60 Years Ago
What probably is to be Iola’s biggest track meet of all time will be April 26. An Iola Junior College promotion, the Iola Invitational Meet will host six Class AA or A schools and eight Class BB or B schools expected. Leo H. Burger, Hugh Haire, Dale Stiles, T. C. Brown are involved.
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Mary Black, district president of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union, will be in Gas City for an all-day meeting and covered dish luncheon at the home of Mable Wasmond and her sister, Lucy Titus. This is Youth Temperance Education Week, proclaimed by Gov. Docking. There will be panel discussions on creating Christian living and character building.
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First Methodist Church, Iola’s largest church and the one with the longest continuous existence, is observing its 100th birthday. The church was formally organized May 1, 1860 by R.P. Bukey, a young man “on trial,” as all beginning Methodist ministers are considered to be. Although he is credited with organizing the local congregation, he was not the first Methodist to preach in Iola. During the town’s first year, the Rev. Hawley conducted services in the home of Mr. and Mrs. J.F. Colborn. According to old records a Baptist Church and a Christian Church were organized in Iola during 1859 but ceased to exist during the Civil War and the drought of the late 1860s.
