In 2010 the Linden Presbyterian Church will celebrate the 150th Anniversary

Some interesting things happened in 1860:

• U. S. population: 31,443,321

• The Pony Express completes its inaugural delivery, bringing mail over the 1,966 miles from St. Louis to Sacramento in 11 days. Organized by William H. Russell and Alexander Majors, the service depends on a string of 119 stations, about 12 miles apart, where the young riders -- "skinny, expert . . . willing to risk death daily" -- exchange horses to keep advancing at top speed.

• Lincoln is elected President, pledging to pass homestead legislation and to oppose the spread of slavery.

• Severe drought leads to an exodus of 30,000 settlers from Kansas.

• St. Thomas Infirmary, the first nursing school based on the ideas of Florence Nightingale, is opened in England.

• U.S. presidential election: Abraham Lincoln beats John C. Breckinridge, Stephen A. Douglas, and John Bell and is elected as the 16th President of the United States, the first Republican to hold that office.

• Charles Dickens publishes the first installment of Great Expectations in his magazine All the Year Round.

• South Carolina becomes the first state to secede from the United States Union.

• US Secret Service created

• 1st aerial photo taken in US (from a balloon), Boston

• Annie Oakley, American west show performer is born