine Arthur with McPherson but it's in a different time zone.

ND: Burke (1968) and Divide (2071) are the 6th and 9th least populated counties. Yes, they both have US highways, but they run north-south. So unless one want to make two separate trips across the Canadian border they represent a substantial detour to visit.

SD: Ziebach (2801) and Dewey (5301). They aren't nearly the smallest in SD and they do have US-212 running through them, but they are quite a bit out of the way. More importantly they together comprise the Cheyenne River Indian Reservation and merging them would match the IR to a single county.

edited to color counties based on my personal visits (green=yes, red=not yet)
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Fubart Solman
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« Reply #18 on: October 24, 2017, 02:40:02 AM »


Funny that you mention those two. Mineral was split off from Esmeralda back in 1911.
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Sol
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« Reply #19 on: October 24, 2017, 06:32:40 AM »

GA:Merge Fulton and Forsyth. Maybe add in Cherokee, Clayton, and Cobb too.
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muon2
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« Reply #20 on: October 24, 2017, 10:04:28 AM »

Here are my thoughts on New England. I've colored counties based on my personal visits (green=yes, red=not yet)

CT: Windham (118,428) and Tolland (152,691). Counties aren't used in CT except for judicial purposes and they are all fairly easy to visit, so I picked the two smallest population. In the case of CT I'd rather split Fairfield (3), Hartford (2), and New Haven (3) to match their judicial divisions then every county would correspond to a judicial division. Since counties in CT don't have any other purpose, I'm surprised the Census hasn't divided them to match.

ME: Piscataquis (17,535) and Somerset (52,228). Picataquis is the least populated county and isn't convenient. Piscataquis does have a way to Millinocket (in Penobscot), famous for the phrase "You can't there from here."

MA: Nantucket (10,172) and Dukes (16,535) are the two smallest counties by far. They are two separate islands and require two separate ferry rides to visit.

NH: Coos (33,055) and Carroll (47,818). Coos is the smallest and most out of the way county and Carroll is off the interstate, too.

RI: Bristol (49,875) and Newport (82,888) are the two smallest counties. There are only five counties and they don't have any county government in RI. The other three are all on I-95.

VT: Essex (6,306) and Orleans (27,231) are the 1st and 4th least populated counties. They are tucked in the NE corner next to Quebec and it takes some extra driving to get to both unless one is going to Canada.
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KingSweden
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« Reply #21 on: October 24, 2017, 12:14:09 PM »

St. Louis City and County.
I support a movement called "Better Together," which has lots of smart reasons why remaining separate entities is costing the tax payers more money than re-uniting. St. Louis County has a whopping 90 municipalities, dozens of which are extremely small. We're looking at how Indianapolis, Nashville, and Louisville have consolidated with Marion County, Davidson County, and Jefferson County respectively.

Having been to STL Id say this is a phenomenal idea
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jimrtex
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« Reply #22 on: October 24, 2017, 01:43:52 PM »

San Francisco and San Mateo because why not? They're both rich, obscenely liberal, and prone to earthquakes
In the earlier part of the past century there was a proposal to do that, but it was voted down. San Mateo county, or at least the northern part would have become a borough. This was not too long after the consolidation of New York City, and was modeled after that.
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Del Tachi
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« Reply #23 on: October 24, 2017, 11:53:46 PM »

Clarke and Oconee County, GA
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muon2
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« Reply #24 on: October 25, 2017, 07:50:56 PM »
« Edited: October 26, 2017, 04:03:02 AM by muon2 »

Here's my merge list for the Mid-Atlantic states. I've colored counties based on my personal visits (green=yes, red=not yet).

DE: Kent (162,310) and Sussex (197,145). DE only has three counties and 60% of the population is in New Castle so merging the other two seems the only reasonable choice.

MD: Dorchester (32,618) and Caroline (33,066) are the 4th and 5th least populated counties. In fact 7 of the 8 least populated counties are on the Eastern Shore. Caroline lacks any US highways and with Dorchester fits between two rivers that flow into the Chesapeake.

NJ: Salem (66,083) and Cumberland (156,898) are the 1st and 6th least populated counties. If you travel out from NYC and cross NJ on I-80, I-78, the NJ Turnpike and the Garden State Parkway you'll visit every county except Cumberland. I rest my case.

NY: Hamilton (4,836) and Fulton (55,531). In many ways I'm tempted by the 2nd and 3rd smallest counties - Schuyler and Yates in the heart of the Finger Lakes. But Hamilton is a quarter of the population of Schuyler and tucked a ways into the Adirondacks. Even my intentional drive through the northern Adirondacks didn't get me into Hamilton.

PA: Cameron (5,085) and Elk (31,946) are the 1st and the 9th least populated counties. Cameron is small and lacks any major roads (I was there in 2016). It was partially formed from Elk and if merged would help many county chasers.
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