{"id":51,"date":"2008-02-18T16:51:27","date_gmt":"2008-02-18T21:51:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/?p=51"},"modified":"2021-10-22T06:27:38","modified_gmt":"2021-10-22T11:27:38","slug":"smallest-county-in-the-usa-part-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/smallest-county-in-the-usa-part-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Smallest County in the USA, Part 2"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The previous article discussed why Kalawao County, Hawaii may not really be the smallest county<\/a> in the United States. Essentially, it’s not actually a county except in name only. So let’s examine the next smallest counties by area, New York County in New York and Bristol in Rhode Island. As it turns out, they are similarly problematic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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New York County, New York<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"View<\/a>
View from Lower Manhattan<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

If you are to believe no less of an authority than the beverage company Snapple and their Real Fact #146, you might ponder what they’ve published on the inside of countless ice tea lids: “The smallest county in America is New York County, better known as Manhattan.<\/em>” This is flat-out wrong. If New York County functions as a distinct entity then so does Kalawao County, which is clearly smaller. At 22.96 square miles, New York County is indeed small. But it’s not the smallest (map<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

New York County is roughly analogous to Manhattan along with Roosevelt Island plus some outlying spots<\/a>. It is part of an 1898 city-county consolidation that created a unified New York City with five boroughs. Of course those famously include The Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens and Staten Island. Officials sometimes described this as a sui generis arrangement (“one that is of its own kind”). So it is truly a unique structure in the United States.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The New York City Charter governs New York County; the county doesn’t act independently. The 1898 consolidation did create the office of Borough President which until recently had a meaningful influence on city budgets and land use. However the United States Supreme Court declared this unconstitutional in 1989 in Board of Estimate of City of New York v. Morris<\/em>. Basically the Court held that the arrangement violated the “one man, one vote” doctrine due to population differences between the boroughs. Today the Borough President serves in a largely powerless advocacy position.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Therefore one can logically conclude that New York County is a non-governing entity within greater New York City. Manhattan is no doubt one of the most meaningful and influential places on the planet. Nonetheless, New York County became a county without stature.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Bristol County, Rhode Island<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"Beautiful<\/a>
Bristol, Rhode Island<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

So now we must move onto the next larger county. Let’s see if it is the right candidate or just another plot of land masquerading as a county. That takes the search to Bristol County, Rhode Island (map<\/a>) with a landmass of 24.68 miles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is a pretty clear-cut case. Rhode Island disestablished its county structure. Both the Office of the Secretary of State of Rhode Island and the National Association of Counties<\/a> confirmed this. Instead, it now has 39 self-governing municipalities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The county structure still exists for purposes of the census and for other minor non-governing functions. For example, Bristol recorded about 50,000 residents in the most recent count. Otherwise it’s a historical artifact and simply a geographic designation. Three self-governing towns fill the borders of what was once Bristol County: Barrington<\/a>; Warren<\/a>; and the Town of Bristol<\/a>. By definition it is a meaningless county.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So now we’ve examined the three smallest and most likely possibilities. Yet, we still have no definitive choice for what we might call the “smallest county in the United States.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other Posts in this Series:<\/p>\n\n\n\n