The last push to complete the “Chronicles of Allen County, 1946-2000,” a compendium of accounts published in The Iola Register, is underway.
The Chronicles goes to press in mid-May with expected delivery six weeks hence.
Pictures are an integral part of the upcoming book and many residents from Iola and surrounding communities have been good to peruse their photograph albums and carousels of slides to contribute photos that depict the years from after World War II up to the turn of the 21st Century.
Examples of contributions are frequently run in the Register as well as posted on its “Chronicles of Allen County” Facebook page.
Although the book won’t go to press until spring, its layout begins in February. With that in mind, a deadline for submitted photos will be enforced in an incremental manner. Photos from 1946 to 1960 will be accepted up until Feb. 1; those from 1960 to 1970 up until Feb. 18; from 1970 to 1980 up until March 1; from 1980 to 1990 up until March 18, and from 1990 to 2000 up until March 30.
We are especially eager to check out photos from specific noteworthy events in Iola and Allen County, such as the 1951 flood, those raucous raft races in the 1970s, the infamous “inland hurricane” of 1986 and the courthouse square fire in 1990.
THE PROJECT was the passion of the late Emerson Lynn Jr., publisher of the Register from 1966 to 2000, and his wife, Mickey, and compliments their two-volume Annals of Allen County, 1868-1945.
Research includes going through issues of The Register dating back to the conclusion of World War II up to the turn of the 21st Century.
From this reporter’s perspective, the work has given her a greater appreciation of Allen County and not only the strides it has made but also the setbacks it has faced.
Iola’s population in 1951 was 6,739 according to the 1950 Census. Today, we’re 1,000 fewer, proving that as time progresses the challenge to be progressive weighs heavily. If not, small towns are destined to become shadows of their former selves.
Reading our history has helped me understand that it takes a constant concerted and coordinated effort by many people to take a community forward. Sometimes, though, that word “progress” can be seen as a dirty word.
I wasn’t around in 1949, but I imagine there was an outcry when it became known the stately Richards house as well as neighboring homes were to come down to make way for the first Allen County Hospital at the corner of South First and Madison Avenue. William H. Richards, one of Iola’s pioneers who first came here in 1865, built the stately three-story home in the late 1890s and for many years it was a source of pride of Iolans. Richards was engaged in several business ventures, including a wholesale grocery and at one time owned four buildings on the square.
Over time the house traded hands several times and was last used as a mortuary by J.E. Releford and son before Thomas H. Bowlus, president of Allen County State bank, purchased the home and then gifted it to the county for use as the site of the new hospital.
Along with tearing down multiple homes, roads were rerouted to accommodate the new hospital, which broke ground in June 1950 and was dedicated in July 1952.
Sixty years later the county built a new hospital on the outskirts of town and the site at Madison and First Streets is being repurposed for apartments, townhomes and a grocery store.
IN READING recent history I’ve come to a better understanding of why certain things have transpired.
