Crowley County was created by the Colorado legislature on May 29, 1911, out of the northern portions ofOtero County. Previously both were parts ofBent County. The county was named for John H. Crowley, senator from Otero County to the state legislature at the time of the split. Its original inhabitants decades earlier wereNative Americans, moreCheyenne than other tribes at the time the western expansion of the U.S. arrived.
The first significant development and settlement occurred in 1887 when theMissouri Pacific Railroad came through from the east, on its way toPueblo and Colorado's rich gold fields of "Pikes Peak Or Bust".
The county seat is inOrdway, a town established in 1890 that quickly became the economic hub of the area. Other towns still existing along the Missouri Pacific Railroad's route areSugar City,Crowley, andOlney Springs.
A few years later, developers brought a canal east from the Arkansas River, with ambitious plans to irrigate a million acres (4000 km2) inKansas; instead, the canal petered out in Crowley County but did irrigate 57,000 acres (230 km2) along its length. This turned early Crowley County into a lush agricultural mecca at first.
By the 1970s almost all the water rights were sold from what is now called the Twin Lakes Canal to the fast-growing cities of Colorado'sFront Range corridor. The area's economic activity has shifted toward ranching. Much of the land has returned to its original sparseprairiegrassland conditions.
Crowley County also today hosts two prisons: theArkansas Valley Correctional Facility in Ordway, and theCrowley County Correctional Facility in Olney Springs. The 2000 census showed 5,518 county residents, of which 1,955 were prisoners, giving Crowley County the highest percentage of incarcerated prisoners of any county in the U.S. The county maintained this position in the 2010 census, with 2,682 prisoners out of 5,823 residents.
According to theU.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 800 square miles (2,100 km2), of which 787 square miles (2,040 km2) is land and 13 square miles (34 km2) (1.6%) is water.[3]Lake Meredith, which lies south of Ordway and Sugar City, is the largest of several lakes in the county.[4]
U.S. Decennial Census[6] 1790-1960[7] 1900-1990[8] 1990-2000[9] 2010-2020[1]
As of thecensus[10] of 2020, there were 5,922 people and 1,333 households living in the county. Thepopulation density was 7.4 people per square mile (2.9 people/km2). There were 1,617 housing units at an average density of 2 units per square mile (0.77 units/km2). The racial makeup of the county was 63.27%White, 8.73%Black orAfrican American, 3.04%Native American, 1.25%Asian, 0.03%Pacific Islander, 17.26% fromother races, and 6.42% from two or more races. 27.15% of the population wereHispanic orLatino of any race.
There were 1,358 households, out of which 34.50% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 55.10% weremarried couples living together, 11.00% had a female householder with no husband present, and 29.50% were non-families. 25.70% of all households were made up of individuals, and 13.00% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.59 and the average family size was 3.12.
In the county, the population was spread out, with 18.80% under the age of 18, 9.90% from 18 to 24, 39.60% from 25 to 44, 20.80% from 45 to 64, and 10.80% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females there were 205.40 males (this is the highest of any U.S. county/parish in 2000). For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 240.90 males.
The median income for a household in the county was $26,803, and the median income for a family was $32,162. Males had a median income of $20,813 versus $21,920 for females. Theper capita income for the county was $12,836. About 15.20% of families and 18.50% of the population were below thepoverty line, including 23.60% of those under age 18 and 13.50% of those age 65 or over. More recent data, published in 2011, estimated that 48.1 percent of the county's residents lived in poverty, and of 3,197 counties ranked by the U.S. Census Bureau in 2011 for "estimated percent of people of all ages in poverty", Crowley was second, due to the prison located in the county.[11]
Census data for Crowley County includes 1,955 prisoners. The prison population is 19.23% Black, and 24.35% Hispanic. Without the prisoners, Crowley County would be 86.72% White, 0.36% Black, and 21.55% Hispanic. As a percentage of its population, Crowley County has more of its Census population in prison than any other county in the country.[12][13]
Crowley is a predominantly Republican county. No Democratic presidential nominee has won Crowley County sinceLyndon Johnson's 1964 landslide. Before that time, the county largely followed the patterns of Colorado politics in general, from strongly Democratic during theWilliam Jennings Bryan andWoodrow Wilson eras to Republican leaning from the time ofWendell Willkie onwards.
United States presidential election results for Crowley County, Colorado[14]
