Portal:Colorado
The Colorado Portal
WikiProject Colorado
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WikiProject Colorado 
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Request an article about a Colorado topic here or volunteer here.
WikiProject Colorado 
You need not be either an expert or a resident.
You only need an active interest in the Centennial State.
Request an article about a Colorado topic here or volunteer here.
Colorado Events
- Wikimedia US Mountain West Autumn 2025 online meeting, Tuesday, November 11, 2025, 8:00-9:00 PM MST
- Wikimedia US Mountain West Winter 2025 online meeting, Tuesday, February 10, 2025, 8:00-9:00 PM MST
- Wikimedia US Mountain West Spring 2025 online meeting, Tuesday, May 12, 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-11 1 Vacant (2025–2027)
- Colorado House of Representatives:
- D-43 R-22 (2025-2027)
- Colorado Senate:
- Colorado Supreme Court:
- Monica Márquez, Chief Justice (2024–)
- Brian Boatright (2011-)
- 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. Jeff Hurd (R) (2025-)
- 4. Lauren Boebert (R) (2025-)
- 5. Jeff Crank (R) (2025-)
- 6. Jason Crow (D) (2019–)
- 7. Brittany Pettersen (D) (2023-)
- 8. Gabe Evans (R) (2025–)
- 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
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Featured article - 
Stegosaurus (/ˌstɛɡəˈsɔːrəs/; lit. 'roof-lizard') is a genus of herbivorous four-legged armored dinosaurs from the Late Jurassic, characterized by the distinctive kite-shaped upright plates along their backs and spikes on their tails. Fossils of the genus have been found in the western United States and in Portugal, where they are found in Kimmeridgian- to Tithonian-aged strata, dating to between 155 and 145 million years ago. Of the species that have been classified in the upper Morrison Formation of the western US, only three are universally recognized: S. stenops, S. ungulatus and S. sulcatus. The remains of over 80 individual animals of this genus have been found. Stegosaurus would have lived alongside dinosaurs such as Apatosaurus, Diplodocus, Camarasaurus and Allosaurus, the latter of which may have preyed on it.
They were large, heavily built, herbivorous quadrupeds with rounded backs, short fore limbs, long hind limbs, and tails held high in the air. Due to their distinctive combination of broad, upright plates and tail tipped with spikes, Stegosaurus is one of the most recognizable kinds of dinosaurs. The function of this array of plates and spikes has been the subject of much speculation among scientists. Today, it is generally agreed that their spiked tails were most likely used for defense against predators, while their plates may have been used primarily for display, and secondarily for thermoregulatory functions. Stegosaurus had a relatively low brain-to-body mass ratio. It had a short neck and a small head, meaning it most likely ate low-lying bushes and shrubs. One species, Stegosaurus ungulatus, is one of the largest known of all the stegosaurians, with the largest known specimens measuring about 7.5 metres (25 ft) long and weighing over 5 metric tons (5.5 short tons). (Full article...)
Selected mountain -
Selected biography -
Clara Brown
Brown, born in Virginia in 1800, moved to Logan County, Kentucky, with her family. She married another enslaved person when she was 18 and they had four children. In 1835, Brown's family was broken apart when they were all sold to different slave owners. When Brown was 56, she received her freedom but was required by law to leave the state. She worked her way to Denver, Colorado, as a cook and laundress on a wagon train.
Brown settled in the mining town now called Central City, Colorado, where she worked as a laundress, cook, and midwife. With the money she made, she invested in properties and mines in nearby towns. Known as "Aunt Clara" for her emotional and financial support, Brown was a founding member of a Sunday school that was held in her home. (Full article...)
Selected article -
Mount Elbert is the highest summit of the Rocky Mountains of North America. With an elevation of 14,440 ft (4,400 m), it is also the highest point in the U.S. state of Colorado and the second-highest summit in the contiguous United States after Mount Whitney, which is slightly taller. The ultra-prominent fourteener is the highest peak in the Sawatch Range, as well as the highest point in the entire Mississippi River drainage basin. Mount Elbert is located in San Isabel National Forest, 12.1 mi (19.4 km) southwest (bearing 223°) of the city of Leadville in Lake County, Colorado.
The mountain was named in honor of a Colorado statesman, Samuel Hitt Elbert, who was active in the formative period of the state and Governor of the Territory of Colorado from 1873 to 1874. Henry W. Stuckle of the Hayden Survey was the first to record an ascent of the peak, in 1874. The easiest and most popular climbing routes are categorized as Class 1 to 2 or A+ in mountaineering parlance. Mount Elbert is therefore often referred to as the "gentle giant" that tops all others in the Rocky Mountains. (Full article...)
Selected image -
The Daniel Libeskind-designed Frederic C. Hamilton Building of the Denver Art Museum at night.
Photograph by Adam Crain, 2009
Photograph by Adam Crain, 2009
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-
- The Lindenmeier Site in Larimer County includes a Folsom culture campsite radiocarbon dated to 8710 BCE, some 4706 years before the biblical creation.
- The French Republic concluded its sale of its colony of La Louisiane to the United States on December 20, 1803. The United States claimed the entire watershed of the Mississippi River as its territory. Spain claimed a large southwestern portion of the watershed as the trading and protective territory of its colony of Santa Fe de Nuevo México.
- On November 15, 1806, a U.S. Army reconnaissance expedition led by Captain Zebulon Pike first sighted the great summit of the Mexican Mountains that now bears his name.
- On February 26, 1807, Spanish cavalrymen arrested the Pike Expedition in the San Luis Valley. The reconnaissance party was taken to Chihuahua, and then expelled from Mexico.
- William Bucknell and a party of frontier traders opened the Santa Fe Trail in 1821.
- Frontier trader William Bent operated Bent's Fort on the Santa Fe Trail from 1833 to 1849.
- The village of San Luis de la Culebra was founded on April 9, 1851, the first nonindigenous community in what would become Colorado.
- The discovery of gold by Green Russell along the South Platte River in July 1858 precipitated the Pike's Peak Gold Rush.
- The Provisional Government of the Territory of Jefferson governed the region from 1859 to 1861 without federal sanction.
- San Miguel, the original Costilla County seat, was later found to lie in New Mexico.
- Denver Union Station opened on June 1, 1881.
- Colorado became the first U.S. state to grant women the vote by popular referendum on November 7, 1893.
Did you know (auto-generated) -
- ... 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 Donald Trump would "much prefer not having a picture than having this one"?
- ... that environmental journalist Gloria Dickie wrote her thesis on how cities in Colorado changed garbage laws to prevent bear incursions?
- ... that Ruben A. Valdez, a high-school dropout, became the speaker of the Colorado House of Representatives?
- ... that a volunteer quipped of a Colorado TV station: "We broadcast to more ears of corn and heads of cattle than any other station"?
- ... that Ivan Ivan played for the Eagles and the Eagles?
- ... that the 1976 Big Thompson River flood took place several hours before Colorado's 100th anniversary of statehood?
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