document_title: Derek Shepherd

question_text: how did derek die on grey's anatomy 2015

question_tokens: how did derek die on grey 's anatomy 2015

text: Derek Shepherd

text: Storyline[edit]

text: Derek arrives at Seattle Grace Hospital as the new Head of Neurosurgery from New York City. He is a Bowdoin College graduate[2] and attended Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons alongside his childhood best friend Mark Sloan and ex-wife Addison Montgomery and Private Practice characters Naomi Bennett and Sam Bennett. Derek was a student of Dr. Richard Webber and was enticed to come with an "offer he couldn’t refuse"[3] – the position of Chief of Surgery, which he eventually turned down. He specializes in highly complex tumors and conditions of the brain and spine[4][5][6] and came to Seattle Grace with a reputation for taking on "lost causes" and "impossible" cases[7] that most of his peers would turn down. As an attending he is both well-liked and feared — well-liked by patients and his scrub nurses for his compassion and gentlemanly bedside manner and feared by interns and residents who are intimidated by his reputation and high standards.[4][8] He is passionate about his job and has been known to expel staff or remove interns and residents (or at least threaten them) from his service for being disrespectful about patients or if he deems their attitude to be detrimental to his patient's well-being.[9][10][11][8]

text: Derek first meets Meredith Grey at a bar, and soon finds out that she is an intern at Seattle Grace. They begin to have feelings for one another and it causes some awkwardness at work, particularly after her supervising resident Dr. Miranda Bailey discovers their relationship. Meredith's housemates and fellow interns George O'Malley and Izzie Stevens both antagonized her for some time as they felt she was using her relationship with Derek to further her career. He generally tolerated them despite his dislike of sharing his living space with the interns who worked under him. While most of his family members accepted Meredith, his sister, Nancy, particularly disliked her and repeatedly called her "the slutty intern";[12] as of season nine she still refuses to speak to Meredith or acknowledge her as her sister-in-law.[13] His mother Carolyn approved as she felt Meredith's gray perspective of life complemented Derek's tendency to see everything in black and white.[14]

text: Derek's background was generally a mystery for the first season and source of speculation amongst his colleagues due to his sudden departure from an established and highly respected practice in New York. In the season one finale, his past eventually catches up with him when his estranged wife Addison moves to Seattle and is offered a position by Dr. Webber. Shortly thereafter, his childhood best friend Mark joins Seattle Grace as the new head of plastic surgery. Derek and Addison attempt to repair their marriage but attempts were futile. Since their divorce they have remained on amicable terms, with Addison even admonishing Meredith for breaking up with Derek in season three. In the Private Practice episode "Ex-Life" Derek finally tells Addison that his mother never liked her in the first place. He admits to Meredith that Addison cheating on him with Mark was partly his fault as an absentee husband.[15] Addison eventually leaves Seattle for a private practice in Los Angeles, spawning the spin-off Private Practice. In the season eight episode "If/Then", Meredith dreams of an alternate universe where her mother never had Alzheimer's; Derek and Addison are still married but their strained relationship and Shepherd's disillusionment causes his career to stagnate, earning him the nicknames "Bad Shepherd" and "McDreary".

text:
When Derek is offered the Chief of Surgery position for the second time, he persuades the board to keep Dr. Webber on the staff.
During the merger of Seattle Grace with Mercy West their relationship sours when Derek disagreed with Richard's handling of the merger and Richard begins to display uncharacteristic behavior, not unnoticed by his fellow surgeons. Derek learns from Meredith that Richard has since resumed drinking and feels forced to have him removed as Chief of Surgery. With mixed feelings, Derek offers him an ultimatum: go into rehab and possibly pick up where he left off after, or quit completely.

text: In seasons three and four, Meredith and Derek's relationship becomes rocky and they each take time to date other people. Derek's plans to propose were ruined by a series of unfortunate events in season five. In the season finale, they decide to give their planned wedding to Alex and Izzie. Due to their tight schedule, they instead informally marry and Derek writes down their "promises" on a post-it note. They legalize their marriage in season seven in order to adopt Zola, a young African orphan treated for spina bifida.[16] They briefly separate after Meredith tampers with their Alzheimer's trial, jeopardizing her career and tarnishing Derek's reputation. Zola is taken away from Meredith after a social worker finds out she and Derek are living separately. In later seasons, Derek often griped about how his subsequent interns and residents – mainly Lexie Grey, Shane Ross and Heather Brooks – did not quite measure up to Meredith.[4][10] The social worker comes back and announces they are the official parents of Zola. As Meredith nears the end of her fifth year of residency, she and Derek are torn between staying at Seattle Grace Mercy West or leaving for Boston where Derek would work at Harvard while Meredith would be at the Brigham and Women's Hospital.

