1. In 1806, Meriwether Lewis and William Clark returned to St. Louis from their historic expedition to the Pacific Coast, marking the end of the famous Lewis and Clark Expedition.

2. On September 23, 1861, Union troops under the command of General George B. McClellan drove Confederate forces out of Shepherdstown, West Virginia, in one of the earliest battles of the American Civil War.

3. In 1952, United States congressman, Henry M. Jackson, gave a speech in Seattle, Washington, where he proposed the creation of a national organization for intelligence gathering and analysis, which eventually became the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).

4. September 23, 1971, marked the opening of the world's first Starbucks coffee shop in Seattle’s Pike Place Market.

5. In 1995, the Boeing 777 made its first flight in Everett, Washington. The aircraft, which remains in production today, is one of the most successful and iconic commercial aircraft made by the Boeing Company.