An epidemic of typhoid fever in 1899 and 1900 was attributed to contaminated water at the depot, and many were ill and several died from the disease.
Samuel Lewis was elected justice of the peace in the first election held in Panola in April, 1856, with twelve ballots cast. Panola Township was separated from Minonk the next year; it previously operated as a precinct. A town hall was built on lots donated by N. S. de Vries in 1892.
The first rural mail route in Woodford County was laid out in 1900 from the Panola post office, with John C. Render the first carrier on the twenty-eight mile route. He resigned the next year and Peter Fischer became carrier, serving for sixteen years. On February 4, 1904, a second rural route for mail out of Panola was established and Peter Hauck became deliveryman on the new route. In 1917 the two were consolidated with Minonk taking part of the area previously served, and Mr. Hauck continuing as the only Panola carrier. The route was discontinued in 1935, El Paso routes taking over the territory.
Two elevators were built in Panola at unknown dates in the last century, one north and one south of the depot. Fred Larison finally acquired the south one and added a lumber yard. Both burned on August 18, 1917 when a gasoline engine backfired and they were never rebuilt. The El Paso Elevator Company built a new elevator on the north side of Panola around 1910, managed for them by Archie Kingdon. It caught fire and burned to the ground in February, 1914, and another was immediately built on the same site.
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