Park County, Colorado

Park County Education, Geography, and History

Park County is one of the 64 counties in the state of Colorado. Based on the 2010 census, the population was 16,206. The county seat is Fairplay. Park County was created on November 1, 1861 as one of the 17 original counties of the Territory of Colorado. The county is named after the large geographic region known as South Park, which was named by early fur traders and trappers in the area.

Park County is included in the Denver-Aurora-Lakewood, CO Metropolitan Statistical Area. A majority of the county lies within the boundaries of the South Park National Heritage Area.

Etymology - Origin of Park County Name

The county was named after the large geographic region known as South Park, which was named by early fur traders and trappers in the area.

Demographics:

County QuickFacts: CensusBureau Quick Facts

Park County History

Park County is the 17th most extensive of the 64 counties of the State of Colorado of the United States. The county is named after the large geographic region known as South Park, which was named by early fur traders and trappers in the area. The geographic center of the State of Colorado is located in Park County.  In 1908 a small piece of southern Jefferson County was added to Park County.

Geography: Land and Water

As reported by the Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 2,211 square miles (5,726 km²), of which, 2,201 square miles (5,700 km²) of it is land and 10 square miles (26 km²) of it (0.45%) is water.

Park county is located close to the center of Colorado. The county has 2,193.84 square miles of land area and 16.81 square miles of water area.

Neighboring Counties

Bordering counties are as follows:

• North: Clear Creek County
• Northeast: Jefferson County; Douglas County
• Southeast: Teller County; Fremont County
• Southwest: Chaffee County
• West: Lake County
• Northwest: Summit County

Education

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