{"id":52,"date":"2008-02-21T18:38:07","date_gmt":"2008-02-21T23:38:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/?p=52"},"modified":"2022-05-03T06:36:43","modified_gmt":"2022-05-03T11:36:43","slug":"smallest-county-in-the-usa-part-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/smallest-county-in-the-usa-part-3\/","title":{"rendered":"Smallest County in the USA, Part 3"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Previous posts discussed several reasons why the three smallest counties in the United States do not function autonomously. Thus, they should not be considered counties except in name only.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Independent Cities<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The focus of the current post is another unusual arrangement, the situation of independent cities. They function identically to most counties but in fact they are not. This is a rather common phenomenon in the <a href=\"\/blog\/?p=43\">Commonwealth of Virginia<\/a>. In that state there are <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/List_of_cities_and_counties_in_Virginia\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">38 independent cities<\/a>. By quirk of law, every municipality that incorporates as a city in Virginia becomes an independent entity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It is much more rare throughout the remainder of the United States. In fact, there are only 3 additional independent cities: Baltimore, Maryland; St. Louis, Missouri; and Carson City, Nevada. The U.S. Census Bureau treats all independent cities as &#8220;county equivalents.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Smallest of the Small<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/96225726@N08\/8841858885\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/3669\/8841858885_69f2d64397_b.jpg\" alt=\"4th of July 2010. Photo by howderfamily.com; (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)\"\/><\/a><figcaption>4th of July in the City of Falls Church<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The smallest of these independent cities is Falls Church, Virginia (<a href=\"https:\/\/goo.gl\/maps\/6jMPRbZ21DPqh57H8\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">map<\/a>). It covers a minuscule 1.99 square miles with a population of about 10,000. Even the smallest of the pseudo-counties discussed in previous posts would dwarf this locale.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Nonetheless, Falls Church has its own school system, police force, library system, taxation, parks, street maintenance, building inspections, permits and licensing. It does have service arrangements in place with neighboring Fairfax and Arlington Counties in some instances. However those are only for reasons of efficiency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Thus, Falls Church receives its authority directly from the State government and is not subordinate to any county. The city serves its citizens in the same manner as any county. If it were a county it would be by far the smallest. However, by definition, an independent city is not a county. So the search for the &#8220;smallest county&#8221; continues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Other Posts in this Series<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><a href=\"\/blog\/?p=50\">Kalawao County, Hawaii<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"\/blog\/?p=51\">New York County, New York and Bristol County, Rhode Island<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"\/blog\/?p=53\">Arlington, Virginia<\/a><\/li><li>Epilogue: <a href=\"?p=54&quot;\">Coincidence of smallest self-governing county and smallest independent city<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Previous posts discussed several reasons why the three smallest counties in the United States do not function autonomously. Thus, they should not be considered counties except in name only. Independent Cities The focus of the current post is another unusual arrangement, the situation of independent cities. They function identically to most counties but in fact [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,28,22],"tags":[332,331,310,30],"class_list":["post-52","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-borders","category-cities","category-counties","tag-falls-church","tag-independent-city","tag-smallest-county","tag-virginia"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Smallest County in the USA, Part 3 - Twelve Mile Circle - An Appreciation of Unusual Places<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The search for the smallest county brings one to the unusual situation of independent cities, primarily in Virginia.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/smallest-county-in-the-usa-part-3\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Smallest County in the USA, Part 3 - Twelve Mile Circle - An Appreciation of Unusual Places\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The search for the smallest county brings one to the unusual situation of independent cities, primarily in Virginia.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/smallest-county-in-the-usa-part-3\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Twelve Mile Circle - An Appreciation of Unusual Places\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2008-02-21T23:38:07+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-05-03T11:36:43+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/3669\/8841858885_69f2d64397_b.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Twelve Mile Circle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@TheReal12MC\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@TheReal12MC\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Twelve Mile Circle\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.howderfamily.com\\\/blog\\\/smallest-county-in-the-usa-part-3\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.howderfamily.com\\\/blog\\\/smallest-county-in-the-usa-part-3\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Twelve Mile Circle\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.howderfamily.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/9d80a5a18ef467b299e8ca0ed890ba1e\"},\"headline\":\"Smallest County in the USA, Part 3\",\"datePublished\":\"2008-02-21T23:38:07+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-05-03T11:36:43+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.howderfamily.com\\\/blog\\\/smallest-county-in-the-usa-part-3\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":324,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.howderfamily.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/9d80a5a18ef467b299e8ca0ed890ba1e\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.howderfamily.com\\\/blog\\\/smallest-county-in-the-usa-part-3\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/live.staticflickr.com\\\/3669\\\/8841858885_69f2d64397_b.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Falls Church\",\"Independent City\",\"Smallest County\",\"Virginia\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Borders\",\"Cities\\\/Towns\",\"U.S. Counties\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.howderfamily.com\\\/blog\\\/smallest-county-in-the-usa-part-3\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.howderfamily.com\\\/blog\\\/smallest-county-in-the-usa-part-3\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.howderfamily.com\\\/blog\\\/smallest-county-in-the-usa-part-3\\\/\",\"name\":\"Smallest County in the USA, Part 3 - Twelve Mile Circle - An Appreciation of Unusual Places\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.howderfamily.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.howderfamily.com\\\/blog\\\/smallest-county-in-the-usa-part-3\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.howderfamily.com\\\/blog\\\/smallest-county-in-the-usa-part-3\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/live.staticflickr.com\\\/3669\\\/8841858885_69f2d64397_b.