text: Following his rescue from the plane crash that killed Mark and Lexie, Derek learns that he may only regain 80 percent of his hand's function. He comes to terms with the fact that his career as a surgeon may be over and is grateful that he is alive. When Callie Torres (Sara Ramirez), head of orthopedic surgery, tells him a more risky surgery could give him back full function of his hand or reduce its function if it goes wrong, he agrees, accepting the possibility of never again holding a scalpel. Derek recovers well and Callie clears him to return to work, but it is still weeks later that he feels ready to operate. Derek, Callie and fellow resident Jackson Avery decide to do nerve transplant for his hand. Meredith, newly pregnant with their second child, goes behind his back and calls his sisters so they can donate a nerve to him. Lizzie (Neve Campbell), Derek's younger sister, agrees to donate a nerve and the surgery is a success.

text: Derek and Meredith's marriage is strained after he accepted an invitation from the President to participate in the Brain-Mapping Initiative. He went back on his promise to her that he would not add to his current workload in order to devote time to their two young children and allow her the chance to establish her career as a full-fledged attending. Eventually he was offered a position at the National Institutes of Health in Washington, D.C., but Meredith puts her foot down and refuses to leave her hometown and uproot their young family. His youngest sister Amelia (Caterina Scorsone) takes over his position at Grey Sloan. Meanwhile, he and Meredith fight bitterly on and off over whether they should move. After a bad argument, he accepts the job in the heat of the moment and leaves for Washington. While there, he and Meredith talk things out over the phone and come to a mutual conclusion that they both did not want to end their marriage. He tells her that just being with her, raising their children and operating on patients was more satisfying than "saving the world".

text: In season 11, Derek is involved in a fatal car  accident while driving to the airport for his final trip to Washington. He is able to hear and process auditory input, but unable to speak. He is recognized by Winnie, one of the victims of a crash he assisted in earlier, who tells the surgeons that their patient's name is Derek and that he is a surgeon as well. The hospital he was taken to was understaffed and his head injury was not detected quickly enough by the interns on duty that night. Although the neurosurgeon on call is paged multiple times, he takes too long to arrive and Derek is declared brain dead. Police arrive at Meredith's door and take her to see Derek, where she consents to removing him from life support. At the time of his death, Meredith was pregnant with their third child. She gives birth to a daughter whom she names Ellis after her mother.

text: Derek was mentioned or referenced to a number of times in season 12 as the other characters struggle to cope with his sudden death. In the episode "My Next Life", Meredith had a flashback of their first ever surgery together when a patient named Katie Bryce was admitted to the hospital with a brain aneurysm. Amelia took his death especially hard as he was the sibling she was closest to. At the end of the season, prior to her wedding to Derek's long-time colleague Owen Hunt, Amelia goes on a nervous rant about how Derek was supposed to be the one to give her away, him having given away their three other sisters at their weddings.

text: Development[edit]

text: Casting and creation[edit]

text: When Patrick Dempsey auditioned for the role of Derek Shepherd, he was afraid that he was not going to get the part. Creator Shonda Rhimes' first reaction was: "The very first time I met him, I was absolutely sure that he was my guy. Reading the lines of Derek Shepherd, Patrick had a vulnerable charm that I just fell for. And he had amazing chemistry with Ellen Pompeo." Rhimes admitted that Dempsey's dyslexia threw her at first, particularly at the first few table readings: "I did not know about Patrick's dyslexia in the beginning. I actually thought that he didn't like the scripts from the way he approached the readings. When I found out, I completely understood his hesitation. Now that we all know, if he is struggling with a word, the other actors are quick to step up and help him out. Everyone is very respectful."[citation needed] Isaiah Washington also auditioned for the part and when he did not get it, he said his reaction was like "I'd been kicked in the stomach by 14 mules." Washington was, however, later cast as Preston Burke.[17] Rob Lowe was also considered to portray Shepherd but turned the role down.[18] Some of the character's medical cases were inspired by real-life patients of Steve Giannotta, Chair of Neurological Surgery at the University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine, whom Rhimes had consulted in writing for Shepherd's storylines and patients.[19]

text:
In January 2014, Dempsey signed a two-year contract to remain on Grey's Anatomy (then in its tenth season) that would ensure his presence for potential 11th and 12th seasons.[20] However, in April 2015, Dempsey's character was killed off[21] while his contract was not over yet. Dempsey explained: "it just sort of evolved. It’s just kind of happened. It really was something that was kind of surprising that unfolded, and it just naturally came to be. Which was pretty good. I like the way it has all played out."[22]
In August 2015, Rhimes commented:

text:
“

The decision to have the character die the way that he did was not a difficult one in the sense of what were the options? Either Derek was going to walk out on Meredith, and leave her high and dry, and what was that going to mean? That was going to suggest that the love was not true, the thing we had said for 11 years was a lie and McDreamy wasn't McDreamy. For me, that was untenable. Meredith and Derek's love had to remain Meredith and Derek's love. As painful as it was for me as a storyteller, because I had never really thought that was going to happen, it preserved what felt true to me, was that Derek was going to have to die in order for that love to remain honest. Because I really couldn't have the idea that he just turned out to be a bad guy who walked out on his wife and kids be a true story. To me, it felt like that was the only way to make Meredith and Derek's magic remain true and forever frozen in time.[23]

