Here's The Most Important Historical Event In Each State

NEW YORK, NY — America is relatively young compared to other nations at just 242 years old, but that doesn’t mean it’s short on historical contributions. And just as the U.S. has played a key role in shaping the world, each individual state has helped shape America into what is today.

While Massachusetts and Pennsylvania receive much — or most — of the recognition for their contributions to America’s founding, that doesn’t mean all the others have been sitting idle. The website 24/7 Wall St., a Delaware-based company that covers financial news and offers opinions, looked over state historical information, research sources and media reports of major events throughout U.S. history to come up with what it calls the “most important” event for each state. Such events include disasters — due to Mother Nature or mankind — important legislation and scientific breakthroughs, among others.

Tell us: What local and state events were significant in the history of your state. Share what you think in the comments.

Major events you may recognize from around the country include the opening of Grand Canyon National Park in 1919 in Arizona, the desegregation of schools in Little Rock, Arkansas, in 1957 and the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in New York City. Others include the 1980 Mount St. Helens eruption in Washington state, John Brown’s Raid on Harper’s Ferry in West Virginia in 1859 and the establishment of Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming in 1872.

“Many of the events on our list are tragic, including the forced removal of Native Americans from their lands — the Trail of Tears in the South — as well as attacks from domestic and foreign terrorists,” the report says.

“In the case of several states, fighting between white settlers and Native Americans ranked as the most important historical event. The treatment of indigenous people shaped America in many ways, and often occurred in frontier states.”

Some events technically happened before the area was formally established as a state, but those events were still considered due to their prominence, such as the founding of the Jamestown settlement in present-day Virginia. Also of note, the site ignored events that happened in a certain state, but could’ve happened anywhere else and had the same impact, such as an international treaty signing.

To see the full list of events that shaped the nation, with pictures, to boot, click here.

Photo credit: Scott Olson/Getty Images