Oswego County

Oswego County, New York
Oswego County Courthouse
Seal
Location in the U.S. state of New York
New York's location in the U.S.
Founded	1816
Seat	Oswego
Largest city	Oswego
Area
• Total	1,312 sq mi (3,398 km2)
• Land	952 sq mi (2,466 km2)
• Water	360 sq mi (932 km2), 27%
Population
• (2010)	122,109
• Density	128/sq mi (49/km²)
Congressional districts	22nd, 24th
Time zone	Eastern: UTC-5/-4
Website	www.oswegocounty.com

Oswego County is a county located in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2010 census, the population was 122,109. The county seat is Oswego. The county name is from a Mohawk language word meaning "the outpouring", referring to the mouth of the Oswego River.

Oswego County is part of the Syracuse, NY Metropolitan Statistical Area.

When counties were established in the British colony of New York in 1683, the present Oswego County was part of Albany County. This was an enormous county, including the northern part of what is now New York state as well as all of the present state of Vermont and, in theory, extending westward to the Pacific Ocean. This county was reduced in size on July 3, 1766 by the creation of Cumberland County in the British colony, and further on March 16, 1770 by the creation of Gloucester County, both containing territory now in Vermont.

On March 12, 1772, what was left of Albany County was split into three parts, one remaining under the name Albany County. One of the other pieces, Tryon County, contained the western portion (and thus, since no western boundary was specified, theoretically still extended west to the Pacific). The eastern boundary of Tryon County was approximately five miles west of the present city of Schenectady, and the county included the western part of the Adirondack Mountains and the area west of the West Branch of the Delaware River. The area then designated as Tryon County now includes 37 counties of New York State. The county was named for William Tryon, colonial governor of New York.