[5] In 1886, the town was built to provide housing for the men working on the tunnels and irrigation ditches required to divert water out of the Dolores River and into Montezuma Valley.

[8] It is a popular stop for tourists, who stay there because of its central location among surrounding attractions, such as Mesa Verde National Park, Monument Valley, and the Four Corners.

[11] Republic of China Air Force Major Hsi-Chun Mike Hua[12] was on a training flight originating at Laughlin AFB, Texas; the U-2 aircraft engine flamed out at 70,000 feet MSL.

Maj. Hua established best glide and was able to navigate through a valley to a lighted airport that wasn't on his map, of the existence of which he was unaware until he found it.

The city has hot summer days and cold winter nights, the latter a result of its elevation.

Cortez is a local commercial center, competing with Durango in the east, and Farmington, New Mexico in the south, and draws trade from southeastern Utah, the extreme northeastern corner of Arizona, the Shiprock area of Northwestern New Mexico, and San Miguel, Dolores, Montezuma, and parts of La Plata County in Colorado.

Its economy is based very heavily on tourism, both to nearby Mesa Verde National Park as well as to San Juan National Forest, Bureau of Land Management (BLM) lands in the area (including Canyons of the Ancients National Monument, as well as the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe and Navajo Indian Reservations).

Mesa Verde National Park, featuring Ancestral Pueblo cliff dwellings, is situated southeast of Cortez.

The educational system is currently suffering a loss of 1.6% according to the Transitional Colorado Assessment Program.