It took five tries over seventeen years for Colorado to become a state. Why did four attempts fail, and the fifth succeed? That’s the story behind 38th Star: Colorado Becomes the Centennial State, an exhibition now on view at the History Colorado Center. Statehood established much of what we know and love about Colorado—our shape, our name, our state symbols, the educational institutions we still have today. But not everyone supported statehood 150 years ago. The process of statehood was shaped