Fresh from Monday’s ceremonial bill signing by Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly establishing the Lehigh Portland State Park, John Leahy told the Iola Kiwanis Club at its Tuesday meeting about the area’s history, the process that brought the state park to reality, and plans to develop the property into a premier fishing, hiking, camping, and recreation area for visitors.
Leahy, director of trails for Thrive Allen County who has been designated steward of the land to be developed as the state park, said the Iola Portland Cement Company was started in 1900 and sold to Lehigh Portland Cement Co. in 1917. It operated until 1971, when an Environmental Protection Agency regulation made its continuation too expensive and the business closed.
The local economic development organization, Iola Industries, bought the property with the intention to continue providing for business opportunities there, and some industries located at the site. However, a focus for the quarry, which until Lehigh’s departure was pumped dry to allow digging for rock and since had been filling with water, was to make it a public recreation area.
“It was very rocky and barren in the 1970s, and the land needed time to heal,” Leahy noted.
Iola Industries floated the idea to Kansas in 1977 for making it a state fishing lake, but that was turned back and Iola also declined a proposal to purchase the lake property. In 1982, a lease agreement was struck with the Iola Elks Club, which used it as a members-only fishing lake for the next 40 years. Then interest in hiking and biking trails systems took off in the 2000s, and the Prairie Spirit Trail from Ottawa to Riverside Park in Iola was completed in 2008, with Southwind Trail from Iola to Humboldt to follow in 2013.
LEHIGH Portland Trail began in 2014 and, with the help of grant funding and countless volunteers, more than 14 miles of trails north of the lake were opened to the public in 2016. Improvements to the trails have continued, with a mural and sculptures among the features, and the trails have grown statewide in reputation and are used in education, recreation and wellness, and recruitment efforts by interests throughout the Southeast Kansas region, Leahy said.
A subsequent offer for sale of the lake property by Iola Industries to Allen County also was declined a couple of years later, and in 2022, Iola Industries and Thrive decided to gift the lake and trails properties to the state, provided they be included in the state parks system. Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks officials took to the idea, the governor’s office got behind the effort, and the legislative process began this year. Leahy said community support was vital to ultimate passage of the bill designating Lehigh Portland State Park.
“It was a huge grassroots, personalized process,” he said. “It was really a strong message for our legislators.”
Kelly designated the establishment of the new state park in April, after the legislative process, and Monday’s ceremony was held as a celebration of the local effort, along with KDWP officials and legislators who helped bring it to reality. Transfer of ownership of the estimated $2 million property to Kansas is being finalized, Leahy said, and he shared plans for the estimated $5 million to $7 million development of the park in the months and years ahead. Fishing accommodations will be a priority, he said, and construction of floating cabins, campsites, amphitheater and visitor’s center are planned. Though a timeline for improvements, let alone opening, has not been determined and made public, work is progressing daily to get the new park in the state system as soon as possible.
To that end, Leahy mentioned the Lehigh Portland Trails will have another monthly Volunteer Work Day on Saturday, and anyone interested in helping — storm cleanup will be a focus this month — can do so between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. He is available for information, about the trails or the park property, at (620) 365-8128.
In addition to recreation opportunities for people and preservation of habitat for birds, plants and fish, Portland Lehigh State Park will have a significant economic impact on Allen County, southeast Kansas and the state. Leahy reiterated state officials’ pronouncements of the approximate $280 million annual revenue earned by the 28 Kansas state parks and the estimated $7.5 million local boost the newest addition is expected to provide annually for Allen County.
The Iola Kiwanis Club meets weekly, noon Tuesdays, at Allen Community College and welcomes interest in membership. Email [email protected] for more information.
