The first church society established in Villisca was the Methodist church organized in 1867. In 1870 they built a frame church at a cost of $3000.00. A fine structure replaced it in 1896 at a cost of $13,500.00.  This building burned in November 1938 and a beautiful church was soon built at the same location. The Baptist church was organized in 1869. Their $1800.00 frame building was replaced in 1896 by a fine brick structure which was unused for a few years prior to its razing in 1953.  The Presbyterian church was organized in 1871 with thirteen members. A brick edifice was erected in 1874 at a cost of $4,000.00. About twenty years later the present building was erected.  A Catholic church was organized in 1875 and a frame church was built the same year southwest of the square. For many years Villisca was without a Catholic church until the erection of the present one on High street in 1947.  The Christian church had a church and services from 1895 until 1938 when their church building was sold and removed.  A Lutheran church was erected in 1939.  The Advent Christian church was built in the fall of 1885. B. Forrester was the first minister. Several tent meetings preceded the building of the church.

    No history of a county should be written without mentioning of those who were loyal to the call of their country's needs.  As each need arose, from the Civil War to the present defense against Communism, the young men from Villisca and surrounding East township have done their full share to defend the homes and the rights that our forefathers so nobly established for us their descendants.

   The population of Villisca has fluctuated.  It has never made a big gain -- perhaps due to the lack of large industries. In 1905 there were about 2225 residents but the 1950 population is 1838.  East township (formerly Jackson) is the home of many prosperous farmers, some of whom bear the names of some of our earliest settlers.

O. S. Donoho First child born in Douglas Twp.

An Early Foot Race

   It is related that on the day that General Lane, of Kansas spoke at Sciola, in 1856, there was a notable foot race. Lane's men boasted that they had a man who could outrun any man in the states.  The Montgomery county men didn't propose to be bluffed with any such chaff as that; they offered to furnish a man who would beat the brag runner in a race 100 yards, for $10. The money was soon raised, the men formed all along on each side.  The men had run only a few yards when a dog jumped in before them and kept running ahead right in their way; but the man finally jumped clear over the dog while it was putting in its best licks, and reached the goal by eight feet ahead of the other "fast man" -- and took the purse.  The Lane men didn't brag much after that.

The Life of An Early Doctor

   Dr. Malcom Ney McNaughton came to Villisca in 1870 and began the practice of medicine.  In those early days the highways were poor, or non-existent.  His family recall that his practice extended from Grant to Shenandoah, and often he would not sleep for forty-eight hours at the time, and was not able to return to his home for a week at a time.

   He kept three teams, and a Kentucky bred saddle horse named Rambler.  This horse was noted because he could trot from Villisca to Sciola. The people of the country-side could recognize the gait of his horse as the passed in the night.

   As an example of the terrible condition of the roads, one night as he was driving his team, one of the horses sank in a mud-hole so deep that it was almost buried. He alighted from the buggy and walked to the nearest farm house for help.  The farmer and his sons helped him extricate the horse by filling the hole with hay.

   There were no telephones and people came for the doctor on horse back.  The sleep of the doctor and his family was broken frequently by the clatter of galloping hoofs and the urgent cry of "Hey! Doc".

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For some time during the Civil War, there was not a doctor or a lawyer in the whole county.

	Dr. McNaughton in his Buggy (left corner by the fence)