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Colorado State...
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Colorado Counties
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Colorado Counties
Colorado currently has sixty-four counties. The counties of Colorado are important components
of government since the state has no secondary civil subdivisions such as townships. Two counties, the City and
County of Denver and the City and County of Broomfield, have consolidated city and county governments..
No organized counties of the District of Louisiana, the Territory of Missouri, or the Territory of Nebraska
existed within the present boundaries of the State of Colorado. |
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Adams County, Colorado
Adams County History, Geography, Demographics, Cities and Towns, and Education
County Seat: Brighton
Year Organized: 1901
Square Miles: 1,192 |
Court House: 450 South 4th Avenue
County Administration Building
Brighton, CO 80601-3123
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Etymology - Origin of County Name
County is named in honor of Alva Adams, the 5th, 10th, and 14th Governor of the State of Colorado
Demographics:
County QuickFacts: Census Bureau Quick
Facts
History
Adams County is the fifth most populous of the 64 counties of the State of Colorado of the United States. Adams County is
named for Alva Adams, a former Governor of Colorado. The county seat is Brighton. Adams County is part of the Denver-Aurora Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Denver-Aurora-Boulder Combined Statistical Area.
On May 30, 1854, the Kansas-Nebraska Act created the Territory of Nebraska and Territory of Kansas, divided by the Parallel 40° North (168th Avenue in present-day Adams County). The future Adams County, Colorado, occupied a strip of northern Arapahoe
County, Kansas Territory, immediately south of the Nebraska Territory.
In 1859, John D. "Colonel Jack" Henderson built a ranch, trading post, and hotel on Henderson Island in the South Platte River in Arapahoe County, Kansas Territory. Jack Henderson was the former editor and proprietor of the Leavenworth (Kansas Territory) Journal and an outspoken pro-slavery
politician who had been accused of vote fraud in eastern Kansas. Henderson sold meat and provisions to gold seekers on their way up the South Platte River Trail to the gold fields during the Pike's Peak Gold Rush. Henderson Island was the first permanent settlement in the South Platte River Valley
between Fort Saint Vrain in the Nebraska Territory and the Cherry Creek Diggings in the Kansas Territory. Jack Henderson eventually returned to eastern Kansas and (ironically) fought for the Union in the American Civil War. Henderson Island is today the site of the Adams County Regional Park and
Fairgrounds.
The eastern portion of the Kansas Territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Kansas on January 29, 1861, and on February 28, 1861, the remaining western portion of the territory was made part of the new Colorado Territory. The
Colorado Territory created Arapahoe County, on November 1, 1861, and Colorado was admitted to the Union on August 1,
1876.
In 1901, the Colorado General Assembly voted to split Arapahoe County into three parts: a new Adams County, a new consolidated City and County of Denver, and the remainder of the Arapahoe County to be renamed South Arapahoe County. A ruling by the Colorado Supreme Court, subsequent legislation, and
a referendum delayed the creation of Adams County until November 15, 1902. Governor James Bradley Orman designated Brighton as the temporary Adams County Seat. Adams County originally stretched 160 miles (258 kilometers) from present-day Sheridan Boulevard to the Kansas state border. On May 12,
1903, the eastern 88 miles (142 kilometers) of Adams County was transferred to the new Washington County and the new Yuma County, reducing the length of Adams County to the present 72 miles (116 kilometers). On November 8, 1904, Adams County voters chose Brighton as the permanent county seat.
A 1989 vote transferred 53 square miles (137 square kilometers) of Adams County to the City and County of Denver for the proposed Denver International Airport, leaving the densely populated western portion of the county as two oddly-shaped peninsulas. Adams County lost the tip of its northwest
corner when the consolidated City and County of Broomfield was created on November 15, 2001.
Geography
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 1,198 square miles (3,102 kmē),
of which, 1,192 square miles (3,087 kmē) of it is land and 6 square miles (15 kmē) of it (0.48%) is
water.
Adams County surrounds (and surrendered the land for) most of Denver International Airport which is in
the City and County of Denver, Colorado.
Neighboring Counties:
- North: Weld County
- Northeast: Morgan County
- East: Washington County
- South: Arapahoe County
- Southwest: Jefferson County; Denver city & county
- Northwest: Boulder County
Cities and Towns:
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- Aurora |
city |
Incorporated Area |
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- Bennett |
town |
Incorporated Area |
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- Brighton
(County Seat) |
city |
Incorporated Area |
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- Broomfield |
city |
Incorporated Area |
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- Commerce City |
city |
Incorporated Area |
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- Denver |
city |
Incorporated Area |
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- Federal Heights |
city |
Incorporated Area |
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- Lochbuie |
town |
Incorporated Area |
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- Northglenn |
city |
Incorporated Area |
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- Thornton |
city |
Incorporated Area |
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- Westminster |
city |
Incorporated Area |
County Resources:
Enter County Resources and Information Here
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County Resource Guide
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The history of our nation can be seen as a prolonged struggle to define the relative roles and powers of our governments: federal, state, and local. And the names we've given our counties, our most locally based jurisdictions, reflects the "characteristic
features of our country!"
But age, size and colorful names of our counties isn't the only reason to explore counties' role in American history, or the history of county government itself. In fact, the story of county government reflects the larger meanings of American history.
Today's counties are the most flexible, locally responsive and creative governments in the US. They are the most diverse, varying in size, population, geography, and governmental structure. In their politics and policies, they express a 1990's political slogan "Think globally,
act locally." |
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