Conejos County, Colorado

Conejos County, Colorado
Conejos County Courthouse
Location in the U.S. state of Colorado
Colorado's location in the U.S.
Founded	November 1, 1861
Named for	Conejos River
Seat	Conejos
Largest town	Manassa
Area
• Total	1,291 sq mi (3,344 km2)
• Land	1,287 sq mi (3,333 km2)
• Water	3.6 sq mi (9 km2), 0.3%
Population (est.)
• (2015)	8,130
• Density	6.4/sq mi (2/km²)
Congressional district	3rd
Time zone	Mountain: UTC-7/-6
Website	www.conejoscounty.org

Conejos County is one of the 64 counties of the U.S. state of Colorado. As of the 2010 census, the population was 8,256. The county seat is the unincorporated community of Conejos.

The first European known to visit this area was Don Diego de Vargas in 1694, but he left behind no colonists. In 1708, Juan de Uribarri passed through searching for run-away Indian slaves.

Conejos County was one of the original 17 counties created by the General Assembly of the Territory of Colorado on 1861-11-01, although it was originally named Guadalupe County and renamed Conejos County a week later, on November 7. Its name coming from the Spanish word "conejo", meaning rabbit, for the large abundance of rabbits in the area. Also early in its existence, the county seat was moved from the town of Guadalupe to Conejos. The original boundaries of the county included a large portion of southwestern Colorado.

In 1874, most of the western and northern portions of the county were broken away to form parts of Hinsdale, La Plata and Rio Grande counties, and Conejos County achieved its modern borders in 1885 when its western half was taken to create Archuleta County.

The community of Conejos is the location of the oldest church in Colorado, called Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish. This church was constructed in 1856. The first settlers into the area were from New Mexico, primarily from Abiquiu, San Juan de los Caballeros and Santa Cruz. As more people arrived, mission churches were set up and all had the records housed with Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish.