1. In 1861, Kansas was admitted as the 34th state to the Union on February 15th. This was a significant event in Kansas history, as the state had been at the center of the bloody struggle over slavery in the years leading up to the Civil War.

2. On February 15, 1887, the first official weather forecasts were made by the U.S. Signal Service in Kansas. The forecasts were transmitted by telegraph to newspapers and other agencies across the country. Kansas was an important location for the development of the weather service, as its central location made it a hub for weather observations and forecasting.

3. In 1935, the first electric power cooperative in the United States was established in Kansas. Known as the Rural Electric Cooperative, the organization brought electricity to rural areas across the state and provided a model for other states to follow. The cooperative was founded on February 15th of that year.

4. On February 15, 1945, the University of Kansas basketball team defeated the University of Missouri by a score of 31-28. The game was significant not only for being a rivalry match between two of Kansas' most storied college basketball programs, but also because it was played during World War II, when many college athletes had been drafted into the military.

5. On February 15, 1977, the movie "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" premiered in Kansas. Directed by Steven Spielberg, the film tells the story of a group of people who witness a UFO sighting and become obsessed with finding out what it means. The movie was a critical and commercial success, and helped establish Kansas as a destination for film production.