Aug. 1, 1876, was as typical a day as ever as far as news readers in Colorado could tell. The Denver Daily Times advertised eggs for 30 cents on its front page. The Rocky Mountain News issued a string of updates from Washington: The House was arguing over government spending, the Senate banning the sale of ammunition to what the newspaper called “hostile Indians.”
On the front page of the Colorado Daily Chieftain was an inconspicuous line in a telegraph bulletin, buried beneath news of an architect and a postal agent being forced to resign. The line read: “President Grant will make A Statement.”
That statement, of course, was the proclamation of Colorado’s statehood. The Centennial State, welcomed 100 years after the country was founded. The 38th star on the American flag.
It took five attempts for Colorado to claim statehood, according to Katherine Mercier, exhibition developer and historian for History Colorado. Mercier grew up in Bailey, and recently developed the “38th Star” exhibition detailing Colorado’s journey to statehood.
“The most ‘whoa’ story that kind of came out of the research was about our third attempt, in 1865, to become a state,” Mercier said. Colorado lawmakers had written and voted on a constitution and sent it to Washington. But the constitution only gave white men the power to vote. A community of Black men circulated a petition, 137 men signed, and it stopped Colorado from becoming a state in 1865.
“For me, it was a moment of, you know, we know the names of all these 137 Black men who really stood up to make a difference and say, ‘Hey, we don’t support this.’ This is not the state that we want to be a part of. We shouldn’t be a state if we don’t have the right to vote,” Mercier said. “And I had no idea about that story before researching that (exhibition).”
A lot has changed since that late summer day in 1876. Plenty more hasn’t.
As a way to celebrate the state’s 150th birthday, The Colorado Sun will roll out a special, weekly newsletter for 15 weeks, beginning in April and leading up to Aug. 1, detailing some of the things that make Colorado so colorful.
We’ll dive into the state’s past, from historical must-sees, like the 13-pound chunk of gold found near Breckenridge during its mining boom, to often overlooked sites, like the Blair-Caldwell African-American Research Library in Denver’s Five Points neighborhood, a critical archive that chronicles the state’s earliest Black settlers.
We’ll bring you along the scenic byways, find the state’s funkiest festivals, head east for a beer on the Great Plains, and west for the best slice of pizza that side of the Continental Divide. We’ll talk trains, trams and mining attractions, hut systems and heli drops, and whether Colorado can indisputably claim to be the birthplace of the cheeseburger (for what it’s worth, it can indisputably claim to be the birthplace of the Chipotle burrito).
Sign up here to receive the weekly newsletter, launching April 22.
Get our weekly roundup of the people and places that have shaped Colorado
Submit a form.And keep this page bookmarked for more stories and live events that will be hitting the road throughout the year, including stops in Colorado Springs and northern Colorado.
And of course, we want to hear from you! While we’ve collected 150 awesome things, places, activities and ideas from our knowledgeable staff, you’re the ones who know your communities best. So help us understand our state even better — what makes you proud to live in Colorado? What parts of the state need to be pried open? We’ll be asking for your suggestions, and we’ll compile those into bonus newsletters later on.
“Being proud of Colorado really means centering the stories of individuals and communities that have made us, this state that we know and love today as part of that,” Mercier said. “Who came before? What did they do? What everyday choices and decisions did they make? Knowing those stories and telling them, and preserving them, and learning from them can help us to have this pride in the state of Colorado today.”
We hope you’ll join us on this journey celebrating Colorado’s 150th anniversary.
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