”

text: The character was later written to be a graduate of Bowdoin College, a liberal arts college in Brunswick, Maine, after an alumnus led a petition signed by over 450 students to "adopt" the character as an alumnus.[24] Dempsey is from Lewiston, about 18 miles (29 km) away from Brunswick, and was awarded an honorary doctorate by Bowdoin in 2013.[2]

text: Characterization[edit]

text: Rhimes describes Shepherd as typical "Prince Charming". He was planned to be a doctor who doesn't really care about anything, who lives in his "own" universe and has a big sex appeal. A man who is charming, devilishly handsome and the type of guy every girl dreams of, and a man that often makes the wrong decisions, and is often known as a jerk or the ultimate heartbreaker. Rhimes planned to have this kind of character from the beginning, because he was the kind of guy whom girls fall in love with and a character whose storylines could easily be changed.[citation needed] USA Today writer Robert Bianco said: "Derek could, at times, seem like two people, warm and funny one minute, cold and self-involved the next. Dempsey's gift was in making those two sides seem like part of the same person, while keeping us rooting for that person as a whole."[25]

text: Reception[edit]

text: With the show concluding its second season, Robert Bianco of USA Today said that Emmy voters could consider him because of the "seemingly effortless way he humanizes Derek's 'dreamy' appeal with ego and vanity".[26] In the third season, Alan Sepinwall of The Star-Ledger wrote that "the attempt to give the moral high ground back to McDreamy was bad. Dude, whatever happened in New York ceased to count in any kind of grievance tally once you agreed to take Addison back and give things another try. You're the dick who cheated on her, you're the one who knew that she found the panties, and still you act like her getting back together with Mark justifies what you did? Wow. I didn't think it was possible for me to dislike anyone on this show more than Meredith, but congratulations, big guy."[27]

text: Debbie Chang of BuddyTV noted the character's immaturity in the fourth season, saying: "The only character who did not make me love him was Derek Shepherd (Patrick Dempsey). How this character is still Shonda's golden child is beyond me. Yes, we get it. He's tormented by his love for Meredith, but that does not give him the right to lash out at her when his clinical trial patients are dying. If things don't go absolutely the way he wants them to, then he refuses to cooperate. How immature can this man possibly be? No amount of heavily styled hair or blue-blue-blue eyes is going to make me warm up to him unless he admits to being the needy, desperate one in the relationship."[28]

text: Entertainment Weekly placed Shepherd in its list of the "30 Great TV Doctors and Nurses".[29] The character was also listed in Wetpaint's "10 Hottest Male Doctors on TV" and in BuzzFeed's "16 Hottest Doctors On Television".[30][31] His relationship with Meredith was included in TV Guide's list of "The Best TV Couples of All Time".[32]

text: Victor Balta of Today listed Shepherd and Sloan's friendship in its "TV's best bromances". He called them "the most exciting couple on Grey’s," explaining "they’ve demonstrated an easy chemistry that makes for some of the great comic relief around Seattle Grace Hospital with their banter, sage wisdom on each other’s lives, and locker room-style teasing."[33] Their bromance was furthermore included in lists by About.com, BuddyTV, Cosmopolitan, Wetpaint.[34][35][36][37] However, following the announcement of Dane's upcoming departure from the show, Mark Perigard of the Boston Herald felt he and Derek "never clicked like you’d expect friends would. Any scene they had together ranged from uncomfortable to forced."[38]


document_title: County (United States)

question_text: what is the oldest county in the united states

root

text: County (United States)

text: History[edit]

text: Counties were among the earliest units of local government established in the Thirteen Colonies that would become the United States. Virginia created the first counties in order to ease the administrative workload in Jamestown. The House of Burgesses divided the colony first into four "incorporations" in 1617 and finally into eight shires (or counties) in 1634: James City, Henrico, Charles City, Charles River, Warrosquyoake, Accomac, Elizabeth City, and Warwick River.[4] America's oldest intact county court records can be found at Eastville, Virginia, in Northampton (originally Accomac) County, dating to 1632.[5] Maryland established its first county, St. Mary's, in 1637, and Massachusetts followed in 1643. Pennsylvania and New York delegated significant power and responsibility from state government to county governments and thereby established a pattern for most of the United States, although counties remained relatively weak in New England.[6]

tag: p

text: When independence came, "the framers of the Constitution did not provide for local governments. Rather, they left the matter to the states. Subsequently, early state constitutions generally conceptualized county government as an arm of the state." In the twentieth century, the role of local governments strengthened and counties began providing more services, acquiring home rule and county commissions to pass local ordinances pertaining to their unincorporated areas.[7]

text: In some states, these powers are partly or mostly devolved to the counties' smaller divisions usually called townships, though in New York, New England and Wisconsin they are called "towns." The county may or may not be able to override its townships on certain matters, depending on the state constitution.

