Celebrate Colorado Day Monday, August 1, Free entrance to all State Parks
Colorado Day is celebrated annually on August 1. The holiday commemorates the admittance of Colorado as a state of the Union on August 1, 1876, thanks to an Act of Congress signed by President Ulysses S. Grant. Before the Spanish started settling in Colorado as far back as 1598, Native American tribes had inhabited the area for about 14,000 years. In March 1907, the state legislature officially passed a law designating August 1 as Colorado Day; thus, the holiday started holding on August 1, 1907. History of Colorado Da y About 14,000 years ago, several Native American tribes, including the Ancestral Puebloans, Apache, Arapaho, Cheyenne, Comanche, Shoshone, and Ute nations, inhabited Colorado. The first European contact was by the Spanish conquistadors, one of whom — Juan de Onate — founded the Spanish province of ‘Santa Fe de Nuevo Mexico’ on July 11, 1598. Eventually, Colorado became a part of this province, and the regular trade between ...