1. On July 16, 1862, the 24th Iowa Volunteer Infantry Regiment joined the Union Army in the American Civil War. The regiment fought in the battles of Vicksburg and Chattanooga, among others.

2. In 1870, on July 16, the first state fair was held in Des Moines, Iowa. The fair has since become one of the largest and most popular state fairs in the country, attracting over 1 million visitors annually.

3. On July 16, 1918, the Iowa State Board of Health reported the first case of Spanish flu in the state. The flu would go on to claim the lives of over 6,000 Iowans that year, and more than 50 million people worldwide.

4. The Cedar Rapids Municipal Airport (now the Eastern Iowa Airport) opened on July 16, 1927. The airport has served as a major transportation hub for eastern Iowa ever since, with connections to cities across the United States.

5. On July 16, 1969, Iowa-native Peggy Whitson was born in Mount Ayr. Whitson would go on to become a NASA astronaut, spending a total of 665 days in space over 3 different missions, setting records for the most time spent in space by an American astronaut and the most spacewalks by a woman.