text: The newest county in the United States is the city and county of Broomfield, Colorado, established in 2001 as a consolidated city-county.[8][9] The newest county-equivalents are the Alaskan boroughs of Skagway established in 2007, Wrangell established in 2008, and Petersburg established in 2013.[10]

text: County variations[edit]

text: Consolidated city-counties[edit]

text: A consolidated city-county is simultaneously a city, which is a municipality (municipal corporation), and a county, which is an administrative division of a state, having the powers and responsibilities of both types of entities. There are 40 consolidated city-counties in the U.S.,[1] including Denver, Colorado; Indianapolis, Indiana; Jacksonville, Florida; Louisville, Kentucky; Lexington, Kentucky; Nashville, Tennessee; New Orleans, Louisiana; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and San Francisco, California.

text: Similarly, some of Alaska's boroughs have merged with their principal cities creating unified city-boroughs. Some such consolidations and mergers have created cities that rank among the geographically largest cities in the world, though often with population densities far below those of most urban areas.

text: County equivalents[edit]

text: The term county equivalents is used to describe divisions whose organization differs from that of most counties:

text:
Alaska census areas: Most of the land area of Alaska is not contained within any of Alaska's 19 organized boroughs. This vast area, larger than France and Germany combined, is officially referred to by the Alaska state government as the Unorganized Borough and outside of other incorporated borough limits, has no independent "county" government, although several incorporated city governments exist within its boundaries; the majority of it is governed and run by the State of Alaska as an extension of state government.[a] The United States Census Bureau, in cooperation with the Alaska state government for census and electoral districting purposes, has divided the Unorganized Borough into 11 census areas for statistical purposes only.[b]
Independent cities: These are cities that legally belong to no county. They differ from consolidated city-counties in that in the case of a consolidated city-county, the county at least nominally exists, whereas in the case of an independent city, no county even nominally exists. As of July 2013[update], there are 41 such cities in the United States, including Baltimore, Maryland; Carson City, Nevada; St. Louis, Missouri; and all 38 cities in Virginia, where any area incorporated as a city is outside of the county jurisdiction.[13][14]
Washington, D.C.,[15] outside the jurisdiction of any state, has a special status. The city of Washington comprises the entirety of the District of Columbia, which, in accordance with Article 1, Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution, is under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Congress. When founded in 1801, the District consisted of two counties and three cities. In 1846, Alexandria County (which now forms Arlington County and a portion of the independent city of Alexandria)—including the then City of Alexandria—was given back to Virginia. In 1871, the three remaining entities—the City of Washington, Georgetown City, and Washington County (which was coterminous with the District)—were merged into a consolidated government by an act of Congress. Georgetown was abolished as a city by another act in 1895.

tag: ul

text: Consolidated city-counties are not designated county-equivalents for administrative purposes; since both the city and the county at least nominally exist, they are properly classified as counties in their own right. The same is true of the boroughs of New York City, each of which is coextensive with a county of New York State.

text: Territories[edit]

text: There are no counties per se in US territories. Most are directly divided into municipalities or similar units, which are sometimes treated as equivalent of counties for statistical purposes:

text:
Municipalities of Puerto Rico
Villages of Guam
Districts of the United States Virgin Islands
Districts and unorganized atolls of American Samoa

text: Organization[edit]

text: The site of a county's administration, and often the county courthouse, is called the county seat ("parish seat" in Louisiana, or "borough seat" in Alaska). Several New England counties use the term "shire town" for the county seat.

text: Many counties are divided into smaller political or governmental units. In Northeastern and Midwestern states, counties are divided into civil townships (or "towns" in New England, New York, and Wisconsin), which may provide governmental or public services.

text: County names[edit]

text: Common sources of county names are names of people, geographic features, places in other states or countries, Native American tribes, and animals. Quite a few counties bear names of French or Spanish origin.[16]

text: Counties are most often named for people, often political figures or early settlers, with over 2,100 of the 3,143 total so named. The most common county name, with 31, is Washington County, for America's first president, George Washington. Up until 1871, there was a Washington County within the District of Columbia, but it was dissolved by the District of Columbia Organic Act. Jefferson County, for Thomas Jefferson, is next with 27. The most recent president to have a county named for him was Warren G. Harding, reflecting the slowing rate of county creation since New Mexico and Arizona became states in 1912. The most common names for counties not named after a president are Franklin (25), Clay (18), and Montgomery (18).

text: After people, the next most common source of county names are geographic features and locations, with some counties even being named after counties in other states, or for places in countries such as the United Kingdom. The most common geographic county name is Lake. Native American tribes and animals lend their names to some counties. Quite a few counties bear names of French or Spanish origin, including Marquette County being named after French missionary Father Jacques Marquette.[16]

text: The county's equivalent in the state of Louisiana, the parish (Fr. paroisse civile and Sp. parroquia) took its name during the state's French and Spanish colonial periods. Before the Louisiana Purchase and granting of statehood, government was often administered in towns where major church parishes were located. Of the original 19 civil parishes of Louisiana that date from statehood in 1807, nine were named after the Roman Catholic parishes from which they were governed.

text: County government[edit]

text: The powers of counties arise from state law and vary widely.[17] In Connecticut and Rhode Island,[18][19] counties are geographic entities, but not governmental jurisdictions. At the other extreme, Maryland counties and the county-equivalent City of Baltimore handle almost all services, including public education, although the state retains an active oversight authority with many of these services.[20]

text: In most Midwestern and Northeastern states, counties are further subdivided into townships or towns, which sometimes exercise local powers or administration. Throughout the United States, counties may contain other independent, self-governing municipalities.

