Rushville

Rushville which was located in Kellogg Township had it's beginning as a stage coach stop. The platted town was laid out by Jesse and Jane Young on March 24, 1857 on the Northeast Quarter of the Northeast Quarter in Sec. 9-Township 80 Range 18. It was surveyed by Willie P. Cole, the deed was acknowledged before G.W. Carter, a Notary Public on July 11, 1857 and was recorded on August 12, 1857.

The only store that ever existed was operated by a family named Whitcomb. The post office was located in the store.

The Rushville Methodist Episcopal Church was organized on April 25, 1855. A church building was erected in 1887. Previous to this, worship for the M.E. Congregation was held in the school building which stood nearby. A foreign missionary society was formed in 1890. The church continued its Christian witness in the community until the membership began to dwindle and the church closed with the members joining the Kellogg M.E. Church and other churches. The building was torn down around 1960.

Much social life of the community centered around the church and school. Church functions, Sunday school class parties, picnics, box suppers, spelling bees and literary programs at the school provided the neighborhood's social life.

There were several houses located both east and west of the church and school. In them and on nearby farmsteads lived the Owens, Lee, Morris, Adams, Whitcomb, Wilson, and Callison families along with others.

Two brothers, John L. Morris and Stephen Morris of Newcomerstown, Ohio came to Iowa and settled around Rushville in 1860. John L. Morris and his wife, Rachel bought 145 acres of land about a mile west and north of Rushville on June 5, 1865. This farm has remained in the Morris family and was most recently occupied by the late William S. Morris.

The Rushville school closed around 1957 when schools were consolidated and pupils were bussed to Kellogg School. It was later torn down. Both the church and school were located on the Callison Farm, now owned by Jerry Morris, a great grandson of John L. Morris.

When the railroad came Rushville was by-passed and the road was built 2 miles south of town so the decline of the town began and Rushville gradually disappeared.

Rushville has been gone for over 60 years and scarcely a trace is left to give evidence that it ever existed. A well kept cemetery and one or two houses nearby is all that is left.

Kellogg Historical Society - Vol.III - 1983