1. In 1861, the first federal troops from Pennsylvania arrived in Washington D.C. to support the Union Army during the American Civil War. These soldiers came from the Ringgold Light Artillery and were sent by Governor Andrew Curtin.

2. On April 8, 1879, the first baseball game was played at the new Shibe Park Stadium in Philadelphia. The stadium was home to the Philadelphia Athletics and later the Philadelphia Phillies until it was demolished in 1976.

3. In 1918, a train carrying soldiers returning from World War I derailed near Philipsburg, Pennsylvania, killing 43 and injuring over 200 others. It remains one of the worst train wrecks in U.S. history.

4. The Pennsylvania Turnpike, the nation's first superhighway, opened on April 8, 1940. It connected Pittsburgh with Harrisburg and was designed with modern engineering features such as multiple lanes, banked curves, and limited access points.

5. On April 8, 1983, the USS Philadelphia (SSN-690), a Los Angeles-class submarine, ran aground on a coral reef off the coast of Bermuda. The incident caused significant damage to the submarine and it had to be towed back to the United States for repairs.