text: Counties are usually governed by an elected body, variously called the county commission, board of supervisors, commissioners' court, county council, board of chosen freeholders, county court, or county Legislature. In some counties, there is a county executive. In cases in which a consolidated city-county or independent city exists, a City Council usually governs city/county or city affairs.

text: In many states, the board in charge of a county holds powers that transcend all three traditional branches of government. It has the legislative power to enact ordinances for the county; it has the executive power to oversee the executive operations of county government; and it has quasi-judicial power with regard to certain limited matters (such as hearing appeals from the planning commission if one exists).

text: The day-to-day operations of the county government are sometimes overseen by an elected county executive or by a chief administrative officer or county administrator who reports to the board, the mayor, or both.

text: In many states, several important officials are elected separately from the board of commissioners or supervisors and cannot be fired by the board. These positions may include county clerk, county treasurer, county surrogate, sheriff, and others.

text: District attorneys or state attorneys are usually state-level as opposed to county-level officials, but in many states, counties and state judicial districts have coterminous boundaries.

text: The structure and powers of a county government may be defined by the general law of the state or by a charter specific to that county. States may allow only general-law counties, only charter counties, or both. Generally, general-law local governments have less autonomy than chartered local governments.[21]

text: Scope of power[edit]

text: The power of county governments varies widely from state to state, as does the relationship between counties and incorporated cities. The government of the county usually resides in a municipality called the county seat. However, some counties may have multiple seats or no seat. In some counties with no incorporated municipalities, a large settlement may serve as the county seat.

text: Minimal scope[edit]

text: In New England, counties function at most as judicial court districts and sheriff's departments (presently, in Connecticut only as judicial court districts—and in Rhode Island, they have lost both those functions and all others), and most of the governmental authority below the state level is in the hands of towns and cities. In several of Maine's sparsely populated counties, small towns rely on the county for law enforcement, and in New Hampshire several social programs are administered at the state level. In Connecticut, Rhode Island, and parts of Massachusetts, counties are now only geographic designations, and they do not have any governmental powers. All government is either done at the state level or at the municipal level. In Connecticut and parts of Massachusetts, regional councils have been established to partially fill the void left behind by the abolished county governments.[c] The regional councils' authority is limited compared with a county government—they have authority only over infrastructure and land use planning, distribution of state and federal funds for infrastructure projects, emergency preparedness, and limited law enforcement duties.

text: Moderate scope[edit]

text: In the Mid-Atlantic and Midwest, counties typically provide, at a minimum, courts, public utilities, libraries, hospitals, public health services, parks, roads, law enforcement, and jails. There is usually a county registrar, recorder, or clerk (the exact title varies) who collects vital statistics, holds elections (sometimes in coordination with a separate elections office or commission), and prepares or processes certificates of births, deaths, marriages, and dissolutions (divorce decrees). The county recorder normally maintains the official record of all real estate transactions. Other key county officials include the coroner/medical examiner, treasurer, assessor, auditor, comptroller, and district attorney.

text: In most states, the county sheriff is the chief law enforcement officer in the county. However, except in major emergencies where clear chains of command are essential, the county sheriff normally does not directly control the police departments of city governments, but merely cooperates with them (e.g., under mutual aid pacts). Thus, the most common interaction between county and city law enforcement personnel is when city police officers deliver suspects to sheriff's deputies for detention or incarceration in the county jail.

text: In virtually all U.S. states, the state courts and local law enforcement are organized and implemented along county boundaries, but nearly all of the substantive and procedural law adjudicated in state trial courts originates from the state legislature and state appellate courts. In other words, most criminal defendants are prosecuted for violations of state law, not local ordinances, and if they, the district attorney, or police seek reforms to the criminal justice system, they will usually have to direct their efforts towards the state legislature rather than the county (which merely implements state law). A typical criminal defendant will be arraigned and subsequently indicted or held over for trial before a trial court in and for a particular county where the crime occurred, kept in the county jail (if he is not granted bail or cannot make bail), prosecuted by the county's district attorney, and tried before a jury selected from that county. But long-term incarceration is rarely a county responsibility, execution of capital punishment is never a county responsibility, and the state's responses to prisoners' appeals is the responsibility of the state attorney general, who has to defend before the state appellate courts the prosecutions conducted by locally elected district attorneys in the name of the state. Furthermore, county-level trial court judges are officers of the judicial branch of the state government rather than county governments.

text: In many states, the county controls all unincorporated lands within its boundaries. In states with a township tier, unincorporated land is controlled by the townships. Residents of unincorporated land who are dissatisfied with county-level or township-level resource allocation decisions can attempt to vote to incorporate as a city, town, or village.

text: A few counties directly provide public transportation themselves, usually in the form of a simple bus system. However, in most counties, public transportation is provided by one of the following: a special-purpose district that is coterminous with the county (but exists separately from the county government), a multi-county regional transit authority, or a state agency.

