Las Animas County is a county located in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

Colorado Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...

. As of the 2020 census, the population was 14,555. The

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...

Trinidad Trinidad is the larger, more populous island of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, the country. The island lies off the northeastern coast of Venezuela and sits on the continental shelf of South America. It is the southernmost island in ...

. The county takes its name from the

Mexican Spanish Mexican Spanish () is the variety of dialects and sociolects of the Spanish language spoken in Mexico and its bordering regions. Mexico has the largest number of Spanish speakers, more than double any other country in the world. Spanish is spo ...

name of the Purgatoire River, originally called ''El Río de las Ánimas Perdidas en el Purgatorio'', which means "River of the Lost Souls in

Purgatory In Christianity, Purgatory (, borrowed into English language, English via Anglo-Norman language, Anglo-Norman and Old French) is a passing Intermediate state (Christianity), intermediate state after physical death for purifying or purging a soul ...

Geography

According to the

U.S. Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The U.S. Census Bureau is part of the U ...

, the county has a total area of , of which is land and (0.06%) is water. It is the largest county by area in Colorado.

Adjacent counties

* Otero County - north * Pueblo County - north * Bent County - northeast * Baca County - east * Union County, New Mexico - south *

Colfax County, New Mexico Colfax County is a county in the U.S. state of New Mexico. As of the 2020 census, the population was 12,387. Its county seat is Raton. It is south from the Colorado state line. This county was named for Schuyler Colfax (18231885), seventee ...

- southwest * Costilla County- west * Huerfano County - northwest

Major highways

Interstate 25 Interstate 25 (I-25), also known as the Pan-American Freeway, is a major Interstate Highway in the western United States. It is primarily a north–south highway, serving as the main route through New Mexico, Colorado, and Wyoming. I-25 st ...

* * *

U.S. Highway 160 * US 350

U.S. Highway 350 * Colorado 12

State Highway 12 * Colorado 109

State Highway 109 * Colorado 389

State Highway 389

Protected areas

Comanche National Grassland Comanche National Grassland is a National Grassland located in southeastern Colorado, United States. It is the sister grassland of Cimarron National Grassland and contains both prairie grasslands and canyons. It is separated into two sections, ...

* Lake Dorothey State Wildlife Area * James M. John State Wildlife Area *

San Isabel National Forest San Isabel National Forest is located in central Colorado. The forest contains 19 of the state's 53 fourteeners, peaks over high, including Mount Elbert, the highest point in Colorado. It is one of eleven national forests in the state of Col ...

Spanish Peaks Wilderness The Spanish Peaks Wilderness is a wilderness area in Huerfano County and Las Animas County, Colorado, United States, located southwest of Walsenburg. All of the wilderness area is located within San Isabel National Forest, which is managed ...

Fishers Peak State Park Fishers Peak State Park is a Colorado state park in Las Animas County, Colorado, just south of Trinidad. Trinidad Lake State Park is nearby. The park opened on October 30, 2020, and is still being developed. History The land for the park, for ...

* Trinidad Lake State Park

Historic trails and landmarks

Mesa de Maya The Mesa de Maya is a prominent volcanic tableland rising to above the Great Plains in southeastern Colorado. A narrow finger of the mesa extends eastward through the northeastern corner of New Mexico and a few miles into Oklahoma where it is kn ...

* Raton Pass National Historic Landmark * Santa Fe National Historic Trail * Trinidad State History Museum

Scenic byways

* Highway of Legends Scenic Byway * Santa Fe Trail National Scenic Byway

Demographics

At the 2000 census there were 15,207 people, 6,173 households, and 4,092 families living in the county. The population density was . There were 7,629 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the county was 82.63% White, 0.39% Black or African American, 2.54% Native American, 0.37% Asian, 0.20% Pacific Islander, 10.03% from other races, and 3.83% from two or more races. 41.45% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race. Of the 6,173 households 28.80% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 49.90% were married couples living together, 11.60% had a female householder with no husband present, and 33.70% were non-families. 29.70% of households were one person and 14.30% were one person aged 65 or older. The average household size was 2.40 and the average family size was 2.97. The age distribution was 24.20% under the age of 18, 7.90% from 18 to 24, 24.00% from 25 to 44, 25.90% from 45 to 64, and 18.00% 65 or older. The median age was 41 years. For every 100 females there were 95.80 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 93.70 males. The median household income was $28,273 and the median family income was $34,072. Males had a median income of $27,182 versus $20,891 for females. The per capita income for the county was $16,829. About 14.00% of families and 17.30% of the population were below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...

, including 20.00% of those under age 18 and 17.20% of those age 65 or over.

Politics

A Democratic stronghold since the days of

Franklin Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), also known as FDR, was the 32nd president of the United States, serving from 1933 until his death in 1945. He is the longest-serving U.S. president, and the only one to have served ...

after having been solidly Republican during the "system of 1896" like the rest of Hispanic Colorado, Las Animas County has seen a strong trend toward the Republican Party in recent elections.

Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, lawyer and diplomat. She was the 67th United States secretary of state in the administration of Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, a U.S. senator represent ...

