It ’s August 1 , and you cognise what that means . Your rip is due . Also , Colorado was admitted to the Union 137 age ago today ! Let ’s celebrate with 11 fact about the Centennial State .

1.Yes , it ’s the Centennial State , because 137 twelvemonth ago was 1876—100 class after the signing of the Declaration of Independence .

2.Many restaurants take to have invented the cheeseburger , but it was Colorado resident Louis Ballast of the Humpty Dumpty Drive - In in Denver who make it : Hetrademarked the termin 1935 .

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3.At 53 square miles , Denver International Airport is twice the sizing of Manhattan .

4.Colorado Springs is home to the United States Olympic Committee ’s flagship training centre , but Colorado is the only U.S. nation that ’s ever turned down an Olympian bid . Denver originally won the play for the 1976 Winter Olympics , but the state of matter ’s voters later rejected it due to base costs and environmental concerns . Innsbruck , Austria , ended up hosting .

5.Fast forward a few decades , and Denver’sinterested in hosting again , perhaps in 2022 .

6.In May , Colorado became the first state to fully regulate the recreational usance , sale , and consumption of marijuana .

7.In 1982 , Stegosaurus stenops was named Colorado ’s prescribed state fossil . We ’re not aver the dinosaur would okay of marijuana legalisation , but it was an herbivore …

8.TheColorado Alligator Farmin the San Luis Valley is the world ’s only high-pitched - altitude alligator dependency at 7,664 feet above sea degree .

9.No U.S. President or Vice - President has hailed from Colorado .

10.Trinidad , Colorado is recognize as the " Sex Change Capital of the World . " It ’s been count on that Dr. Stanley Biber   performed 65 percentage of the world ’s sex alteration operations from 1969 to 2003 . Dr. Marci Bowers , a transgender surgeon , took over his practice in 2006 , but moved it to California in 2010 .

11.One thing the natives are still part about : If they ’re formally called " Coloradans " or " Coloradoans . " Some politically minded citizens prefer the portmanteau " Coloradicals . "