1. In 1902, President Theodore Roosevelt visited Alaska to inspect the progress of the Alaskan Boundary Survey, which settled a dispute between the United States and Canada over the Alaska-British Columbia border.

2. In 1943, the Alaska Highway, an engineering marvel built during World War II to connect Alaska to the continental U.S., was officially opened to civilian traffic.

3. In 1955, the first commercial oil well in Alaska was drilled at Swanson River on the Kenai Peninsula, marking the beginning of the state's oil industry.

4. In 1962, the Alaska Constitution was signed in Fairbanks, paving the way for Alaska's statehood as the 49th state in the following year.

5. In 1983, Lt. Col. Guion S. Bluford Jr. became the first African American to enter space as part of the crew of the space shuttle Challenger, which launched from Cape Canaveral but eventually landed at Edwards Air Force Base in Alaska.