1. On August 17, 1859, delegates of the Oregon Constitutional Convention gathered in Salem to draft the state's first constitution. The document was completed on September 18, and Oregon was officially admitted to the Union on February 14, 1861.

2. In 1933, a destructive wildfire known as the Tillamook Burn began in the Coast Range of Oregon. The blaze, which ultimately burned over 300,000 acres, was ignited by a logging crew and was fueled by dry conditions and strong winds. The fire was finally brought under control on August 17, over a month after it had begun.

3. August 17, 1959, marked the opening of Portland International Airport. The airport was built on a large tract of land purchased by the Port of Portland in the early 1940s, and it initially served as a military airfield during World War II.

4. Activists held a rally on August 17, 1986, to protest the presence of a white supremacist group in Eugene, Oregon. The demonstration drew over 1,500 people and was organized in response to a series of violent incidents perpetrated by the group, which was known as the "Order."

5. On August 17, 2015, Oregon became the third state in the nation to legalize the sale and use of recreational marijuana. The law, which was approved by a voter referendum in 2014, allowed adults over the age of 21 to purchase up to one ounce of marijuana from licensed dispensaries.