65 Years Ago
September 1953
Iola Junior College, founded 30 years ago this fall, has developed into one of the finest two-year colleges in the Midwest. IJC is not actually 30 years old. The school was closed in the spring of 1943 and wasnt reopened until the fall of 1947 a period during which the draft and defense plants reduced the enrollment to near nothing. The college has a full-time faculty of 21 members.
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The present low level of the Neosho River has revealed four rather large holes on the south side of the municipal dam which might otherwise have gone undetected. Today a crew of city workers is filling the defects with rock and cement and also will repair a large crack in the east 50 feet of the dam. Clem Griffith, city engineer, says the holes developed because the concrete was improperly mixed or not properly tamped into concrete previously poured.
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Enrollment in the Iola schools continues to rise over last years figures. The total for all, including the junior college, now stands at 1,661, in comparison to 1,644 last year.
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The Rev. Herbert N. Hertel, pastor of St. Johns Catholic Church, will take up new duties as pastor at St. Marys in Parsons. He will be succeeded here by the Rev. Francis Donohue, pastor of the Catholic Church in Columbus for the past seven years. During his five years here, the St. Johns school was built, the church was redecorated and a new parish house was purchased.
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Over 250 men and women are expected to compete in five leagues as the bowling season shifts into high gear here starting Monday night.
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Duke Madell and Wayne Ellis, co-owners of the Iola Farm Store, announced the opening of their firms new anhydrous ammonia plant just east of the city on U.S. 54 today. Facilities at the new plant include a 30,000-gallon storage tank, equipment to unload tank cars, and several 1,000-gallon tanks mounted on trailers. Anhydrous ammonia is an 82 percent nitrogen fertilizer, the use of which has spread like wildfire since the end of World War II.
A look back in time
