"COUNTY SEATS IN THE MIDDLE WESTERN URBAN SYSTEM

The county seat played an important role in the development of the Middle Western urban system. Studies of the county seat's most visible expression noted the importance of the courthouse in the establishment of Middle Western urban places. Price asserted, "The courthouse was [the town's] reason for being, its first central function, the seat of its creator. Even had no town been laid off, a community of businesses and residents would have gathered around it." The frequent use of "county seats" to designate middle level places of the Middle Western urban hierarchy, places smaller than gateway cities but larger than the local rural service centers, emphasized the relationship between the distribution of county governmental activities and the evolving urban system.' Dacey was first to state explicitly, "there is a high probability that the county seat is the most populous place in the county.'" Verification of this statement was not crucial for Dacey's point distribution modelling; that none was offered by other authors confirmed the implicit general belief in its validity. The following empirical examination of the statement's accuracy and analysis of counties where it was not valid clarifies the circular processes by which the location of county seats influenced and was influenced by development of the urban system.