Oswego County, New York

Oswego County is a located in the  of. As of 2005, the estimated population was 118,560. The city of serves as the county seat. The county name is from the word meaning "the outpouring," referring to the mouth of the.

History
When counties were established in New York State in, the present Oswego County was part of. This was an enormous county, including the northern part of New York State as well as all of the present State of and, in theory, extending westward to the. This county was reduced in size on, by the creation of , and further on ,  by the creation of , both containing territory now in Vermont.

On, , what was left of Albany County was split into three parts, one remaining under the name Albany County. One of the other pieces,, contained the western portion (and thus, since no western boundary was specified, theoretically still extended west to the Pacific). The eastern boundary of Tryon County was approximately five miles west of the present city of, and the county included the western part of the and the area west of the West Branch of the. The area then designated as Tryon County now includes 37 counties of New York State. The county was named for, colonial governor of New York.

In the years prior to, most of the Loyalists in Tryon County fled to. In, following the peace treaty that ended the , the name of Tryon County was changed to to honor the general, , who had captured several places in Canada and died attempting to capture the city of , replacing the name of the hated British governor.

In, the size of Montgomery County was reduced by the splitting off of from Montgomery. The actual area split off from Montgomery County was much larger than the present county, also including the present, , , , , , , , , , , , and part of and.

Oswego County was partly in of 1791.

In, was one of three counties split off from Montgomery (the other two being , and ). This was much larger than the present county, however, and was reduced by a number of subsequent splits.

In, was created from a part of Herkimer County. This county was larger than the current Onondaga County, including the present, , and part of Oswego Counties.

In, was created from a part of Herkimer County. This county was larger than the current Oneida County, including the present, , and part of Oswego Counties.

In, Oneida County was reduced in size by the splitting off of and.

In, Oswego County was created as New York State's 48th county from parts of Oneida and Onondaga Counties.

In, businessmen in Oswego attempted to divide Oswego County into two counties. They failed to persuade the State to do so, however. Occasionally, the topic still comes up today by dividing the county into an east part and a west part, with the east portion being renamed "Salmon County".

At various times, beginning in and as late as, attempts were made to move the county seat to the. None of these attempts succeeded, however.

Events

 * - A major lake effects snowfall dumped over ten feet of snow in many places in Oswego County, resulting in several roof collapses, some communities being cut off, and some people being snowed-in in their homes. A state of emergency was declared for the county, and the National Guard was sent in to help clear the snow.

Law and government
The Oswego County legislature has 25 members, elected from equal population districts, reduced from 36 in.

Geography
Oswego County is in northwestern New York State, just north of and northwest of, on the eastern shore of. Part of the is in the eastern part of the county and, at 1550', is the highest point.

According to the, the county has a total area of 3,399 (1,312 ). 2,469 km² (953 sq mi) of it is land and 929 km² (359 sq mi) of it (27.35%) is water.

There are two harbors in the county, Oswego Harbor at the mouth of the Oswego River and Port Ontario on the Salmon River. The first major port of call on the Great Lakes is the Port of Oswego Authority dock.

The town of Orwell is officially designated as "dry".

Adjacent Counties

 * - northeast
 * - northeast
 * - east
 * - southeast
 * - south
 * - southwest
 * and - northwest

Demographics
As of the of 2000, there were 122,377 people, 45,522 households, and 31,228 families residing in the county. The was 50/km² (128/sq mi). There were 52,831 housing units at an average density of 21/km² (55/sq mi). The racial makeup of the county was 97.17%, 0.59% , 0.41% , 0.42% , 0.01% , 0.48% from , and 0.93% from two or more races. or of any race were 1.30% of the population.

There were 45,522 households out of which 35.00% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 52.80% were living together, 10.80% had a female householder with no husband present, and 31.40% were non-families. 24.30% of all households were made up of individuals and 9.70% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.60 and the average family size was 3.08.

In the county the population was spread out with 26.80% under the age of 18, 10.90% from 18 to 24, 28.90% from 25 to 44, 22.10% from 45 to 64, and 11.30% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 35 years. For every 100 females there were 97.50 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 94.40 males.

The median income for a household in the county was $36,598, and the median income for a family was $43,821. Males had a median income of $34,976 versus $23,938 for females. The for the county was $16,853. About 9.70% of families and 14.00% of the population were below the, including 17.10% of those under age 18 and 9.50% of those age 65 or over.