The Villisca Volcano, the student newspaper of Villisca High School, was an integral part of the life of VHS students for more than forty-five years. First published during the 1930-31 school year, the paper’s long reign officially ended in 1977. That year, the Villisca Review announced that the Volcano would no longer be printed separately—it would exist only through by-lined articles by Volcano staff within the news columns of the Villisca Review and Stanton Viking. A search of the Review archives at the Montgomery County Historical Society, however, shows that at least three more issues of the Volcano were included within the Review, one in December 1977 and two in the early part of 1978. Then there were no more.

Linda Artlip and Barbara Kemery, VHS Class of 1966, have created and are maintaining this website. This project grew from our primary project of learning about the history of the Villisca Community School District and its predecessors. We were both students in the junior journalism class taught by Miss Florence Burrish, and we were members of the Volcano staff the following year as seniors.  The unique perspective and the deteriorating condition of many of the newspapers are the primary reasons we are preserving the Volcano on this website.