Colorado is the state of the United States of America that encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the high western edge of the Great Plains. Admitted to the Union on August 1, 1876, Colorado became the 38th U.S. state. Colorado ranks 21st in population, eighth in total area, and first in mean elevation among the 50 U.S. states. Fifty-five of the 124 highest major mountain peaks of North America rise in Colorado. The United States Census Bureau estimated that the population of the State of Colorado was 5,829,926 on July 1, 2022, an increase of 1.15% since the 2020 United States census. Denver is the state capital, the most populous city, and the heart of the most populous metropolitan area of the Rocky Mountain Region. Colorado Springs is the state's second most populous city. While the population of the Front Range Urban Corridor now exceeds five million, many rugged portions of the state remain pristine wilderness.

• President Theodore Roosevelt signed an act of Congress creating Mesa Verde National Park on June 29, 1906.
• Denver International Airport opened on June 11, 1995.
• On November 15, 1902, Arapahoe County was split into three new counties: the City and County of Denver, Adams County, and South Arapahoe County.
• The State of Colorado had three Governors on March 17, 1905.
• The first National Western Stock Show opened in Denver on January 29, 1906.
• The Democratic National Convention meeting in Denver nominated William Jennings Bryan for President of the United States on July 10, 1908.
• President Woodrow Wilson signed an act of Congress creating Rocky Mountain National Park on January 26, 1915.
• Mamie Geneva Doud married U.S. Army lieutenant (and later General of the Army and President of the United States) Dwight Eisenhower in Denver on July 1, 1916.
• The population of Colorado first exceeded one million in 1929.
• Denver Municipal Airport opened on October 17, 1929.
• In 1942, Governor Ralph Carr welcomed Japanese-Americans to Colorado despite the war with Japan.
• The first class of the United States Air Force Academy graduated on June 3, 1959.
• UNESCO designated Mesa Verde National Park as one of the original 12 World Heritage Sites on October 9, 1978.
• John Hickenlooper, later a Colorado Governor and United States Senator, founded a popular Denver brewpub in 1988.
• The Denver Broncos won the NFL Super Bowl in 1998, 1999, and 2016.
• President Bill Clinton signed an act of Congress elevating the national monument to Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park on October 21, 1999.

• ... that the 1976 Big Thompson River flood took place several hours before Colorado's 100th anniversary of statehood?
• ... that Aymara legislator Rafael Quispe's humorous style of political activism led one Bolivian parliamentarian to describe him as the "Chapulín Colorado" of the Legislative Assembly?
• ... that some members of the Daughters of the American Revolution came up with the idea to design a flag of Colorado, unaware that such a flag already existed?
• ... that Parkville lost out on becoming the Colorado Territory's capital by eleven votes and is now a ghost town largely buried under mining waste?
• ... that the No. 1–ranked 2023 Colorado Mines Orediggers, "college football's nerdiest contender", featured players with pigtails and a drawn-on blue mustache, a friar's haircut, and Harry Potter cosplay?
• ... that "The Potato King of Colorado" survived a shipwreck, mined for gold in Australia, and helped establish an alcohol-free Methodist colony?
• ... that Charles Johnson received the most votes for student body president at the University of Colorado Boulder, even though he had already been disqualified from running?

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