1. The Vermont State House was inaugurated on April 17, 1859. The building was designed by architect Thomas Silloway and cost around $145,000 to construct. It is now the oldest and only original state capital in the United States.

2. The first edition of the Vermont Cynic, the student newspaper of the University of Vermont, was published on April 17, 1883. The newspaper is still in publication today and has won numerous awards for journalism.

3. On April 17, 1964, the Vermont State Board of Education approved the consolidation of the town of Irasburg's schools with the surrounding towns of Coventry, Brownington and Orleans to form the temporary North Country Union High School District. This was part of a larger trend of consolidating schools in Vermont during that time period.

4. Vermont poet Galway Kinnell was born on April 17, 1927, in Providence, Rhode Island. Kinnell moved to Vermont in the 1980s and became a professor at the University of Vermont. He received numerous awards for his poetry, including the Pulitzer Prize in 1983.

5. On April 17, 1775, the American Revolution began with the Battles of Lexington and Concord in Massachusetts. Vermont was not yet a state at this time, but many Vermonters fought in the Revolutionary War and played a crucial role in securing American independence.