La Harpe, located on the Missouri Pacific and the Missouri, Kansas & Texas railways 5 miles east of Iola, is the third largest city in Allen county. The town was founded by the Fort Scott, Wichita & Western Railroad company (now the Missouri Pacific), and was platted in 1881. When natural gas was discovered in the immediate vicinity in 1899 La Harpe began to grow more rapidly and soon rose to be a city of importance. It is now an incorporated city of the second class, and has some of the largest zinc smelters in the world, 2 banks, an opera house, several good mercantile establishments, a newspaper, and all the municipal improvements usually found in cities of that class. The population in 1910 was 2,080. Its postoffice is authorized to issue international money orders, and two rural routes supply mail to the surrounding country.