1. On December 4, 1820, Maine was officially admitted as the 23rd state in the United States. It was the first state to enter the Union following the original 13 colonies.

2. The USS Maine, a battleship commissioned by the U.S. Navy, was launched on December 4, 1899 from the Brooklyn Navy Yard in New York. The ship ultimately sank in Havana Harbor, Cuba on February 15, 1898, leading to the Spanish-American War.

3. On December 4, 1905, Portland, Maine experienced a massive snowstorm that dropped over 30 inches of snow on the city. The storm caused widespread damage and disrupted transportation for several days.

4. The Maine Central Railroad officially merged with the Boston and Maine Railroad on December 4, 1981. The resulting company was named Guilford Transportation Industries and operated until it was acquired by Pan Am Railways in 2006.

5. On December 4, 2003, Edna St. Vincent Millay's former home in Austerlitz, New York, which is located just over the Maine border, was designated as a National Historic Landmark. Millay was a Pulitzer Prize-winning poet known for her works inspired by nature and human relationships.