e-ReferenceDesk's College and 50 State Learning Resource Guide

Find Online Colleges

Find Campus Colleges

Colorado State...

Colorado

Choose a County

Adams, Alamosa, Arapahoe, Archuleta, Baca, Bent, Boulder, Broomfield City and, Chaffee, Cheyenne, Clear Creek, Conejos, Costilla, Crowley, Custer, Delta, Denver, Dolores, Douglas, Eagle, El Paso, Elbert, Fremont, Garfield, Gilpin, Grand, Gunnison, Hinsdale, Huerfano, Jackson, Jefferson, Kiowa, Kit Carson, La Plata, Lake, Larimer, Las Animas, Lincoln, Logan, Mesa, Mineral, Moffat, Montezuma, Montrose, Morgan, Otero, Ouray, Park, Phillips, Pitkin, Prowers, Pueblo, Rio Blanco, Rio Grande, Routt, Saguache, San Juan, San Miguel, Sedgwick, Summit, Teller, Washington, Weld, Yuma

Colorado Counties

Click Image to Enlarge

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.

Arapahoe County, Colorado

Arapahoe County History, Geography, Demographics, Cities and Towns, and Education

County Seat: Littleton
Year Organized: 1861
Square Miles: 803

Court House:

5334 South Prince Street
County Administration Building
Littleton, CO 80166-0001

Etymology - Origin of County Name

Arapahoe County is named for its predecessor county, Arapahoe County, Kansas Territory, which in turn was named for the Arapaho Native American tribe.

Demographics:

County QuickFacts: Census Bureau Quick Facts

County History

Created as one of the 17 original counties of the Territory of Colorado. Renamed South Arapahoe County for five months from 1902-11-15, to 1903-04-11.

Arapahoe County was named for the Arapaho Indians, one of the A larger tribes of plains Indians, who along with the Cheyenne occupied Arapahoe County east of the foothills running into what is now western Kansas. Arapahoe County is Colorado’s first county, since almost half of the entire area now Colorado was Arapahoe County of the Kansas territory. In 1861, when Kansas was made a state, Colorado was made a territory with Arapahoe County as one of the 17 original counties.

The original Arapahoe County was 30 miles wide and extended from Sheridan Boulevard, the present western boundary of Denver, Adams and Arapahoe counties to the Kansas border. This peculiar shape was due to the practice of giving counties with large amounts of plains territory at least some of the foothill territory where there was water for mining and irrigation. Even though Arapahoe County did not reach the foothills, the streams running from the mountains supplied water. As settlers came in and took up lands on the eastern portions of the state, new counties were created and cut down to their present size.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 805 square miles (2,086 km²), of which, 803 square miles (2,080 km²) of it is land and 2 square miles (6 km²) of it (0.28%) is water. The county measures 72 miles (116 kilometers) east to west and 4 to 12 miles (6 to 19 kilometers) south to north.

Two exclaves of Arapahoe County remain entirely surrounded by the City and County of Denver. The City of Glendale occupies one exclave.

Neighboring Counties:

North: Adams County
Northeast: Washington County
Southeast: Lincoln County; Elbert County
Southwest: Douglas County
West: Jefferson County
Northwest: Denver city & county

Cities and Towns:

- Aurora	city	Incorporated Area
- Centennial	city	Incorporated Area
- Cherry Hills	city
- Cherry Hills Village	city	Incorporated Area
- Deer Trail	town	Incorporated Area
- Denver	city	Incorporated Area
- Englewood	city	Incorporated Area
- Foxfield	town	Incorporated Area
- Greenwood Village	city	Incorporated Area
- Littleton (County Seat)	city	Incorporated Area
- Sheridan	city	Incorporated Area

County Resources:

Enter County Resources and Information Here

County Resources

The history of our nation was a prolonged struggle to define the relative roles and powers of our governments: federal, state, and local. And the names given the counties, our most locally based jurisdictions, reflects the "characteristic features of this 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."