The story
from WikipediaRead it all ↗On November 6, 2007, it became the fifth incorporated city in Grimes County after a residential vote.
Iola is believed to have been named for Edward Ariola, one of Stephen F. Austin's colonists who settled in the vicinity in 1836. In 1852 the community's first church, Zion Methodist, was constructed; the building also served as a schoolhouse. The settlement's first gristmill, Monroe's Gin, began operating during the 1860s. The post office opened in 1871 and, though discontinued the next year, was permanently reestablished in 1877. A Masonic Lodge was formed in 1876. By the 1880s the town had several churches, cotton gins, and gristmills. The population stood at 109 by 1890.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Start Iola’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Iola’s history is told.
0 of 10 decades since 1900 have photos 📦Share a family photoSign in to add one+10Famous people close to Iola
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Iola, decade by decade
2000
Nothing in Iola is on the National Register yet
That’s true of most small towns. It doesn’t mean Iola has no history, only that no one has written up a nomination. The closest listed place is Shapira Hotel in Madisonville, 16.6 miles away.
Iola and the nearest listed places
How a place gets listed
Then & now
When neighbors add old photos, retakes from the same spot appear here side by side.
Stories next door
nearby towns’ historyFrom Wikimedia Commons (1). Images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.