150 jaar Colorado: The Centennial State

The USPS commemorates the 150th anniversary of Colorado's accession to the United States with the issuance of a special stamp, the 'Colorado Statehood' stamp, featuring a photograph of Jagged Mountain taken by nature photographer John Fielder. The 38th state, known for its breathtaking landscapes and the awe-inspiring beauty of the Rocky Mountains, joined the Union 100 years after the United States' Declaration of Independence from the United Kingdom.

History and highlights

Colorado celebrates its 150th anniversary as a state in 2026. It became the 38th state of the United States on August 1, 1876. Colorado is known for its breathtaking landscapes and the awe-inspiring beauty of the majestic Rocky Mountains. The name “Colorado” comes from “red-colored (or reddish)”, as Spanish explorers described the silt of the Colorado River. Colorado, also known as the Centennial State mentioned, joined the Union 100 years after the Declaration of Independence of the United States from Great Britain. The average elevation of the landscape is approximately 2074 meters, the highest of all states. Colorado is known for its world-famous ski areas and resorts and more than 63.000 kilometers of hiking trails. It has many state parks and four national parks: Rocky Mountain National Park, Black Canyon of the Gunnison, Great Sand Dunes and Mesa VerdeForest reserves, national monuments, and nature reserves offer endless possibilities for adventures in all four seasons. Colorado has hundreds of ghost towns, countless craft breweries, and many museums, such as the History Colorado Center, the Denver Art Museum, the Ute Indian Museum, the Cripple Creek Historic District Museum, the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, and the US Olympic and Paralympic Museum. It is also home to a thriving local food movement, with a collaboration of food hubs and non-profit organizations dedicated to better access to locally grown and produced food. The countless archaeological sites in Colorado bear witness to the richness and complexity of the people who shaped the state's heritage. The ancestors of the Pueblo Indians built many spectacular stone villages, known as cliff dwellings, in the southwestern part of the state. Many other Native American tribes, including the Ute, Cheyenne, Arapaho, Apache, Comanche, Kiowa, Pawnee, Shoshone, and Lakota, have inhabited Colorado in the past and still live there today. De state flag The Colorado flag was designed by Andrew Carlisle Carson. Officially adopted on June 5, 1911, the flag uses elegant simplicity to convey a number of important meanings. The field consists of three stripes, two blue and one white. The blue symbolizes Colorado's clear blue skies and the state flower, the columbine. The white stripe in the center represents the state's famous snow-capped mountains, while the red of the C (standing for Colorado) represents the color of most of the soil in the state. The golden disc in the center of the C represents the state's history in gold mining and abundant sunshine. The stamp commemorating Colorado's 150th anniversary features a photograph of Jagged Mountain, located in the Weminuche Wilderness area of ​​the San Juan National Forest. Derry Noyes, art director at USPS, designed the stamp based on an existing photograph by Colorado nature photographer John Fielder (1950–2023). The stamp celebrating Colorado's statehood will be issued on January 24, 2026, in Denver, Colorado.  

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Colorado State: https://www.colorado.gov/ Colorado Tourism: https://www.colorado.com/