Colorado is a Central American State in the middle of the U.S. that is totally landlocked. Colorado is classified as one of the Mountain States.
With around half of the state lying within the Rocky Mountains, Colorado is home to some of the most beautiful landscapes, amazing natural forests spanning acres of impressive woodlands, and four breathtaking national parks to explore. It is the eighth largest state in terms of landmass and has abundant and varied natural resources.
26 Facts About Colorado
1. The first set of interesting facts about Colorado is the state’s nickname. It is no secret that the US is an extremely patriotic country, many nicknames and other state symbols given to states pay homage to the formation or history of the United States and Colorado is no different.
The United States declared independence from the British Empire on July 4, 1776, and 100 years later, the state of Colorado was formed. Colorado’s nickname pays respect to this special day by adopting the 100-year anniversary as its nickname, the Centennial State! If you would like to know more about Colorado’s state nickname, and also the other nicknames the state has adopted over the years, make sure to check out our page on this.
2. Colorado is home to one of the most iconic, and popular cities in the United States, Denver. Boasting a population of over 727,000, Denver is the 19th most populated city in the US and the 5th most populous state capital.
Many people do not consider Denver or Colorado to have particularly nice weather. This is due to several reasons but the main one is it being a snowy state with lots of storms. However, this is actually a misconception as Denver is one of the sunniest cities in America and enjoys 300+ days of sunshine per year!
3. More facts about Colorado originate from the Winter Olympic Games. When it was the United States’ turn to host the Winter Olympics in 1976, something strange happened, Colorado became the only state in history to turn down hosting the Olympics!
When the votes came in, 62% of all state voters chose against having the Olympics take place in their state. The reasons for turning down what is considered by many to be the most prestigious event to host were down to cost and taxpayers’ money being used. Other cited reasons were increased pollution, and a population resurgence in Colorado and more specifically the City of Denver!
QuickFire Facts – What is Colorado Best Known For?
4. Denver lays claim to the invention of the cheeseburger!
5. The U.S. Air Force Academy is located in Colorado Springs.
6. The world’s largest flat-top mountain is located in Grand Mesa, CO.
7. The LoDo region of Denver actually stands for Lower Downtown.
8. The tallest paved road in the U.S. is the road to Mt. Evans off of I-70 from Idaho Springs and is 14,258 ft. above sea level.
9. Colorado is home to 222 wildlife areas, which contain some incredibly unique animals, an example of this would be the official state animal, the Rocky Mountain Bighorn Sheep, in addition to the Migratory Lark Bunting, the Colorado state bird.
10. The 13th step of the state’s Capitol building is exactly 1 mile above sea level.
11. Denver is home to the tallest building in Colorado, Republic Plaza stands at 57 stories high.
12. In Aspen, CO, it is actually illegal to throw snowballs!
13. There have been no U.S. presidents or vice presidents originating from Colorado.
14. Colorado’s annual snowfall is 163.6 inches on average.
15. It is actually illegal to pick Colorado’s state flower in public areas, the Colorado Blue Columbine.
16. Jolly Rancher soda was invented in Colorado by Bill Harmsen in 1949.
17. Colorado is the 8th largest state in the US by landmass.
18. The speed limit in Colorado is 75 mph.
19. Colorado is certainly known for its snow, with Crested Butte having the most snowfall in the state. Annually, the town receives 216.6 inches of snow on average!
20. An estimated 500,000+ residents of Colorado ski at the various resorts within the state each year.
21. Colorado lays claim to the largest natural hot springs swimming pool in the world in Glenwood Springs, CO!
22. Despite being the 3rd largest city in the state (350,000+ population), Aurora, CO, is considered to be the most vibrant city in Colorado, consisting of over 2 dozen neighborhoods with the state’s best ethnic restaurants and diners.
23. The official Colorado state insect is the Colorado hairstreak butterfly, pretty fitting, right? This majestic butterfly was adopted as the state insect in 1996 thanks to the efforts of the 4th-grade students from Wheeling Elementary School in Aurora, Colorado.
24. Did you know that in Colorado you can stand in 4 different states at the same time? Well, you can! If you travel to the southwestern corner of the state, you can go to the four corners monument where you can stand on the borders of Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, and Colorado all at the same time.
25. In Colorado, there are a total of 58 different mountain peaks that exceed 14,000 feet in height. These are commonly referred to as “fourteeners” or “14ers”.
26. Colorado is home to an incredible amount of small businesses – 691,230 to be precise. With these small businesses accounting for over 99% of the state’s businesses, you can see the significance of small businesses in Colorado. If you want to know more economic facts about Colorado, check out our page dedicated to this.
Colorado History Facts
When considering interesting facts about Colorado and its history, the best place to start would be how it was founded. When first explored by Europeans in the late 1500s, Colorado natives lived with hunting mammoths; however, these hairy “elephants” unfortunately, became extinct and bison replaced them as the most common source of food for the original inhabitants of Colorado.
As the Europeans came over to North America, the Spanish introduced horses, and by the 1700s, horses had infiltrated Colorado, which changed the hunting game forever. At the start of the 19th century, France claimed some regions of Colorado, which we now know as Louisiana, but, back in 1803, the French sold the land to the United States of America, and this led to the land being reclaimed by the region, Colorado.
During the mid-19th century, many settlers passed through the Colorado region on their way to California or Oregon. Strangely, there were no permanent European settlers in the state until 1851 when the Hispanics made Colorado their home. On August 1, 1876, Colorado was admitted to the union, becoming the 38th state to join, which, subsequently helped contribute to the inception of all 50 United States.
