1965: On March 9, 1965, the “Appalachian Regional Development Act of 1965” (Public Law 89-4, Section 403) defined the Appalachian Region as 360 counties in eleven states. It did not include Mississippi and New York, but it authorized the Commission to study and consider the addition of New York counties. According to Michael Bradshaw’s history of the Appalachian Regional Commission, “each state nominated a group of counties” for inclusion (Bradshaw 1992, 44).
List of Counties | View Dynamic Map Individually | ArcGIS Shapefile | Compare and Contrast Maps
Additions since March 1965
1965 (second iteration)
373 Counties
List of Counties | View Dynamic Map Individually | ArcGIS Shapefile
1967
397 Counties
List of Counties | View Dynamic Map Individually | ArcGIS Shapefile
1990
398 Counties
List of Counties | View Dynamic Map Individually | ArcGIS Shapefile
1991
399 Counties
List of Counties | View Dynamic Map Individually | ArcGIS Shapefile
1998
406 Counties
List of Counties | View Dynamic Map Individually | ArcGIS Shapefile
2002
410 Counties
List of Counties | View Dynamic Map Individually | ArcGIS Shapefile
2008
420 Counties
List of Counties | View Dynamic Map Individually | ArcGIS Shapefile
All ARC Counties to Date
List of Counties
Bradshaw, Michael. 1992. The Appalachian regional commission: Twenty-five years of government
policy. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky.
Appalachian Regional Commission Staff [ARC]. 2017a. ARC county history. October 4. Excel
spreadsheet emailed to Abigail August from Keith Witt, October 10.
Appalachian Regional Commission Staff. 2017b. Counties in the Appalachian regional development program. October 4. Word document emailed to Abigail August from Keith Witt, October 10.