1. In 1803, Lieutenant Zebulon Pike led an exploration party to the Colorado region. On April 24th of that year, he made his first sighting of the mountain he would later name "Pikes Peak."

2. In 1858, the first issue of the Rocky Mountain News was published in Denver. The paper went on to become one of the longest-running newspapers in Colorado history, printing its final issue in 2009.

3. In 1884, the Colorado state legislature approved the formation of Mesa Verde National Park. The park is home to well-preserved ancestral Puebloan cliff dwellings and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

4. In 1976, the Eagle's Nest Wilderness Area was established in Colorado. The protected wilderness spans over 133,000 acres and is home to a diverse range of flora and fauna, including rare species such as the Canadian lynx.

5. In 1997, Timothy McVeigh, the man responsible for the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, was arrested in Perry, Oklahoma. One of the crucial pieces of evidence in his arrest was a traffic stop in Limon, Colorado, which led authorities to his eventual capture.