With statehood finally at hand, Colorado celebrated the ‘Centennial Fourth’ in style

Three days after approving a constitution and putting the Colorado Territory on the verge of statehood at last, citizens of the soon-to-be Centennial State had all the more reason to celebrate the nation’s 100th birthday in style.

“‘The Centennial Fourth of July’ was to the world more than an ordinary anniversary,” reported the Denver Times, “and to us in Colorado it possessed, if possible, an interest greater than to any other portion of the people of the United States, for the birth of the ‘Centennial State’ is associated with it.”

It had been the Denver Times, in fact, that had first suggested that nickname in February 1875, as Congress debated the legislation that brought the timeline for Colorado’s long-awaited admission to the union into view.

Coloradans woke on July 2 to the news that the territory’s voters had adopted the constitution in a landslide. The final tally would be 15,443 votes for and 4,062 against.

All that remained was for President Ulysses S. Grant to make it official with a statehood proclamation — a certainty, given that Grant and the Republican Party wanted Colorado’s three electoral votes for Ohio Gov. Rutherford B. Hayes in what was expected to be a close presidential contest with Democratic New York Gov. Samuel Tilden. But the proclamation was still a month away.

In the meantime, Colorado celebrated a very special Fourth of July, beginning at sunrise, the Times reported, “with the ringing of bells, blowing of whistles, and a national salute of 38 guns,” in honor of the imminent admission of the 38th state.

A parade began in Denver just after 10:30 a.m., and featured marchers representing the city’s public officials, police officers, fire companies, secret societies and social clubs, and the Denver Typographical Union. Wells, Fargo & Co. and Daniels, Fisher & Co. were among the businesses that contributed floats to the parade, with the latter represented by “a large truck piled high with carpets and dry goods, the whole finely decorated,” the Times reported.

American flags and stars-and-stripes bunting hung from almost every building in Denver as the procession made its way through the streets, ending up in Denver Park, a newly built recreational grounds in a shady cottonwood grove southwest of town. Territorial Gov. John Routt, a Grant appointee who would soon go on to serve as Colorado’s first elected governor, delivered a speech to the assembled celebrants.

“I desire to congratulate you, my fellow citizens upon what has been accomplished, and especially that we, the people of Colorado, can add one more star to the galaxy which now flashes forth from the azure field of the grand old flag,” Rout said.

The day’s festivities concluded with a fireworks display on Capitol Hill, while a band played musical numbers that included a new composition, “All Hail Colorado, the Centennial State.”

“As far as we can learn there were no serious accidents and but few trivial ones,” the Times reported happily. “We heard of no fighting nor drunkenness, and of nothing to mar the general happiness of pleasure upon the ‘Centennial Fourth.’”