Iola Historical Markers
Marker location: 120 S Main St
Dr. Loope Historical Marker
University of Wisconsin’s storied Badger football team can partially trace its 1889 beginnings to Iola, and the Iola Historical Society is preserving that history with Historic Iola Marker No. 6. The marker will be unveiled and dedicated this Friday, Nov. 22, at noon at the site of Dr. Truman Elbert Loope’s former home and office…
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Marker location: Depot Street
“Spud Alley” Historical Marker
Originally built in the 1890s as a dairy processing building to serve the Iola Creamery Association, it passed to Simon M. Myhre in the 1910s, who converted it into a potato warehouse. It was subsequently similarly occupied by the R. B. Wright Company until 1958, when it was acquired by…
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Marker location: Hwy J and Chet Krause Dr.
Krause Publications – The Early Days
A business that was to bring internation acclaim to Iola was established at this location on August 18, 1964, with the organization of Krause Publications as a corporate business entity. Over the next 40 years it expanded into…
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Marker location: East Main St.
“I’m Chet”
Chester Lee Krause (born Dec. 16, 1923: died June 25, 2016) during his meritorious lifetime evidenced a superlative commitment to community. The heritage he left behind revolved around family and community...
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Marker location: Iola’s Main St.
Iola Main Street Bridge / Kenny Buttolph Memorial Bridge
In the early 1850s Silas Miller identified a suitable point on the South Branch of the Little Wolf River coursing the countryside to establish the sawmill that became the genesis of what became Iola the community. In 1853 he undertook to impound the river and construct a sawmill on the stream’s north shore...
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Marker location:
Iola’s Methodist Roots
The informal inauguration of religious services in Iola occured when JJ. Hatch, having arrived with his wife and six children on December 4, 1856, delivered a sermon to a small gathering...
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Marker location: 350 Chrome Place
Iola Car Show 50th Anniversary
A Remarkable Phenomenon
A precursor “test run” event hosted at Iola’s Ingval Olson Memorial Park on Sunday, August 27, 1972, (see Historic Iola marker #4), an Old Cars promotional outreach, was the genesis of what became known nationwide, even worldwide simply as IOLA, an event attuned to car enthusiasts of all ages, inclinations and focuses...
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Marker location: Just N.E. of Iola on Hwy 161
RIVERSIDE CEMETERY
Historic Beginnings In 1850s
While the Riverside Cemetery was not officially established until 1860, records indicate that a desire had been expressed to establish a cemetery at this location as early as 1857, while Mary McIntire (1816-1856) was the first recorded interment in these grounds. The original plot was acquired from Salome and A. F. Stearns by the Township of Iola in 1860 for $20, with the purpose of the acquisition being to establish a cemetery...
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Marker location: 210 Depot Street, Iola.
Twin Grove Schoolhouse
(one-room schoolhouses)
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Marker location: 126 N Main St., Iola.
Clifford Marshall Thompson
(World’s Tallest Lawyer, Actor)
Clifford Marshall Thompson, a giant of a man – the “World’s Tallest Lawyer” at 8-feet, 7-inches – once walked Iola’s streets, practicing from a front office in the building now serving as the Crystal Café’s “Family Room.” Born at Silva…
… (learn more by visiting the marker!)
