IOLA, city, south-eastern Kansas, U.S.A., on the Neosho river; the county seat of Allen county. It is on Federal highways 54 and 73W, and is served by the Missouri-Kansas-Texas, the Missouri Pacific and the Santa Fe railways. The population in 193o was 7,16o. It is the trade centre of one of the leading dairy districts of the State. Its industries include a milk condensery with a capacity of 15o,000 lb. daily, large creameries, a cement plant, iron works and a pearl-button factory. Iola was founded in
1859, by a company that was dissatisfied with the location of the county seat at Humboldt. It became the county seat in 1865, and was chartered as a city in 187o. Natural gas was discovered here on Christmas Day, 1893, and a period of rapid development followed. The city has a commission form of government.