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2008-02-21T23:38:07+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-05-03T11:36:43+00:00\",\"description\":\"The search for the smallest county brings one to the unusual situation of independent cities, primarily in Virginia.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.howderfamily.com\\\/blog\\\/smallest-county-in-the-usa-part-3\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.howderfamily.com\\\/blog\\\/smallest-county-in-the-usa-part-3\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.howderfamily.com\\\/blog\\\/smallest-county-in-the-usa-part-3\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/live.staticflickr.com\\\/3669\\\/8841858885_69f2d64397_b.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/live.staticflickr.com\\\/3669\\\/8841858885_69f2d64397_b.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.howderfamily.com\\\/blog\\\/smallest-county-in-the-usa-part-3\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.howderfamily.com\\\/blog\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Smallest County in the USA, Part 3\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.howderfamily.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.howderfamily.com\\\/blog\\\/\",\"name\":\"Twelve Mile Circle - An Appreciation of Unusual Places\",\"description\":\"(scroll down if article doesn&#039;t appear)\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.howderfamily.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/9d80a5a18ef467b299e8ca0ed890ba1e\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.howderfamily.com\\\/blog\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":[\"Person\",\"Organization\"],\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.howderfamily.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/9d80a5a18ef467b299e8ca0ed890ba1e\",\"name\":\"Twelve Mile Circle\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.howderfamily.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/12\\\/cropped-1862map_for_blog_header-1.jpg\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.howderfamily.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/12\\\/cropped-1862map_for_blog_header-1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.howderfamily.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/12\\\/cropped-1862map_for_blog_header-1.jpg\",\"width\":512,\"height\":512,\"caption\":\"Twelve Mile Circle\"},\"logo\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.howderfamily.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/12\\\/cropped-1862map_for_blog_header-1.jpg\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/www.twelvemilecircle.com\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/TheReal12MC\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.howderfamily.com\\\/blog\\\/author\\\/tom\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Smallest County in the USA, Part 3 - Twelve Mile Circle - An Appreciation of Unusual Places","description":"The search for the smallest county brings one to the unusual situation of independent cities, primarily in Virginia.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/smallest-county-in-the-usa-part-3\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Smallest County in the USA, Part 3 - Twelve Mile Circle - An Appreciation of Unusual Places","og_description":"The search for the smallest county brings one to the unusual situation of independent cities, primarily in Virginia.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/smallest-county-in-the-usa-part-3\/","og_site_name":"Twelve Mile Circle - An Appreciation of Unusual Places","article_published_time":"2008-02-21T23:38:07+00:00","article_modified_time":"2022-05-03T11:36:43+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/3669\/8841858885_69f2d64397_b.jpg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"Twelve Mile Circle","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@TheReal12MC","twitter_site":"@TheReal12MC","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Twelve Mile Circle","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/smallest-county-in-the-usa-part-3\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/smallest-county-in-the-usa-part-3\/"},"author":{"name":"Twelve Mile Circle","@id":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/9d80a5a18ef467b299e8ca0ed890ba1e"},"headline":"Smallest County in the USA, Part 3","datePublished":"2008-02-21T23:38:07+00:00","dateModified":"2022-05-03T11:36:43+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/smallest-county-in-the-usa-part-3\/"},"wordCount":324,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/9d80a5a18ef467b299e8ca0ed890ba1e"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/smallest-county-in-the-usa-part-3\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/3669\/8841858885_69f2d64397_b.jpg","keywords":["Falls Church","Independent City","Smallest County","Virginia"],"articleSection":["Borders","Cities\/Towns","U.S. Counties"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/smallest-county-in-the-usa-part-3\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/smallest-county-in-the-usa-part-3\/","url":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/smallest-county-in-the-usa-part-3\/","name":"Smallest County in the USA, Part 3 - Twelve Mile Circle - An Appreciation of Unusual Places","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/smallest-county-in-the-usa-part-3\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/smallest-county-in-the-usa-part-3\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/3669\/8841858885_69f2d64397_b.jpg","datePublished":"2008-02-21T23:38:07+00:00","dateModified":"2022-05-03T11:36:43+00:00","description":"The search for the smallest county brings one to the unusual situation of independent cities, primarily in Virginia.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/smallest-county-in-the-usa-part-3\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/smallest-county-in-the-usa-part-3\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/smallest-county-in-the-usa-part-3\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/3669\/8841858885_69f2d64397_b.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/3669\/8841858885_69f2d64397_b.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/smallest-county-in-the-usa-part-3\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Smallest County in the USA, Part 3"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/","name":"Twelve Mile Circle - An Appreciation of Unusual Places","description":"(scroll down if article doesn&#039;t appear)","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/9d80a5a18ef467b299e8ca0ed890ba1e"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":["Person","Organization"],"@id":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/9d80a5a18ef467b299e8ca0ed890ba1e","name":"Twelve Mile Circle","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/cropped-1862map_for_blog_header-1.jpg","url":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/cropped-1862map_for_blog_header-1.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/cropped-1862map_for_blog_header-1.jpg","width":512,"height":512,"caption":"Twelve Mile Circle"},"logo":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/cropped-1862map_for_blog_header-1.jpg"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/www.twelvemilecircle.com\/","https:\/\/x.com\/TheReal12MC"],"url":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/author\/tom\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29619,"href":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52\/revisions\/29619"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}