On Feb. 4, Cathy Jackson started an interesting conversation on Facebook’s “Iola-Scandinavia Happening Now” about the old Iola High School.
She asked, “Does anyone have any pictures of the old Iola High School before it was torn down? How big was it? I moved to Iola well after the current high school was built.”
Residents posted various images of the old high school.
Trey Foerster added a postcard of the old high school without the gym.
Jackson asked if anything had been in the old gym since. Mary Olson indicated that it had housed MR Ceramics at one time. Cathy Jackson indicated it’s now used for equipment storage and repair.
The location of where the building stood was discussed and it is on vacant land between the current firehouse and the old gym.
Olson gave quite a “tour” of the old high school.
Inside the main entrance up some stairs & to the right was the office. To the left were classrooms for Social Studies, Science & Typing. Downstairs under that part was the Multi-Purpose Room & Cafeteria. Upstairs was the Library, & separate classrooms for French, English, History, Home Ec, Math, Audio Visual where we went to watch subject matter movies & Driver’s Ed. (I might be missing one or two.)
Inside the West door, closest to the FD were classrooms for the lower grades on the first floor & maybe also in the basement.
Behind the new gym was the Industrial Arts room. The gym was not elaborate like at the new high school, but was the center of activity on a Friday night for Basketball games. There was a stage at the far end of the gym, where we put on plays & held graduation. Dances were held there, too. Most recently, the gym has been accessed from the back by the present owner who uses it as a big equipment repair area. Last I knew, the basketball floor was still intact, but dusty.
As students who attended school there, it was our world & was sufficient.
When Steven Olson attended grade school there, the kids walked down to the Methodist Church for hot lunch in the basement, as there was not yet a kitchen at the School. Many other younger kids in the area attended rural schools until they closed. Steve is not sure why he was so lucky as to ride the school bus from their family farm to Iola for school, while others attended the many rural schools we find dotted around the countryside.
Sweet times. Simple pleasures. Fond memories.
As to where copies of the old yearbooks are, Chuck Fritz indicated that the high school has copies of all of them. Kathleen Bestul indicated that the Iola Historical Society may have copies.
Janet Deschler commented, “All the historical buildings get torn down. Never understood that. Would have made a great historical society for the town, and a place to hold class reunions.”
Ellen Voie added, “I remember having to run up and down three flights of stairs for every turnover Coach Judy Morey counted during a girls’ basketball game.”