If you’ve ever thought that Iola has a preponderance of bright yellow forsythia bushes, you may be right.
In 1957, a campaign to make Iola the Forsythia City of southeastern Kansas was launched by the Dirt Diggers Club. The club sold, at cost, 100 forsythia plants.
The next year, they sold 200 such plants.
And in 1960 when the lawn around the new courthouse took shape, 41 forsythias were planted.
I came across these tidbits while editing the Register’s upcoming “Chronicles of Allen County, 1946-2000.” Such “facts” cause me to look at the bright yellow bushes with a newborn appreciation.
In 1965, Dutch elm disease took Iola by storm. Bark beetles spread the deadly fungus among the thousands of stately trees that lined Iola streets.
In their efforts to curb the spread of the disease, Iola crews in 1966 sprayed DDT on the trees “every warm day since the beginning of the year,” Jim Wilson, city superintendent, was quoted as saying. (We now know that was not the wisest course of action. The potent pesticide, now banned, not only killed the beetles, but also other living things.)
In an effort to reforest the town, garden clubs launched tree sales. The most popular types were silver maple, pin oak, sweet gum, sugar maple and flowering crab apple.
MOVING ON into the 1970s, I learned that the wood seats in the mezzanine of the Recreation Community Building came from the old Memorial Hall when it was demolished in 1970s. That was a big deal. Instead of sitting on concrete risers, there were real chairs — with backs.
In reading over the past 60 years of Allen County happenings, I’ve learned that while gifts are appreciated, the rewards are greater when earned.
In 1946, local benefactor Thomas H. Bowlus donated $50,000 toward the construction of a new hospital. The Sisters of St. Johns, who operated the current hospital at the time, matched his gift, knowing the community needed a more modern facility.
The remaining amount needed, another $100,000, was to be raised by the community at large.
Committees were formed and members worked at raising the money, but the drive bogged down and lost momentum. Discouraged by the lack of response, the committee called off the drive, returned the money they had collected and disbanded.
Meanwhile, the need for a larger and more modern hospital continued.
Then two things happened; with the help of Judge Spencer Gard the hospital secured federal funding because it qualified as a municipal entity, and second, the local fund-raising drive became an all-county project.
