🏔️Colorado

The Centennial State

Colorado joined the Union in 1876, the centennial year of American independence — which is where its nickname comes from. The state contains 58 peaks over 14,000 feet high, more than any other state, and its mean elevation of 6,800 feet is the highest in the country. Denver, the capital, sits exactly one mile above sea level at the State Capitol's 13th step.

Pikes Peak and the Gold Rush

Zebulon Pike spotted the peak that bears his name in 1806 but failed to climb it. A half-century later, the discovery of gold along Cherry Creek in 1858 triggered the Pikes Peak Gold Rush — wagons bearing the slogan "Pike's Peak or Bust" poured into the region. The town of Denver City was founded in 1858 and later became the state capital. Colorado's territory was organized in 1861; statehood followed in the Union's centennial year, 1876.

The Rocky Mountains

The Rocky Mountains bisect Colorado from north to south. The state contains 54 "fourteeners" — peaks over 14,000 feet — with Mount Elbert at 14,440 feet the highest. The Continental Divide runs along the crest, separating watersheds that flow to the Atlantic from those flowing to the Pacific. Rocky Mountain National Park north of Denver draws more than four million visitors a year.

Mesa Verde and Ancient Peoples

In the southwest corner of the state, the Ancestral Puebloans built elaborate stone cliff dwellings at Mesa Verde — cliff palaces, square towers, kivas tucked into sandstone alcoves. They lived there from roughly 600 to 1300 CE before abandoning the settlements for reasons scholars still debate. Mesa Verde became the first national park established to protect human-built structures when Theodore Roosevelt signed it into law in 1906.

Modern Colorado

Colorado's economy has long relied on mining, ranching, and tourism, but it has diversified dramatically into technology, aerospace, and renewable energy. The Denver metro is home to Lockheed Martin, United Airlines' training center, and NORAD's headquarters at Cheyenne Mountain. Boulder hosts the National Center for Atmospheric Research. Colorado legalized recreational marijuana in 2012, the first state to do so.

Colorado Facts

• Colorado has more microbreweries per capita than any other state.
• The United States Air Force Academy sits on the eastern slope of the Rockies in Colorado Springs.
• The Royal Gorge Bridge over the Arkansas River was the highest bridge in the world from 1929 until 2001.
• Denver's official nickname is the Mile High City — the 13th step of the State Capitol is exactly 5,280 feet above sea level.
• The state is one of only three with a shape that is a near-perfect rectangle (along with Wyoming and Utah).

🗺️ Nearby States

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