Arapahoe

Formed November 1, 1861 (1^st county)

Arapahoe County (655,058), Littleton (45,661), Aurora (386,324)                

The 1995 courthouse is located at Littleton and Crocker.  United States Highway 85 is 10 blocks west of the location.  There were 1907 and 1948 versions of the courthouse.  The architect of the current courthouse is Lewis Associates.  Littleton is the only county seat.  A Justice Center was added in 1998 in Centennial and an Administration Center was added in 1975 in Littleton.  Arapahoe County was one of the original counties created on November 1, 1861 as the 1^st county.  The county gets its name from the Native American tribe.  The county seat’s namesake is settler Richard Sullivan Little.  The center of the county is 48.1 miles East of Littleton nearer Strasburg. 

Arapahoe County government consists of a sheriff, assessor, manager, coroner, and treasurer (executive).  It has 5 Commissioners (legislative.)  Twenty-two District Court Judges serve Arapahoe, Douglas, Elbert, and Lincoln counties and Eight Trial Court Judges, clerk, and county attorney serve Arapahoe County (judicial.)  The county is in the northeast part of Colorado just south of Denver, Colorado.  The South Platte River runs through the west part of the county.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Adams, Washington, Lincoln, Elbert, Douglas, Jefferson, and Denver counties.  Littleton is in the extreme southwest corner of the county extends into Douglas and Jefferson counties.  Aurora occupies a large portion of the northwest corner of the county and extends into Adams and Douglas counties.  Littleton is the county seat and Aurora is the largest city.  Littleton is 7.0% of the county population while Aurora is 59.0% of the county population.  

The area of the county is 804.4 square miles.  The county is 48 out of 64 in the state.  It ranks 3 out of 64 in population in the state.  It has a density of 814.3 persons per square mile making it 3 out of 64 in the state.  Arapahoe County has 85.2% of its population in its incorporated areas.  Interstate Highway 25 crosses the western part of the county from north to south, Denver County to Douglas County.  Interstate Highway 70 enters from the southeast, Elbert County, and exits to the west, Denver County.  United States Highway 36 crosses east to west from Washington County to Denver County.  United States Highway 40 is joined with Interstate Highway 70 coming from Elbert County, splits at Aurora, and exits into Denver County.  United States Highway 85 travels north to south, Denver County to Douglas County.  United States Highway 87 is joined with Interstate Highway 25 crossing from Denver County to Douglas County.  United States Highway 285 originates in the county and travels southwest into Jefferson County.  United States Highway 287 is jointed with United States Highway 40 crossing from Elbert County into Denver County.  The county is pronounced A-RA-PA-HOE.  The county is in the Denver-Aurora-Broomfield Metropolitan Statistical Area.

Littleton