's 2016 performance was the worst by a Democrat since John W. Davis in 1924. She was also the first Democrat to lose the county since

George McGovern George Stanley McGovern (July 19, 1922 – October 21, 2012) was an American politician, diplomat, and historian who was a U.S. representative and three-term U.S. senator from South Dakota, and the Democratic Party (United States), Democ ...

in 1972. In

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

Joe Biden Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. (born November 20, 1942) is an American politician who was the 46th president of the United States from 2021 to 2025. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he served as the 47th vice p ...

became the first Democrat to win the presidency without the county since

Woodrow Wilson Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856February 3, 1924) was the 28th president of the United States, serving from 1913 to 1921. He was the only History of the Democratic Party (United States), Democrat to serve as president during the Prog ...

in 1912. Las Animas County was the only county in Colorado to vote for legal abortion but against legal same-sex marriage in 2024, although

anti-LGBT The following outline offers an overview and guide to topics about LGBTQ people. ''LGBTQ'' is an initialism that stands for "lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer". It may refer to anyone who is non-heterosexual, non-heteroroman ...

sentiment was also noticeably higher than

anti-abortion Anti-abortion movements, also self-styled as pro-life movements, are involved in the abortion debate advocating against the practice of abortion and its Abortion by country, legality. Many anti-abortion movements began as countermovements in r ...

sentiment in neighboring Bent County as well as in Jackson County on the opposite side of the state, both of which opposed both but only opposed same-sex marriage by a landslide margin. In Colorado overall, the pro-LGBT Amendment J did slightly better than the

pro-choice Abortion-rights movements, also self-styled as pro-choice movements, are movements that advocate for legal access to induced abortion services, including elective abortion. They seek to represent and support women who wish to terminate their ...

Amendment 79.https://results.enr.clarityelections.com/CO/122598/web.345435/#/summary?category=C_10

Communities

City

Towns

* Aguilar * Branson * Cokedale * Kim * Starkville

Unincorporated communities

* Boncarbo *

Earl Earl () is a rank of the nobility in the United Kingdom. In modern Britain, an earl is a member of the Peerages in the United Kingdom, peerage, ranking below a marquess and above a viscount. A feminine form of ''earl'' never developed; instead, ...

Model A model is an informative representation of an object, person, or system. The term originally denoted the plans of a building in late 16th-century English, and derived via French and Italian ultimately from Latin , . Models can be divided in ...

* Thatcher * Trinchera * Tyrone * Villegreen

Former towns

* Brodhead * Delagua *

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, but spread chiefly to the west, or beyond its Bank (geography ...

Ludlow Ludlow ( ) is a market town and civil parish in Shropshire (district), Shropshire, England. It is located south of Shrewsbury and north of Hereford, on the A49 road (Great Britain), A49 road which bypasses the town. The town is near the conf ...

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

* Morley * Sopris * Tercio

Census-designated places

* El Moro * Hoehne * Jansen * Lynn * Segundo * Stonewall Gap * Valdez *

Weston Weston may refer to: Places Australia * Weston, Australian Capital Territory, a suburb of Canberra * Weston, New South Wales * Weston Creek, a residential district of Canberra * Weston Park, Canberra, a park Canada * Weston, Nova Scotia * W ...

Gallery

File:Map of states and counties affected by the Dust Bowl, sourced from US federal government dept. (NRCS SSRA-RAD).svg, Area affected by 1930s

Dust Bowl The Dust Bowl was a period of severe dust storms that greatly damaged the ecology and agriculture of the American and Canadian prairies during the 1930s. The phenomenon was caused by a combination of natural factors (severe drought) and hum ...

Image:Trinidad, CO, Public Library IMG 5020.JPG,

Public library A public library is a library, most often a lending library, that is accessible by the general public and is usually funded from public sources, such as taxes. It is operated by librarians and library paraprofessionals, who are also Civil servic ...

in Trinidad serves Las Animas County File:Historic American Buildings Survey Frederick D. Nichols, Photographer August 1936 VIEW OF FRONT AND SIDE - Santa Nina de Atoche, Tijeras Plaza, Tijeras, Las Animas County, CO HABS COLO,36-TIJER,1-1.tif, Santa Nina de Atoche church, Tijeras Plaza, Las Animas County, c.1934 File:Officercolorado.jpg,

Philatelic cover A philatelic cover is an cover (philately), envelope prepared with a stamp(s) and address and sent through the mail delivery system for the purpose of creating a collectible item. Stamp collectors began to send mail to each other and to themselve ...

postmark A postmark is a postal marking made on an envelope, parcel, postcard or the like, indicating the place, date and time that the item was delivered into the care of a postal service, or sometimes indicating where and when received or in transit. ...

ed Officer, Colorado on the last day of service. Mail from this discontinued post office was then handled at Villegreen, Colorado, now also a discontinued post office.

References

External links

*
Colorado County Evolution by Don StanwyckColorado Historical Society
{{authority control Colorado counties 1866 establishments in Colorado Territory Eastern Plains Populated places established in 1866