text: Broad scope[edit]

text: In western and southern states, more populated counties provide many facilities, such as airports, convention centers, museums, recreation centers, beaches, harbors, zoos, clinics, law libraries, and public housing. They provide services such as child and family services, elder services, mental health services, welfare services, veterans assistance services, animal control, probation supervision, historic preservation, food safety regulation, and environmental health services. They have many additional officials like public defenders, arts commissioners, human rights commissioners, and planning commissioners. Finally, there may also be a county fire department and even a county police department (as distinguished from fire and police departments operated by individual cities, special districts, or the state government). For example, Gwinnett County, Georgia, and its county seat, the city of Lawrenceville, each have their own police departments. (A separate county sheriff's department is responsible for security of the county courts and administration of the county jail.) In several southern states, public school systems are organized and administered at the county level.

text: Statistics[edit]

text: As of 2016[update], there were 3,007 counties, 64 parishes, 18 organized boroughs, 11 census areas, 41 independent cities,[d] and the District of Columbia for a total of 3,142 counties and county-equivalents in the United States.[2] The average number of counties per state is 62, with a range from the three counties of Delaware to the 254 counties of Texas.

text: Southern and Midwestern states generally tend to have more counties than Western or Northeastern states, as many Northeastern states are not large enough in area to warrant a large number of counties, and many Western states were sparsely populated when counties were created. The five counties of Rhode Island, the eight counties of Connecticut, and eight of the 14 counties of Massachusetts no longer have functional county governments, but continue to exist as legal and census entities.

text:
Number of counties and county-equivalents in the United States of America

State or district
Total
Subdivisions[2]
Average

2016 population[2]
Land area[23]
Counties
Equivalents
Total
Population
Land area

Alabama
4,863,300
24 !50,645 sq mi
131,171 km2
67
0
67
72,587
27 !756 sq mi
1,958 km2

Alaska[e]
741,894
51 !570,641 sq mi
1,477,953 km2

29
29
25,582
51 !19,677 sq mi
50,964 km2

Arizona
6,931,071
46 !113,594 sq mi
294,207 km2
15
0
15
462,071
50 !7,573 sq mi
19,614 km2

Arkansas
2,988,248
25 !52,035 sq mi
134,771 km2
75
0
75
39,843
25 !694 sq mi
1,797 km2

California
39,250,017
49 !155,779 sq mi
403,466 km2
57
1
58
676,724
45 !2,686 sq mi
6,956 km2

Colorado
5,540,545
44 !103,642 sq mi
268,431 km2
62
2
64
86,571
39 !1,619 sq mi
4,194 km2

Connecticut
3,576,452
04 !4,842 sq mi
12,542 km2
8
0
8
447,057
18 !605 sq mi
1,568 km2

Delaware
952,065
03 !1,949 sq mi
5,047 km2
3
0
3
317,355
19 !650 sq mi
1,682 km2

District of Columbia[f]
681,170
01 !61 sq mi
158 km2

1
1
681,170
01 !61 sq mi
158 km2

Florida
20,612,439
26 !53,625 sq mi
138,887 km2
66
1
67
307,648
30 !800 sq mi
2,073 km2

Georgia
10,310,371
31 !57,513 sq mi
148,959 km2
158
1
159
64,845
06 !362 sq mi
937 km2

Hawaii
1,428,557
05 !6,423 sq mi
16,635 km2
5
0
5
285,711
37 !1,285 sq mi
3,327 km2

Idaho
1,683,140
41 !82,643 sq mi
214,045 km2
44
0
44
38,253
41 !1,878 sq mi
4,865 km2

Illinois
12,801,539
28 !55,519 sq mi
143,793 km2
102
0
102
125,505
13 !544 sq mi
1,410 km2

Indiana
6,633,053
14 !35,826 sq mi
92,789 km2
92
0
92
72,098
07 !389 sq mi
1,009 km2

Iowa
3,134,693
29 !55,857 sq mi
144,669 km2
99
0
99
31,664
15 !564 sq mi
1,461 km2

Kansas
2,907,289
39 !81,759 sq mi
211,754 km2
105
0
105
27,688
29 !779 sq mi
2,017 km2

Kentucky
4,436,974
15 !39,486 sq mi
102,269 km2
120
0
120
36,975
04 !329 sq mi
852 km2

Louisiana[g]
4,681,666
19 !43,204 sq mi
111,898 km2

64
64
73,151
23 !675 sq mi
1,748 km2

Maine
1,331,479
13 !30,843 sq mi
79,883 km2
16
0
16
83,217
42 !1,928 sq mi
4,993 km2

Maryland[h]
6,016,447
10 !9,707 sq mi
25,142 km2
23
1
24
250,685
08 !404 sq mi
1,048 km2

Massachusetts
6,811,779
07 !7,800 sq mi
20,202 km2
14
0
14
486,556
14 !557 sq mi
1,443 km2

Michigan
9,928,300
30 !56,539 sq mi
146,435 km2
83
0
83
119,618
24 !681 sq mi
1,764 km2

