Otsego

Formed February 16, 1791 (17^th county)

Otsego County (58,529), Cooperstown (1,858), Oneonta (13,081)

An 1880 red brick Romanesque building is the Otsego County courthouse.  It is located on Main Street at Nelson Avenue.  New York State Highway 28 is two blocks east of the courthouse.  Archimedes Russell is the building architect.  An Administrative Building was added in 1969.  The county was organized on February 16, 1791 out of Montgomery County as the 17^th county with Cooperstown as the only county seat.  The county name is Native American for “place of the rock.”  Cooperstown is named for settler William Cooper. 

Otsego County government consists of a sheriff and 14 Legislators.  One County Court Judge and One Family Court Judge serves Otsego County.  Otsego County is in eastern New York.  Albany, New York is northeast and New York City, New York is southeast of the county.  The county center is 12.9 miles Southwest of Cooperstown nearer Milford.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Herkimer, Montgomery, Schoharie, Delaware, Chenango, Madison, and Oneida counties. 

The area of the county is 1003 square miles.  It is 22 out of 62 in the state.  It ranks 43 out of 62 in population in the state.  It has a density of 58.4 persons per square mile making it 50 out of 62 in the state.  Otsego County has 34.2% of its population in its incorporated areas.  Interstate Highway 88 crosses through the county northeast to southwest from Schoharie County to Delaware County.  United States Highway 20 goes east to west in and out of the county from Schoharie County, east, and twice in and out and into Herkimer County, north.  The county shape looks like a Native American arrowhead.  Cooperstown is north and east of center in the county.  Oneonta is on the southern border of the county.  Cooperstown is the county seat and Oneonta is the largest city.  Cooperstown is 3.2% of the county population while Oneonta is 22.4% of the county population.  The county is pronounced OT-SEE-GOE.  The largest city is pronounced ON-EE-ON-TA.  This county is in the Oneonta Micropolitan Statistical Area.

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