Since settlers first arrived in the mid-1800s, the townships of Millington and Arbela have developed into strong communities with deep cultural roots. This informative book documents the Millington-Arbela area's growth and progress over the course of 150 years, exploring founding families, village growth, religion, business, and education through rare archival photographs and postcards. In celebration of the region's sesquicentennial anniversary, the Millington-Arbela Historical Society takes readers on a detailed visual tour of the area's rich history, revealing the remarkable people, places, and events that have shaped the townships as they are known today.

'The House' tells a story of New Zealand's House of Representatives History from 1854 to 2004. Throughout its 150 years, the House of Representatives has responded to accommodate dramatic shifts in political patterns. Its history tells us much about the changing relationship between the people of New Zealand and its political institutions.

In June 1854 the Grand Excursion celebrated in festive style the completion of the Chicago and Rock Island Railroad to the Mississippi River. Hundreds of dignitaries including newspaper editors and other journalists; politicians; academics, writers and artists; business and industry leaders; and railroad officials were among those who traveled by rail from Chicago to Rock Island, Illinois, then by steamboat to St. Paul in Minnesota Territory. The travelers were shown a region undergoing rapid settlement by Europeans—an area of great natural beauty offering many promises for additional development. One hundred and fifty years later, the thirteen essays in this volume examine the activities and environments of the 1854 Grand Excursion and place them in the context of an evolving regional identity for the Upper Mississippi River Valley based on the economy, culture, geography, and history of the area. In a series of “excursions,” the contributors explore the building of the Chicago and Rock Island Railroad, eastern newspaper accounts of the 1854 excursion, steamboating, the area’s pictorial landscape, passenger trains along the scenic river, the genesis and features of river towns, the control of the river for navigation, the development of preserves, parks, and recreation areas, the lumber industry, and commercial fishing. The book concludes by examining the resurgence of river-oriented development, as river towns are once again embracing the Mississippi. Generously illustrated with maps, engravings, ephemera, and historic and present-day photographs, Grand Excursions on the Upper Mississippi River will be of interest to tourists and residents of the area, river aficionados, railroad and steamboat history buffs, as well as academics interested in the history, geography, and regional development of the area.