Minnesota
5,519,952
38 !79,627 sq mi
206,232 km2
87
0
87
63,448
34 !915 sq mi
2,370 km2

Mississippi
2,988,726
21 !46,923 sq mi
121,531 km2
82
0
82
36,448
16 !572 sq mi
1,482 km2

Missouri[i]
6,093,000
34 !68,742 sq mi
178,040 km2
114
1
115
52,983
17 !598 sq mi
1,548 km2

Montana
1,042,520
48 !145,546 sq mi
376,962 km2
54
2
56
18,616
43 !2,599 sq mi
6,731 km2

Nebraska
1,907,116
37 !76,824 sq mi
198,974 km2
93
0
93
20,507
31 !826 sq mi
2,140 km2

Nevada[j]
2,940,058
45 !109,781 sq mi
284,332 km2
16
1
17
172,945
49 !6,458 sq mi
16,725 km2

New Hampshire
1,334,795
08 !8,953 sq mi
23,187 km2
10
0
10
133,480
33 !895 sq mi
2,319 km2

New Jersey
8,944,469
06 !7,354 sq mi
19,047 km2
21
0
21
425,927
05 !350 sq mi
907 km2

New Mexico
2,081,015
47 !121,298 sq mi
314,161 km2
33
0
33
63,061
47 !3,676 sq mi
9,520 km2

New York
19,745,289
22 !47,126 sq mi
122,057 km2
62
0
62
318,472
28 !760 sq mi
1,969 km2

North Carolina
10,146,788
23 !48,618 sq mi
125,920 km2
100
0
100
101,468
12 !486 sq mi
1,259 km2

North Dakota
757,952
35 !69,001 sq mi
178,711 km2
53
0
53
14,301
38 !1,302 sq mi
3,372 km2

Ohio
11,614,373
17 !40,861 sq mi
105,829 km2
88
0
88
131,982
11 !464 sq mi
1,203 km2

Oklahoma
3,923,561
33 !68,595 sq mi
177,660 km2
77
0
77
50,955
32 !891 sq mi
2,307 km2

Oregon
4,093,465
42 !95,988 sq mi
248,608 km2
36
0
36
113,707
44 !2,666 sq mi
6,906 km2

Pennsylvania
12,784,227
20 !44,743 sq mi
115,883 km2
67
0
67
190,809
22 !668 sq mi
1,730 km2

Rhode Island
1,056,426
02 !1,034 sq mi
2,678 km2
5
0
5
211,285
02 !207 sq mi
536 km2

South Carolina
4,961,119
12 !30,061 sq mi
77,857 km2
46
0
46
107,850
20 !653 sq mi
1,693 km2

South Dakota
865,454
36 !75,811 sq mi
196,350 km2
66
0
66
13,113
36 !1,149 sq mi
2,975 km2

Tennessee
6,651,194
18 !41,235 sq mi
106,798 km2
95
0
95
70,013
09 !434 sq mi
1,124 km2

Texas
27,862,596
50 !261,232 sq mi
676,587 km2
254
0
254
109,695
35 !1,028 sq mi
2,664 km2

Utah
3,051,217
40 !82,170 sq mi
212,818 km2
29
0
29
105,214
46 !2,833 sq mi
7,339 km2

Vermont
624,594
09 !9,217 sq mi
23,871 km2
14
0
14
44,614
21 !658 sq mi
1,705 km2

Virginia[k]
8,411,808
16 !39,490 sq mi
102,279 km2
95
38
133
63,247
03 !295 sq mi
763 km2

Washington
7,288,000
32 !66,456 sq mi
172,119 km2
39
0
39
186,872
40 !1,704 sq mi
4,413 km2

West Virginia
1,831,102
11 !24,038 sq mi
62,259 km2
55
0
55
33,293
10 !437 sq mi
1,132 km2

Wisconsin
5,778,708
27 !54,158 sq mi
140,268 km2
72
0
72
80,260
26 !752 sq mi
1,948 km2

Wyoming
585,501
43 !97,093 sq mi
251,470 km2
23
0
23
25,457
48 !4,221 sq mi
10,933 km2

United States
323,127,513
99 !3,531,905 sq mi
9,147,592 km2
3,007
135
3,142
102,841
99 !1,124 sq mi
2,910 km2

tag: table

text: Population[edit]

text: The average U.S. county population was nearly 100,000 in 2015. The most populous county is Los Angeles County, California, with 10,170,292 residents in 2015.[24] This number is greater than the populations of 41 U.S. states, and even about 900,000 larger than the population of the 10 lowest states combined. It also makes Los Angeles County 17.4 times as large as the least populous state, Wyoming.

