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20 Colorado facts that you might not know about

20 Colorado facts that you might not know about
Posted at 4:56 PM, Aug 08, 2017
and last updated 2017-08-08 22:02:40-04

DENVER – It’s a well-known fact that Colorado is one of the best states in the country! But there are other lesser known facts about The Centennial State that many might not know about.

Here are 20 little-known facts about Colorado:

1. Colorado is the only state to turn down an Olympic bid. The 1976 Winter Olympics was to be held in Denver, but voters said “no.”
2. The state is the birthplace of the cheeseburger as we know it. Humpty Dumpty Drive-In was the first place to ever use the term.
3. Denver’s first drive-by shooting happened in 1876 when Cort Thompson was shot from another carriage.
4. The Grand Mesa on the Western Slope is the world’s largest flat-topped mountain.
5. More than 1/3 of Colorado is owned by the federal government.
6. Wazee Street between 15th and 17th was once Denver’s Chinatown.
7. Leadville is the highest incorporated city in the country.
8. Denver has the largest park system in the country with more than 200 parks in the city and 14,000 acres outside the city.
9. In 2005, about 27,000 American Indians affiliated with 60 tribes lived in metro Denver.
10. Colorado resident Frank Marugg invented the automobile boot in 1944. It was first used in Denver in 1955.
11. Pueblo is the hometown of four Congressional Medal of Honor recipients.
12. The Eisenhower Tunnel is the highest bored auto tunnel in the U.S.
13. The highest suspension bridge in the country is the Royal Gorge Bridge near Canon City.
14. Denver’s first recorded car accident happened on November 29, 1900, when Daniel Spencer was ejected from a car of his own design.
15. Trinidad is known as the sex change capital of the world. Doctor Stanley Biber performed thousands of sex change operations there from 1969 through 2003.
16. Colorado experienced at least one nuclear blast. Project Rulison was an underground 40-kiloton nuclear test near the Garfield County town of Parachute (then called Grand Valley).
17. Boulder has more breweries per capita than any other city.
18. Colorado has the second most craft beer sales and production in the country.
19. The world's largest natural hot springs exists in Glenwood Springs.
20. Denver is considered one of the most isolated major metropolitan area in the country.