Ask most Iolans about Tom Bowlus, and they’ll point to his most visible gift to the community: The Bowlus Fine Arts and Cultural Center.
Fewer know of the Bowlus family’s fingerprints on Iola’s history that date back to the town’s infancy.
Larry Manes, a retired Allen Community College instructor and avid history buff, shared nuggets Tuesday about Thomas Bowlus — Tom, to those who knew him — his father’s influence, and finally, the fine arts mecca named after the long-time banker that remains a jewel generations later.
The presentation was part of the Allen County Historical Society’s winter meeting, held appropriately enough, in the Creitz Recital Hall in the lower level of the Bowlus.
Larry Manes told the history of the Bowlus Fine Arts Center at Tuesday night’s meeting of the Allen County Historical Society.
THE TRAIN’S A COMIN’….
To understand Tom Bowlus, one needs to reach 150 years to when George Bowlus, his father, arrived in Iola in 1868 at age 27. George came from an affluent family in Maryland. His grandfather, also named George, was a judge.
But post-Civil War migration was talking folks of all stripes westward, and George Bowlus set out for Kansas.
Perhaps with some financial backing, George Bowlus made a niche for himself in southeast Kansas by taking up real estate.
His foresight led to early success. He was instrumental in helping rail companies acquire land to build a rail corridor through Allen County, and the heart of Iola. Rather than deal with the high volume of transactions necessary to build thousands of miles of track, the rail companies instead turned to local agents, such as Bowlus.
“As time went by, George became more and more adept at it, and he accumulated not only money, but also real estate,” Manes said.
Those holdings paid off in spades a short while later when natural gas was discovered, bringing thousands of workers to Iola, Gas, LaHarpe and elsewhere.
Soon to follow were brick makers, cement plants and zinc smelters in search of a steady supply of fuel — and land.
“If you got the land, you got the gas it held for free,” Manes noted.
Largely neglected farmland purchased at rock-bottom prices was suddenly quite valuable to industrial companies.
