Welcome to Villisca.com - Villisca is a small, rural community nestled in the hills of southwest Iowa. We are a community of people with diverse interests and backgrounds; a community of individualists; and certainly a community with a unique history. We have a story to tell and we hope as you visit the various pages on this website, you will get to know us better and learn more about making this a place to call home, to grow a business, to visit.

Our souvenir t-shirts with the Villisca - there's only one logo will be here Friday. Save one in your size by e-mailing us at ragbrai@villisca.com. We have sm and med. in Youth Sizes and small, med. lg., x-lg, xx-lg in adult sizes. The shirts are white. Check back here on Monday. Hopefully by that time we will have our online store up and you can order online. We will also have for sale the DVD of Villisca - living with a mystery and "Niobrara Crossing.", a novel by a former VHS coach George McVicker,

photo by Mike Freeman
available for purchase - send inquiries to mkfreeman@netins.net

Planning is underway for Villisca hosting the Ragbrai riders

The next community meeting is April 20, 2009.

Sandy Wainwright-Rossander and Roxanna Sieber accepted the role of co-chairmen for the Ragbrai committee. They emphasized that they would be bringing together and coordinating the events of the day but that it would take the entire Villisca community stepping up to the plate to make the day successful.

At the minimum, committees for the event will include Welcome, Food, Beautifucation, Communication (promotion) Entertainment, Medical support, fundraising and Law Enforcement. Judy and Delbert Schroeder stepped up to the plate to chair the committee for coordinating the food booths. They did this in the 1992 Ragbrai event and have detailed records of what was done and how it was done. Chairmen are needed for the remaining committees.

Those who are interested in participating either by serving on a committee or by having a food booth or providing entertainment should send their contact information to ragbrai@villisca.com or by contacting Sandy Wainwright-Rossander, Roxanna Sieber or the Schroeders. There were questions raised about financing this event - including the cost of porta potties and advertising. There will be a small charge for having a food booth. There may have to be a fundraiser to raise additional funds.

Joel Herzberg Family Fun Day in Villisca

Villisca is planning a community wide Joel Herzberg Family Fun Day to raise funds for the Joel Herzberg family. Joel is the 18 year old son of Jim and Jan Herzberg of Villisca and suffered a brain injury in a skiing accident on January 2. He is making great progress but remains hospitalized in Omaha, Nebraska. The Villisca community and the Herzberg family are grateful for the kindness that has been shown from area schools and communities. Not only his immediate family has shown support, but also his community and Corner Conference “families”. It is wonderful to see all of Southwest Iowa pull together and show support for Joel. The Herzberg family has agreed to a one-time fundraising event in hopes that all organizations that want to be involved can all work together. The Joel Herzberg Family Fun Day will be held April 11, 2009. This is Easter weekend and we hope lots of families will get involved in the many planned activities. Tentative events include a walk/run, basketball tournament for all ages, shooting contest, pie/cake auction, game rooms, prizes, food, auction, entertainment and evening meal. Other events are in the planning stages. Any individual, group, organization or business wanting to donate food, auction items, or volunteer to work, please contact one of the following committee members: Shona and Clint Means 826-2526; Dawnette and Mark Herzberg 785-3239; Diane and Bill Shipley 785-3260; Mark Focht 829-2460; Becky and Vince Dolch 826-8161; Darci and Jason Poston 826-3120; Jodi and Steve Haer 826-9512; or Carolyn and Jerry Fisher 826-3122. Donated items for the auction may be taken to City Hall in Villisca. If you are unable to attend but would like to show your support, checks may be mailed to Joel Herzberg Benefit Fund, % Bank Iowa, 300 South 3rd Avenue, P.O. Box 46, Villisca, Iowa 50864. More details will follow at a later date.

VILLISCA is a HORIZONS community

What does that mean? It means that Villisca is a part of a program that helps motivate and train community members to look at their community with a new perspective and to identify ways to help Villisca thrive.

" Horizons explores perceptions about and sources of poverty; it isn't always just about lack of money.
" Horizons builds stronger community leadership; leadership is as important as good roads, great schools and clean water.
" Horizons embraces the entire community; everyone is needed and everyone has something to contribute. For communities to thrive, everyone must thrive.

Villisca has gone through Phase I of Horizons - Action Study Groups.

This is your invitation to be a part of Phase II. In January Villisca will be entering Phase II which involves leadership development through the LeadershipPlenty® program, a nationally recognized program from Pew Partnership for Civic Change. It is designed to equip citizens with skills like effective communication, group dynamics and effective group participation, conflict management, and partnership building.

LeadershipPlenty® is about Change - Leadership at its core is about change-within individuals, within organizations, and within communities. The program was created with the idea that many talented and resourceful citizen leaders are needed to build and maintain a thriving community. It focuses on bringing those talents and resources to the table.

LeadershipPlenty® operates on two premises that directly apply to the Horizons program.
1. It is about the plenty of talent in communities that often goes unused or unasked. There is no doubt that there are many Villiscans who have much to contribute but for one reason or another, those talents are not being recognized or used.
2. It is about the "we" not the "me." While the skills introduced in LeadershipPlenty® will help in every phase of life - family, work, and community - they are intended primarily to help Villiscans to work better together for the common good. They are practical and applicable today and down the road.

