1. In 1660, the Connecticut General Assembly passed a law prohibiting the sale of alcohol to Native Americans.

2. In 1765, Yale University held its first commencement ceremony in New Haven, Connecticut.

3. In 1839, the first horse-drawn passenger railway in the United States began service between New Haven and Hartford, Connecticut.

4. In 1915, a German U-boat sank the British ocean liner Lusitania off the coast of Ireland. Several Connecticut residents were among the more than 1,100 passengers who lost their lives in the attack.

5. In 1962, American astronaut Alan Shepard became the first American in space aboard the Freedom 7 spacecraft. Shepard was born in Derry, New Hampshire, but moved to East Derry, Connecticut as a child and attended school in the state.