Colorado Timeline History
1682: Explorer La Salle appropriated the area east of the Rocky Mountains, now known as
Colorado, for France

1765: Juan
Maria Rivera led a
Spanish expedition
into the San Juan
and Sangre de Cristo
Mountains in search
of gold and silver

1803: The U.
S. acquired eastern
Colorado from France
as part of the
Louisiana Purchase

1806:
Lieutenant Zebulon
M. Pike and small
party of U.S.
soldiers discovered
peak that bears his
name

1848: Mexico
ceded western
Colorado to United
States by the Treaty
of Guadalupe Hidalgo

1851: First
permanent settlement
founded at San Luis

1854: Ute
indians killed
fifteen inhabitants
of Fort Pueblo on
Christmas Day

1858: Gold
discovered in Denver

1859: The
first stagecoach
with mail for Cherry
Creek settlements
left Leavenworth,
Kansas; the first
newspaper in the
region, the Rocky
Mountain News, was
published; more gold
was discovered at
North Clear Creek
and the Blue River;
oil was discovered

1861:
Congress established
the Colorado
territory

1862: First
oil well drilled

1863: Denver
linked to the east
coast by telegraph

1864 Sand
Creek Massacre kills
163 Indians, mostly
women and children;
Denver hit by a
devastating flood

1867: Denver
is permanent seat of
the government

1870:
Railroad connections
established with the
East

1876:
Colorado became the
38th state

1878:
Telephones were
installed in Denver

1881: Ute
tribes moved onto
reservations

1883:
Electric lights
installed in Denver

1886: The
last public hanging
in Denver occurred

1894: State
Capitol completed at
a cost of
$2,500,000; Colorado
was the second state
to extend suffrage
to women

1905:
Colorado had three
governors in one day
due to a political
squabble

1906: United
States Mint in
Denver issued its
first coins.

1908: Denver
Municipal Auditorium
completed in time
for the Democratic
National Convention

1913: The
"Big Snow of 1913"
covered Colorado
with 3 - 5 feet;
licensing of
automobiles began;
Helen Robinson was
first elected woman
to serve in state
Senate

1916:
Colorado adopted
prohibition

1922: First
commerical radio
license in state
issued

1925:
Federal Reserve Bank
established in
Denver

1942:
Federal government
established Amache,
a camp for
Japanese-Americans
who were relocated
from their homes on
the West Coast

1958: Air
Force Academy built
near Colorado
Springs; state
suffered from
grasshopper plague

1960: Denver
Broncos professional
football team
established

1967: Denver
Rockets became
Colorado's
professional
American Basketball
Association team

1974:
Desegregation of
schools in Denver
began; Denver
Rockets were renamed
the Denver Nuggets

1976: A
cloudburst on the
Big Thompson River
resulted in a
massive flood in
Larimer County,
killing more than
145 people

1993:
Colorado Rockies
became first
regional major
league baseball team

1995: Quebec
Nordiques National
Hockey League team
moved to Colorado
and became the
Colorado Avalanche;
Denver International
Airport opened;
Denver landed a
National Hockey
League franchise;
the Colorado
Avalanche won the
Stanley Cup;
careless campers
ignited the Buffalo
Creek fire, which
scorched 12,000
acres and destroyed
nine homes;
lightning struck in
Mesa Verde National
Park that resulted
in fires that burned
4600 acres

1997:
Oklahoma City
bombing trials held
in Denver

1998: Denver
Broncos win the
Super Bowl

1999: Denver
Broncos win the Super Bowl again; Bill Owens elected governor the
first Republican
governor of the
state in 24 years:;
12 students and one
teacher murdered and
23 other students
wounded at Columbine
High School in
Denver

2000: The Hi
Meadow fire ravaged
10,800 acres and
destroyed 51 homes;
the Bobcat fire
burned 10,600 acres
and destroyed 22
structures; the
Bircher fire raged
across 23,000 acres
in Mesa Verde
National Park

2005:
Referendum C, a five
year tax package
which modified the
Taxpayers Bill of
Rights, passed by
voters
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