1. In 1778, American patriot and naval commander Captain Jeremiah O'Brien defeated the British warship HMS Dispatch in a battle off the coast of Maine. This marked one of the first American naval victories of the Revolutionary War and helped secure Maine's role in the fight for independence.

2. On June 28, 1854, the Portland Rum Riot erupted in Portland, Maine, as a group of citizens protested the enforcement of a new prohibition law that banned the sale of alcohol. The riot sparked a series of violent clashes between prohibitionists and drinkers and highlighted tensions between Maine's staunchly religious and largely secular communities.

3. Maine's first female governor, Janet T. Mills, was born on June 28, 1947, in Farmington, Maine. Mills served as governor from 2019 to 2023 and was instrumental in passing legislation to expand healthcare, combat climate change, and strengthen Maine's public education system.

4. In 1961, Maine's Razorback Mountain became the site of the world's first radio telescope dedicated to observing cosmic microwave background radiation, a key piece of evidence for the Big Bang theory of the universe's origins. The telescope, operated by the University of Maine, paved the way for decades of scientific research into the origins and structure of the universe.

5. On June 28, 2016, the Maine legislature passed a historic bill allowing residents to carry concealed firearms without a permit. The bill, which also eliminated a number of gun-free zones in the state, sparked controversy and debate over gun rights and public safety.