In 1965, Ballou Stub Heigele, pictured above, took over his familys harness, leather and upholstery shop in the 200 block of South Street.
Four generations of the Heigele family ran the business that was begun in 1904 by Stubs grandfather, Phillip.
As a side note, Stubs father, Ballou P. Heigele, brought Scouting to Iola even before the Boy Scouts of America was formed as an official organization in 1910.
In 1909, Ballou P. Heigele was a physical education director of the YMCA in Monmouth, Ill., where he became interested in the movement that originated in England. That year, using a British manual, Heigele organized a scout troop in Monmouth.
Heigele returned to Iola in 1912 as the phys ed director of its YMCA. He also organized Iolas first Scouting chapter in association with the Methodist Church and served as Scoutmaster for many years.
Ballou P. Heigele died in 1965, at age 80, in Iola.
Stub ran the shop for another 20 years before his son, Randy, joined him.
Randy passed away in 2002 from cancer. Stub died in 2014 at age 93.
Today, Mike McGie, a local craftsman, runs the upholstery shop.
