Taking a trip back to late 19th century Iola is just a trolley ride away. All that is needed is an imagination, a packed lunch and a ticket on the Iola Area Chamber of Commerce’s Molly Trolley Tour and riders can be transported back in time to see the culture of historic Iola.
Saturday, the trolley took a two-part trip around town to the historic homes of Iola. The trips were split up by the homes located in the north and south parts of town.
Donna Houser, who has been conducting the guided tours on the trolley since 2007, began research for the historic homes tours by taking to the streets of Iola with pen, paper and camera.
“I know this town better than anyone and I am not even from here,” she said.
Houser would find houses more than 100 years old and spend hours researching as much of their history as she could.
Among the passengers on Saturday’s tour was Barbara Anderson who initiated the Molly Trolley Tours in 2007.
“If it weren’t for Barbara there wouldn’t be a trolley,” said Houser.
Anderson and some of the other Chamber members got word of a New Orleans trolley in Atchison, and $1,000 worth of donations later, they bought the trolley, Anderson said.
Driving the trolley was Mark Whitney, one of three regular drivers. Whitney is a school bus driver and has been driving the trolley since the tours began.
“Most people find drivers they can deal with, but Donna finds drivers who can deal with her,” Whitney said as the two exchange friendly words about how well they work together.
The first tour begins at the well-known boyhood home of General Funston, which is one of the oldest buildings in Iola along with the jail.
Along with the Funston home, passengers are able to visit the homes of other historical figures such as Dr. Garlinghouse, who was a progressive doctor in the early 1900s, and who Houser says was a “phenomenal physician.”
If people in Iola have noticed a similar structure pattern in the homes, they are onto something.
Houser explained that in the late 1800s, buying items from the Sears catalog was common. The catalogs included home patterns.
The house at 401 S. Jefferson was built before 1899 and is the “best example of a Sears house that has hardly been touched,” said Houser.