text: The second most populous county is Cook County, Illinois, with a population of 5,238,216.[24] Cook County's population is larger than that of 28 individual U.S. states and the combined populations of the six smallest states.[24]

text: The least populous county is Kalawao County, Hawaii, with 89 residents in 2015.[24]

text: The most densely populated county or county-equivalent is New York County, New York (coextensive with the New York City Borough of Manhattan), with 72,033 persons per square mile (27,812/km2) in 2015. The Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area, Alaska, is both the most extensive and the least densely populated county or county-equivalent with 0.0380 persons per square mile (0.0147/km2) in 2015.[24]

text: A total of 981 counties have a population over 50,000; 592 counties have a population over 100,000; 137 counties have a population over 500,000; 45 counties have a population over 1,000,000; and 14 counties have a population over 2,000,000. At the other extreme, 35 counties have a population under 1,000; 307 counties have a population under 5,000; 709 counties have a population under 10,000; and 1,492 counties have a population between 10,000 and 50,000.[24]

text: Area[edit]

text: At the 2000 U.S. Census, the median land area of U.S. counties was 622 sq mi (1,610 km2), which is two-thirds of the median land area of a ceremonial county of England, and a little more than a quarter of the median land area of a French département. Counties in the western United States typically have a much larger land area than those in the eastern United States. For example, the median land area of counties in Georgia is 343 sq mi (890 km2), whereas in Utah it is 2,427 sq mi (6,290 km2).

text: The most extensive county or county-equivalent is the Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area, Alaska, with a land area of 145,505 square miles (376,856 km2). All nine of the most extensive county-equivalents are in Alaska. The most extensive county is San Bernardino County, California, with a land area of 20,057 square miles (51,947 km2). The least extensive county is Kalawao County, Hawaii, with a land area of 11.991 square miles (31.058 km2). The least extensive county-equivalent is the independent City of Falls Church, Virginia, with a land area of 1.999 square miles (5.177 km2).[1]

text: Geographic relationships between cities and counties[edit]

text: In some states, a municipality may reside in only one county and may not annex territory in adjacent counties, but in the majority of states, the state constitution or state law allows municipalities to extend across county boundaries. At least 32 states include municipalities in multiple counties. Dallas and Oklahoma City, for example, both contain portions of five counties. New York City is an unusual case because it encompasses multiple counties in one city. The city comprises five counties in their entirety, each coextensive with one of the five boroughs of the city: Manhattan (New York County), The Bronx (Bronx County), Queens (Queens County), Brooklyn (Kings County), and Staten Island (Richmond County).


document_title: Arrowhead Water

question_text: where does arrowhead mountain spring water come from

text: Arrowhead Water

text: Discovery[edit]

text: Arrowhead Mountain Spring Water takes its name from a natural mark in the San Bernardino Mountains that is shaped like a giant arrowhead. The arrowhead is naturally barren; it is not manicured in any way. Native American legend says the formation was burned into the mountain by the fall of an arrow from Heaven, showing the way to the healing hot springs. Nearby cold springs on Strawberry Creek in the San Bernardino National Forest are the original source and namesake of Arrowhead water.[1]

text: The first documented reference to Arrowhead springs (Agua Caliente) was in records of priests stationed at Mission San Gabriel Arcángel, around 1820. David Noble Smith was the founder of the first sanitarium facilities at Arrowhead Springs in 1863, which were used to treat patients with tuberculosis and numerous other ailments. By the 1880s, the Arrowhead waters were famous for their supposed curing powers. By the early 20th century, the hot springs were a popular resort for tourism and vacationing.

text: History[edit]

text: In 1909, The Arrowhead Springs Company was formed and the company's water products were marketed in Southern California. The water was transported from Arrowhead Springs, north of San Bernardino, California, to Los Angeles in glass-lined railroad tank cars. In 1917, the bottling operations moved to a new plant in Los Angeles. In 1929, the Arrowhead Springs Company merged with the company that marketed Puritas water, and began co-marketing the Puritas products with Arrowhead water. Puritas water products were first introduced in Los Angeles in 1894.

text: The Arrowhead and Puritas brands were bottled in the same plants and co-marketed until the 1970s. Arrowhead Springs marketed the brands in separate containers that sometimes carried the Arrowhead or Puritas names alone, but containers were often labeled "Arrowhead and Puritas." The Arrowhead Beverage Company was the bottler for many different brands of water and soft drinks including seltzer, fruit-flavored soda, and ginger ale.

text: In 1932, another important development for the company happened in the Los Angeles area, as it was named the official water refreshment of that year's Olympic Games, held at the City of the Stars.

text: Arrowhead water returned to the Olympic Games again in 1984, when the games were again held in Los Angeles.

text: In 1993, Arrowhead water bought the naming rights for the Arrowhead Pond in Anaheim.[2]

text: The Nestlé era[edit]

text: In 1987, Arrowhead waters was bought by Nestlé. Soon after, the presence of Arrowhead water bottles in supermarkets across the Western United States grew considerably.

text: In 1996, a 24-US-fluid-ounce (710 ml) bottle was introduced by the company. By the early 2000s, the company had introduced waters with different flavors to the market.

text: It's Better Up Here! is a trademarked tagline for the Arrowhead Water brand.

text: In 2006, Aquapod was released in this brand.

text: In December, 2017, the California Water Resources Control Board notified Nestlé that an investigation had concluded that the company does not have proper rights to about three-quarters of the water it withdraws for bottling, including water from the San Bernardino National Forest.[3]