Portal:Colorado
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Colorado Events
- Wikimedia US Mountain West Autumn 2024 online meeting, Tuesday, November 12, 2024, 8:00-9:00 PM MST
- Wikimedia US Mountain West Spring 2025 online meeting, Tuesday, May 13, 2025, 8:00-9:00 PM MDT
Previous events:
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Colorado events
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Colorado Facts
- Date admitted to Union: August 1, 1876 (38th State)
- Demonym: Coloradan
- Capital: Denver
- Elected state officers:
- Governor: Jared Polis (D) (2019–)
- Lieutenant Governor: Dianne Primavera (D) (2019–)
- Secretary of State: Jena Griswold (D) (2019–)
- Treasurer: Dave Young (D) (2019–)
- Attorney General: Phil Weiser (D) (2019–)
- Colorado General Assembly:
- Colorado Senate:
- D-23 R-12 (2023–2024}
- Colorado House of Representatives:
- D-46 R-19 (2023–2024}
- Colorado Senate:
- Colorado Supreme Court:
- Brian Boatright, Chief Justice (2021–)
- Monica Márquez (2010-)
- William Hood, III (2014–)
- Richard Gabriel (2015–)
- Melissa Hart (2017–)
- Carlos Samour, Jr (2018–)
- Maria Berkenkotter (2021–)
- U.S. Senators:
- Class 2. John Hickenlooper (D) (2021–)
- Class 3. Michael Bennet (D) (2009–)
- 1. Diana DeGette (D) (1997–)
- 2. Joe Neguse (D) (2019–)
- 3. Lauren Boebert (R) (2021–2025)
- 4. vacant
- 5. Doug Lamborn (R) (2007–2025)
- 6. Jason Crow (D) (2019–)
- 7. Brittany Pettersen (D) (2023-)
- 8. Yadira Caraveo (D) (2023–)
- Total area: 104,094 square miles (269,602 km2) (eighth most extensive state)
- Highest elevation: Mount Elbert 14,440 feet (4,401.2 m) (third highest state)
- Mean elevation: 6,800 feet (2,070 m) (highest state)
- Lowest elevation: Arikaree River 3,317 feet (1,011 m) (highest state)
- Population (2020 census): 5,773,714 (21st most populous state)
- Population density: 55.47 per square mile (21.40 km−2) (39th most densely populated state)
- Number of counties: 64 counties (including two consolidated city and county governments)
- Number of municipalities: 273 municipalities, comprising 2 consolidated city and county governments, 73 cities, and 198 towns
- Time zone: MST=UTC−07, MDT=UTC−06
- USPS code: CO
- ISO 3166 code: US-CO
- Adjacent U.S. states: Wyoming, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Arizona, Utah (tied for third most)
- State government website: Colorado.gov
- State tourism website: Colorado.com
State Symbols
Subcategories
U.S. Route 491 (US 491) is a north–south U.S. Highway serving the Four Corners region of the United States. It was created in 2003 as a renumbering of U.S. Route 666 (US 666). With the US 666 designation, the road was nicknamed the "Devil's Highway" because of the significance of the number 666 to many Christian denominations as the Number of the Beast. This Satanic connotation, combined with a high fatality rate along the New Mexico portion, convinced some people the highway was cursed. The problem was compounded by persistent sign theft. These factors led to two efforts to renumber the highway, first by officials in Arizona, then by those in New Mexico. There have been safety improvement projects since the renumbering, and fatality rates have subsequently decreased.
The highway, now a spur route of US 91 via its connection to US 191, runs through New Mexico, Colorado and Utah, as well as the tribal nations of the Navajo Nation and Ute Mountain Ute Tribe. The highway passes by two mountains considered sacred by Native Americans: Ute Mountain and an extinct volcanic core named Shiprock. Other features along the route include Mesa Verde National Park and Dove Creek, Colorado, the self-proclaimed pinto-bean capital of the world. (Full article...)Selected mountain -
Selected biography -
Gilpin served as the first governor of the Colorado Territory. His administration was consumed largely with the defense of the new territory in the early days of the American Civil War and was brought down after only one year by scandalous financial dealings. After the demise of his political career, he made a large fortune as a land speculator in New Mexico, although his dealings were questionable and possibly illegal. (Full article...)
Selected article -
Lake Alamosa is a former lake in Colorado. It existed from the Pliocene to the middle Pleistocene in the San Luis Valley, fed by glacial meltwater from surrounding mountain ranges. Water levels waxed and waned with the glacial stages until at highstand the lake (high water level in the lake) reached an elevation of 2,335 meters (7,661 ft) and probably a surface of over 4,000 square kilometers (1,500 sq mi), but only sparse remains of the former waterbody are visible today. The existence of the lake was postulated in the early 19th century and eventually proven in the early 20th century.
The lake eventually overflowed into the Rio Grande river system during the middle Pleistocene. The overflow cut down a valley that eventually drained the lake, leaving only the San Luis Closed Basin as a remnant. The Alamosa Formation is a rock formation left by the lake. Groundwater resources are contained trapped between sediments left by the former lake. (Full article...)Selected image -
National Parks in Colorado
The 23 national parks in Colorado:
- Amache National Historic Site
- Arapaho National Recreation Area
- Bent's Old Fort National Historic Site
- Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park
- Browns Canyon National Monument
- Camp Hale-Continental Divide National Monument
- Canyons of the Ancients National Monument
- Chimney Rock National Monument
- Colorado National Monument
- Continental Divide National Scenic Trail
- Curecanti National Recreation Area
- Dinosaur National Monument
- Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument
- Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve
- Hovenweep National Monument
- Mesa Verde National Park and World Heritage Site
- Old Spanish National Historic Trail
- Pony Express National Historic Trail
- Rocky Mountain National Park
- Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site
- Santa Fe National Historic Trail
- Yucca House National Monument
Interesting facts-
- 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.
Did you know (auto-generated) -
- ... that the 1976 Big Thompson River flood took place several hours before Colorado's 100th anniversary of statehood?
- ... 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 following the killing of Richard Ward by a Colorado sheriff's deputy, the deputy received an award for the injuries that he allegedly sustained during the incident?
- ... 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 Yemi Mobolade is the first Black person and the first non-Republican to be elected the mayor of Colorado Springs, Colorado?
- ... that environmental journalist Gloria Dickie wrote her thesis on how cities in Colorado changed garbage laws to prevent bear incursions?
- ... that "The Potato King of Colorado" survived a shipwreck, mined for gold in Australia, and helped establish an alcohol-free Methodist colony?
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