1. On February 4, 1861, Kansas was admitted to the Union as the 34th state. This came after a long struggle between pro-slavery and anti-slavery forces in the territory, which had been ongoing since the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854.

2. In 1859, John Brown and his men raided the federal arsenal at Harper's Ferry, Virginia in an attempt to start a slave rebellion. Brown had spent time in Kansas and had fought against pro-slavery forces there. February 4 was the day that the Governor of Virginia, Henry A. Wise, issued a warrant for Brown's arrest.

3. Kansas native Dwight D. Eisenhower, who would go on to become the 34th President of the United States, was born on October 14, 1890. However, February 4 was the day that he was officially commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in the U.S. Army, after graduating from West Point.

4. On February 4, 1910, the Kansas State Legislature passed a law making it illegal to wear hats in theaters or other public places. This was said to be in response to a recent trend of women wearing large hats that obstructed others' views of the stage.

5. The first successful airplane flight in Kansas took place on February 4, 1913, when aviator Glenn L. Martin flew his biplane over Wichita. Martin had been racing against another pioneer aviator, Walter L. Brock, to be the first to achieve this feat in the state.