Otsego County, New York

Otsego County is a located in the  of. The population estimate was 62,196, a 2.9% increase from 1990. The is. The name Otsego is from an word meaning "place of the rock."

History
When counties were established in New York State in 1683, the present Otsego 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 1776, most of the Loyalists in Tryon County fled to. In 1784, following the peace treaty that ended the, the name of Tryon County was changed to honor the general, , who had captured several places in Canada and died attempting to capture the city of , replacing the name of the British governor.

In 1789, was split off from Montgomery. The actual area split off from was much larger than the present county, also including the present, , , , , , , , , , , , and part of  and.

The formation of Otsego County
Otsego County was one of three counties split off from Montgomery (the other two being, and ). Otsego county was officially established on, , with Cooperstown as its county seat, even though the village of Cherry Valley was at the time much larger. The original county consisted of three large :
 * in the northeast,
 * in the northwest, and
 * in the south.

Otsego and Cherry Valley together roughly covered the area of modern Otsego County, while Harpersfield covered the area south of the current county, as far as the.

The original appointments to Otsego County government positions, made by included:
 * , county sheriff, from the Otsego township,
 * , county clerk, from the Otsego township,
 * , chief judge, from the Otsego township,
 * , associate justice from the Otsego township,
 * , associate justice from Cherry Valley
 * , associate justice from Harpersfield,
 * , commander of the county militia, from Harpersfield.

The founding of new towns
By 1793, four towns had been added to the county by division of the existing towns:
 * The Otsego township had been divided into the towns of:
 * in the west,
 * in the northeast,
 * in the north, and
 * in the south.
 * Harpersfield had been divided into the towns of:
 * in the west and
 * in the east.

Areas of Otsego County used to form new counties
The area of Otesgo County was reduced by a number of subsequent splits.

In 1795, a piece of Otsego County was joined with a portion taken from to create.

In 1797, a piece of Otsego County was joined with a portion taken from to create.

Geography
Otsego County is in central New York State, to the west of, southeast of , and northeast of. The county is considered by some to belong to the region of New York State.

According to the, the county has a total area of 2,629 (1,015 ). 2,597 km² (1,003 sq mi) of it is land and 32 km² (12 sq mi) of it (1.21%) is water.

Adjacent Counties

 * - north
 * - northeast
 * - east
 * - south
 * - southwest
 * - northwest
 * - northwest

Economy
The Village of Cooperstown (home town of ), located at the south end of, attracts many tourists to the and the  museums. The City of is the home of, the , and the. The county as a whole remains relatively rural, with dairy farming an important industry.

Demographics
As of the of 2000, there were 61,676 people, 23,291 households, and 15,115 families residing in the county. The was 24/km² (62/sq mi). There were 28,481 housing units at an average density of 11/km² (28/sq mi). The racial makeup of the county was 95.80%, 1.75% , 0.23% , 0.63% , 0.05% , 0.50% from , and 1.05% from two or more races. or of any race were 1.90% of the population.

There were 23,291 households out of which 29.60% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 51.10% were living together, 9.50% had a female householder with no husband present, and 35.10% were non-families. 27.00% of all households were made up of individuals and 11.60% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.43 and the average family size was 2.94.

In the county the population was spread out with 22.70% under the age of 18, 14.40% from 18 to 24, 24.30% from 25 to 44, 23.60% from 45 to 64, and 15.00% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females there were 93.10 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 90.00 males.

The median income for a household in the county was $33,444, and the median income for a family was $41,110. Males had a median income of $29,988 versus $22,609 for females. The for the county was $16,806. About 8.80% of families and 14.90% of the population were below the, including 15.80% of those under age 18 and 8.20% of those age 65 or over.