If I could go back in time, I’d choose 1910. IF I could go forward in time, I’d choose no further than Nov. 5, because then I’d know the outcome of the Nov. 4 elections and what they bode for Iola’s future. AS GOOD as 100 years ago must have been for Iola, I wouldn’t trade it for the possibilities of what tomorrow may mean for our children.
Iola had swelled to a population of 11,000. Electric streetcars cling-clanged across town. We had seven hotels and an abundance of stores and restaurants.
We even had a baseball team, “The Iola Gasbags,” and in 1911, President William Howard Taft visited.
The driving economic engine was the discovery of natural gas wells that were said to never run dry.
In less than 10 years, we learned there was no such thing as a limitless supply. And when the industry went bust so too did the zinc smelters, brick companies and numerous other offshoot industries. Soon to follow was much of Iola’s commerce.
The experience taught us there’s no silver bullet to a town’s success other than dogged determination to remain a vital player.
Ever since those gas boom days, we’ve had industries come and go, including Pet Milk, Sifers Candy, Lehigh Portland Cement, IMP Boats and Haldex. To the credit of city leaders Iola remains an attractive place to do business by evidence of Gates Corporation, Russell Stover Candies, and myriad smaller industries including Advantage Computers, Precision International, Sonic Equipment and Kneisley Manufacturing and Tramec.
In 2010, voters approved a sales tax initiative to build a new hospital. The site of the hospital was thought to be a pretty sure thing at the time of the vote, but in the end a different site was selected.
For anyone who has been there as a patient or who works there, there’s no comparison to the old. The new hospital has made a world of difference to how health care is delivered, employees’ attitudes, the experience by patients, and the possibilities for the future.
The hospital is among the first things city leaders show to impress prospective newcomers. It illustrates how we are planning for a prosperous future and expect nothing less.
The vote for the new hospital in 2010 did not hinge on its location. Nor should the vote for whether Iola should have new schools. A hospital’s mission is to provide the best care it can for its patients. Likewise, a school district’s mission is to provide the best education it can for its students. Where the school is located should be a far second when deciding how to vote.
Surely, Iola’s heyday wasn’t 100 years ago
