1. On September 24, 1859, John Brown and a group of abolitionists seized the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia, in the hopes of starting a slave uprising. Brown had spent time in Kansas during the Bleeding Kansas conflict, which was a precursor to the Civil War.

2. The State of Kansas was officially admitted to the Union as the 34th state on September 24, 1861. Kansas had been a territory since 1854, and its residents had long fought for statehood.

3. Dr. James Naismith, who famously invented the game of basketball, moved to Lawrence, Kansas, in 1898 to become the University of Kansas's first basketball coach. On September 24, 1898, his team played its first-ever game, defeating a team from Kansas City YMCA by a score of 16-6.

4. On September 24, 1908, construction began on the first section of the Kansas State Highway System. Known as the Meridian Road, the highway was an important north-south route that connected Oklahoma to Nebraska.

5. The Wichita State University football team suffered a tragic loss on September 24, 1970, when a plane carrying the team crashed on the way to a game in Utah. Thirty-one people were killed in the crash, including 14 players and several coaches. The tragedy is still remembered as one of the worst disasters in college sports history.