1. On November 6, 1889, South Dakota was admitted to the Union as the 40th state. The state's name comes from the Lakota and Dakota Sioux tribes, which inhabited the region prior to European settlement.

2. On November 6, 1980, the Mount Rushmore National Memorial was closed due to a labor strike by the National Park Service employees. The strike lasted for three months and resulted in the cancelation of several events, including the annual lighting ceremony.

3. In 1918, South Dakota Governor Peter Norbeck signed a bill establishing the state highway system, which laid the foundation for the state's modern transportation infrastructure. November 6 marks the anniversary of the bill's passage.

4. In 1917, South Dakotan Ernest Lawrence invented the cyclotron, a particle accelerator used to study atomic particles. He went on to win the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1939 for his contributions to the field.

5. On November 6, 1934, South Dakota native and World War I hero John Joseph Pershing was awarded the rank of full general, the highest rank in the United States Army. Pershing's military career spanned four decades and included leadership roles in both World War I and the Philippine-American War.