The Broomcorn Express, Quarterly Publication of the Broomfield Historical Society
Vol. 6, No. 2, April – June 2026
BY DAVID R. FEINEMAN
TREASURER, BROOMFIELD HISTORICAL SOCIETY
If you have ever seen an ARC Thrift Store commercial, you’ve heard that Colorado has “the coolest state flag,” which is obviously something of a subjective opinion. Research might show that there is little consensus on the topic, with one source having our flag assigned to #6 coolest, with New Mexico in first place [1]. The article did explain that their criteria for ranking was based on three factors: visual appeal, symbolism, and historical context. The authors recognized the high standard of both clean design and symbolism used in the selection of colors in the Colorado flag.
A detailed look at a portion of the Colorado State Flag, Broomfield History Collections.
Colorado Day is coming up on August 1, and this would be a good day to think about flying the Colorado flag at your house. Officially, you have the right to fly the state flag whenever you think it is fitting and appropriate because the bill that made it the official state flag says that it belongs to the people of the state of Colorado. But what do we know about the history of the flag itself?
Flags Over Colorado
The Colorado state archives provides a list of the previous assertions of ownership of the land currently within the borders of the state. By their list, an argument could be made that eight different flags could have been flown over Colorado before acceptance of the current one as the official state flag [2].
As with so many things, there appears to be a lot of online misinformation about the current flag, but you can find a definitive history in the Denver Public Library special collections and archives [3] Here is some of the information available:
• Work on the flag was initiated at a meeting of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) in November, 1910. The group thought it was a travesty that Colorado didn’t have a state flag. They were unaware that one had already existed since 1907!
• By December 1910 the DAR had come up with a proposed flag design, which revived interest in updating the official state flag. Unfortunately, their specific proposed design was not well liked.
• Andrew Carlisle Carson submitted a new design that consisted of two horizontal stripes of Yale Blue, with one white stripe (all of equal width) between, and a large red “C” with a gold center at the end near the pole.
• On April 25, 1911, the Colorado State Senate passed Bill No. 118 making that new design the official state flag.
• By 1929, it became apparent that there was a problem with the flag design because the required shades of red and blue weren’t defined in the 1911 bill.
• In 1964, the design specification was changed again to clarify the placement of the “C” and the relative sizes of each element.
The Symbolism of the Flag
On a symbolic level, the colors were chosen for their specific relevance to the state—the blue to represent the sky, the white for our snowcapped mountains, and the red for the color of the land. Some say the gold C represents sunshine, while others note that gold mining was an important industry early in the state’s history.
The letter C can obviously be interpreted as an abbreviation of Colorado, but it can also represent “Centennial,” (the year of our statehood), or our state flower, the columbine.
Summary
The history of the Colorado state flag is worth caring about because it reveals how Coloradans deliberately created a lasting symbol of the state’s landscape, heritage, and identity—making the flag more than just a design, but also a meaningful expression of Colorado itself and all of us.
Endnotes
1.Swanson, Ned. “US State Flags Ranked: Which State Has the Coolest Flag?” Action Flag, July 19, 2025. https://actionflag.com/blogs/american-flag-insights-and-updates-from-action-flag/us-state-flags-ranked-which-state-has-the-coolest-flag?srsltid=AfmBOooQn9IdxXDJAndn00R0IqQ5v6I-Rd2fbMZ5NmdlnDb_OOuohQ92.
2.“State Flag | Colorado State Archives,” https://archives.colorado.gov/collections/symbols-emblems/state-flag.
3.“The Untold Story Behind Colorado’s Iconic State Flag | Denver Public Library Special Collections and Archives,” n.d. https://history.denverlibrary.org/news/western-history/untold-story-behind-colorados-iconic-state-flag.