1. On October 24, 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed an executive order creating the Badlands National Monument in southwestern South Dakota. The monument preserves over 240,000 acres of rugged badlands terrain that is home to bison, pronghorn, bighorn sheep, coyotes, and other wildlife.

2. On October 24, 1972, a small twin-engine aircraft crashed in the Black Hills near Hill City, killing 24 people, including 16 members of a professional rugby team from England. The crash remains one of the worst aviation disasters in South Dakota history.

3. On October 24, 1889, South Dakota became the 40th state in the United States of America. The state was formed from the Dakota Territory, which was split into North Dakota and South Dakota on the same day.

4. On October 24, 1931, the iconic Mount Rushmore National Memorial in South Dakota was completed. The monument features the faces of four former U.S. presidents – George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, and Theodore Roosevelt carved into a granite cliff.

5. On October 24, 1964, Senator George McGovern of South Dakota was elected to the U.S. Senate. McGovern was a vocal opponent of the Vietnam War and later became the Democratic Party's nominee for president in 1972, losing to Republican incumbent Richard Nixon.