Otero

Formed March 25, 1889 (46^th county)

Otero County (18,831), La Junta (7,077)

The Modern style tan brick structure was built in 1957.  The courthouse is on 3^rd Street between Colorado and Santa Fe avenues.  United States Highway 50 passes two blocks north of the location.  Veteran memorials are on the grounds.  There was an earlier courthouse in La Junta built in 1897, the only county seat.  Huerfano County provided territory for Otero County on March 25, 1889 as the 46^th county.  C. Francis Pillsbury is the building designer.  Settler Miguel Antonio Otero is the inspiration for the county’s name.  The county seat is Spanish for “junction” as La Junta was a railroad junction.  The center of the county is 13.3 miles Southwest of La Junta nearer Rocky Ford. 

Otero County government consists of a sheriff, assessor, manager, coroner, and treasurer (executive).  It has 3 Commissioners (legislative.)  Two District Court Judges serve Otero, Bent, and Crowley counties and a Trial Court Judge, clerk, and county attorney serve Otero County (judicial.)  The county is located in southeast Colorado.  The Arkansas River flows through the northern part of the county.  Otero County was the birthplace of 1 Colorado Governor, John D. Vanderhoff.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Crowley, Kiowa, Bent, Las Animas, and Pueblo counties.  

The area of the county is 1270 square miles.  The county is 37 out of 64 in the state.  It ranks 26 out of 64 in population in the state.  It has a density of 15.10 persons per square mile making it 28 out of 64 in the state.  Otero County has 71.8% of its population in its incorporated areas.  United States Highway 50 crosses the county from east to west, Bent County to Pueblo County.  United States Highway 350 originates in the county and exits south into Las Animas County.  The rectangular county has two “smokestacks” on the northeast corner.  La Junta is located in the northeast quarter of the county.  La Junta is the county seat and the largest city.  It is 37.6% of the county population.  The county is pronounced OE-TE-ROE.  The county seat is pronounced LA HOON-TA.