January 4, 1896: Utah Is Admitted As the 45th State

January 4, 1896: Utah is admitted to the Union as the 45th State.

Utah was in the Rocky Mountains. It had been acquired as part of the Mexican Cessation of 1848, after the Mexican-American War. The year before, Brigham Young led the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints there. As a result, it has become known for being home to the Church, a.k.a. the Mormons.

The Mormons have led to Utah having traditionally conservative politics. The State's highest-ranking politician was George H. Dern, who was President Franklin D. Roosevelt's 1st Secretary of War. But the State hasn't voted for a Democratic nominee for President since 1964.

Salt Lake City is the State's capital, and easily its largest city, home to the NBA's Utah Jazz and Major League Soccer's Real Salt Lake. It is also home to the University of Utah. Utah State University is in Logan, and Brigham Young University is in Provo.

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January 4, 1896 was a Saturday. Everett McKinley Dirksen was born. He became a longtime U.S. Senator from Illinois and Minority Leader from 1959 until his death in 1969.

Baseball was out of season. Football season had just ended. Basketball barely existed. There was 1 hockey game of note: The Ottawa Hockey Club, forerunners of the original Ottawa Senators, beat the Montreal Shamrocks, 2-1 at the Rideau Rink in Ottawa.

In English soccer, Woolwich Arsenal, which would evolve into the North London team I would one day support, beat Loughborough F.C., of Leicestershire in the West Midlands, 5-0 at the Manor Ground in Plumstead, then in Kent, now in South-East London.