Residents of Iola certainly have some excellent roads to get to other places. US 54 runs through town and intersects US 169, running to points North and South, just East of town.

As 1859 dawned, some settlers in Kansas, desiring to relocate the Allen county seat, picked a new site and named it Iola. The town was laid out including a four-block square downtown. One year later two general stores moved from Cofachique to Iola and soon other stores followed. After many years of slow growth; giant natural gas pools were discovered in the area and in nine years, from 1895 to 1904, the population of Iola increased from just over 1,500 to over 11,000. Just like some other natural resources the natural gas began to run out and many of the town's industries left town. In subsequent years other industries were attracted to the city and the population is now at about 5,700. The Old Allen County Jail, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, was still being used until about 1958. This two story structure housed prisoners on the first floor and the jailer and his family on the second. You can visit both the cells and the second floor which has been furnished with with objects from the time when it served as the jailer's living quarters.

Hon. Thomas M. Saxton Jr.