Colorado: State Flag, Bird and Facts

About Colorado

Mountains, mesas, canyons and high plains all fit inside Colorado's borders. Most of the Southern Rocky Mountains fall within the state, along with part of the Colorado Plateau and a strip of the Great Plains on the eastern side. People have lived here for at least 13,500 years. Settlers poured in during the Pike's Peak Gold Rush, and statehood came in 1876, a century after the Declaration of Independence, which gave it the name Centennial State.

Denver is the capital and the biggest city. The flag is one of the simplest to sketch: three equal horizontal stripes of blue, white and blue, with a red letter C wrapped around a gold disk. Blue stands for the sky, gold for sunshine, white for snowy peaks, and red for the earth. Andrew Carlisle Carson designed it, and it became official in 1911.

Did you know?

• Mount Elbert is the highest point in Colorado at 14,440 feet.
• Colorful Colorado has appeared on Colorado welcome signs since 1950.
• The Colorado blue spruce serves as the official state tree.