The Postal Service will release the Colorado Statehood stamp on Saturday, Jan. 24, to commemorate the state’s 150th anniversary.
Colorado became the 38th state on Aug. 1, 1876, and is nicknamed the Centennial State for joining the United States 100 years after it declared independence from Great Britain. The state is known for its landscapes and the Rocky Mountains.
The name Colorado comes from “colored red” or “ruddy,” which is how Spanish explorers described the silt of the Colorado River. Its average elevation is approximately 6,800 feet, the highest of all states.
Colorado has ski areas and resorts, as well as more than 39,000 miles of hiking trails, many state parks and four national parks.
There are numerous archaeological sites throughout the state, including stone villages called cliff dwellings built by Ancestral Puebloans in the southwestern part of the state. Other Native American tribes — including the Ute, Cheyenne, Arapaho, Apache, Comanche, Kiowa, Pawnee, Shoshone and Lakota — have and continue to call Colorado home.
The Colorado Statehood stamp features a photograph of Jagged Mountain, located in the Weminuche Wilderness area of the San Juan National Forest, by nature photographer John Fielder (1950-2023).
Derry Noyes, an art director for USPS, designed the Forever stamp, which will be available at Post Offices and usps.com.
