A long-time eyesore at the Allen County Historical Society Museum is now the facility’s newest showpiece.
For as long as the historical society has owned and occupied the building at 20 S. Washington Ave., its second-story windows had been boarded up.
“The boards made the building less appealing and distracted from its overall appearance,” noted Donna Houser, an ACHS volunteer.
When others began working on downtown beautification, including Iola’s Community Involvement Task Force/Pride Committee, the historical society took notice. And when CITF/Pride members approached the museum’s board of directors, their assistance was gratefully accepted.
Glass windows were reinstalled and affixed with signs, spotlighting a pair of physicians and two dentists who occupied the building at one time or another in Iola’s early years.
The project was spearheaded by CITF and was helped along by Diebolt Lumber Company and the Shirt Shop, Houser said.
THE PROJECT reflects on the history of the building itself — once Iola’s New York Store — by spotlighting physicians and dentists who occupied the building yeas ago.
Dr. John Pepper — Yes, Iola had its own Dr. Pepper – specialized in dental surgery in the building in the 1880s and elsewhere in Iola through the years until at least 1923.
Jonathan Earl Chastain, another dentist, was born in Iola in 1874, the son of Dr. William Chastain. After graduating from Iola High School and Western Dental College, he returned to Iola. He practiced in Iola from 1901 to 1949, including the last 28 years in an upstairs office of the building.
Brothers Drs. David and James Reid shared the upstairs space with Chastain for a spell. They arrived in Iola in 1901 as physicians and surgeons for the Iola Portland Cement Co., the Kansas Portland Cement Co., the Prim Western Smelter, the Iola Electric Street Railroad and the United Iron Works Co.
They moved into the New York Store building in 1919, after putting up partitions in the upstairs rooms.
David and his wife, Harriet, moved to Iola in 1924.
James married Ethel Horton and practiced until his untimely death in 1942.
As many may know, James and Ethel Reid had three children, including daughter Elizabeth, who most know as Sue. Sue Reid became Sue Immel and continues to live in Iola.