LeadershipPlenty® training is designed for a broad range of citizens:
" Emerging leaders who want to learn new skills in order to address community issues and issues within the groups they currently are a part of
" Community residents who have not yet been asked to help
" Young people who want to work with others to effect change
" Established leaders who want to work together for common purposes

We know there is no lack of leadership in Villisca. - there are plenty of people with untapped talents that can make our community stronger.

Participation in Phase II asks a commitment of individuals to attend nine training sessions of 3 to 4 hours over a three month period. Villisca needs 30 people to commit to this program. Will you be one of them? To register contact Kerin Wright at City Hall. For more information contact Kerin Wright at 826-2282, Bonnie Berggren at 785-3354 or Roxanna Sieber at rtsieber@netins.net - 826-7812. Learn more about Horizons at www.extension.iastate.edu/horizons/. Learn more about LeadershipPlenty® at www.pew-partnership.org/lpinstitute.

The ARMORY - We are just $6000 from the having the funds for a study on the restoration and renovation of the Armory. Will you contribute $10 or $25 toward this project? click here to go to the history page to learn about the vision and the study.

Come on home to Villisca

Montgomery County Memorial Hospital is seeking a doctor for their Internal Medicine clinic. Contact the HR department at 712-623-7000 for detail. Read more on the Villisca blog - www.villisca.typepad.com

There are a several business locations available for sale in Villisca. Contact Dick or Gloria Kline at Crawford Real Estate or Bill Jacobs at Century 21 for more information.

Small business assistance available from the Rural Development Resource Center, 712-623-5521 or info@enterprisingiowans.com

click here to link to the video of The Homecoming - when you get on the page - scroll down to the Video produced by Michael Barnes, Homecoming Revisited. This is the 8 mm film recently found by Leyton Croxdale that records the photographing of the Pulitzer Prize Photo.

VAFA introduces the Villisca Hall of Fame
click here for details

Visit the Villisca blog at www.villisca.typepad.com - Things are happening here in Villisca and this is one of the ways we can keep you up to date. We've also established a "Group" for Villisca Alumni and Friends" on Facebook.

Some clean-up and clearing of the track at the football field was done on Sunday, September 22 to prepare the track for some renovation. Thanks to the volunteers who gave up their Sunday morning and those who offered their machinery to get the job done. More pictures on the Education page

Villisca is on Hwy 71, 4 miles south of Hwy 34. Surrounding communities include Stanton, Red Oak, Clarinda and Corning. It is about an hour from Omaha and 1 1/2 to 2 hours from Des Moines and Kansas City allowing residents to enjoy the joys of rural life and yet have access to the cultural, entertainment and shopping advantages of city life.

On the Family Album Page

Obituaries, Births, Engagements
Marriages, Anniversaries
Milestone Birthdays
Villisca Alumni
by the decades
30s, 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s, 2000s

This quote is attributed to Bill Gates - in considering Villisca economic development - it has a story in it "We always overestimate the change that will occur in the next two years and underestimate the change that will occur in the next ten. Don't let yourself be lulled into inaction." ~~Bill Gates

Villisca Historical Society, Inc. receives 501(c)3 designation

Here is our Villisca version of the classic memory game, Concentration. Click on the box above. The cards begin face down. Click on one to turn it over. Try to find a second card that matches the first. If the second does not match, both cards return to a face down position. If they do match, the cards are removed to reveal part of the background image.

If your computer is not java enabled, you will not be able to play this game.

To the right is a note received by e-mail from the Rundles. It has been no easy task to get some technical difficulties resolved so we could get the new site up and running. We do want to thank Kelly and Tammy for all their efforts to get this done.

Be sure to see the news from Fourthwall Films at villiscamovie.com They have had their own new news to share in the last couple weeks. They will be going nationwide with sales around October 20 so look for it at your local store.

Villisca: Living With a Mystery can also be rented online through thru Netflix. And, in the midwest, it can be rented at Family Video stores and some independents so look for it there as well.

A note from the Rundles:

"Congratulations on a great job on the villisca.com website. We are VERY HAPPY that villisca.com will be used to promote the City of Villisca, and the Chamber of Commerce. It is as it should be.

"We launched villisca.com in the late 90s to make the public aware of our documentary "Villisca: Living with a Mystery". From the beginning, we had it in the back of our minds that once the documentary was finished, we would donate the domain to the town. The timing could not be more perfect!

"This has been a fulfilling week indeed: The news of plans for Heritage Days 2007, the official establishment of the Villisca Historical Society, Inc. (we launched the Villisca Historical Society's website www.villiscahistory.org over the weekend, and it will continue to add content in the coming weeks), and the City's official website villisca.com is now officially transferred. Villisca holds a special place in our hearts, and seeing villisca.com's NEW content pleases us more than you could know.

"The website looks great, and the town should be very proud of the work you have done. We will raise a glass of wine to you, the City, the Chamber, and the Villisca Historical Society tonight! Wonderful things are taking place, and we are happy to have played a part in some small way.

"Just wanted to send our happy congrats to all of you!

~~Kelly and Tammy Rundle"