Pikes Peak’s “purple mountain majesties” may have inspired Katharine Lee Bates to write her poem “America the Beautiful” in 1893. But it’s another set of colors that inspired the design for Colorado’s state flag: Red, blue, white and gold.
CPR’s series Colorado Wonders recently got a question asking why those were chosen for the widely recognized banner.
Each element symbolizes a part of the state, Brian Trembath told Colorado Matters in 2019.
"In comparison to most state flags, it's always had a very contemporary feel," said Trembath, a special collections and archives librarian with the Denver Public Library.
“I can kind of remember as a child thinking that it must have been something that was designed relatively recently,” he said.
In fact, local Daughters of the American Revolution members commissioned an early design of what we now know as our state flag back in 1910.
Here are some things to know about those color choices:
The red “C” represents the Centennial State nickname -- while the color is a nod to the state's actual name, which draws from the Spanish word for "red."
“The Yale blue stripes stand for the ever-smiling skies of the Rocky Mountain region," Trembath said, citing the descriptions from Senate Bill 118, which passed in 1911.
According to that official designation, the white stripe typifies the “white metal, silver in whose production Colorado also leads the entire galaxy of states” as well as the “snowy peaks of the Rocky Mountains.”
Together, the blue and white also represent the state flower, the columbine.
And finally, the gold circle is for both sunshine and the other precious metal that’s central to the state’s mining history.
Oh and did you know that Colorado's first state flag was a total bust?
Now, take this golden opportunity to share some fun flag facts with a fellow Coloradan.
