Encyclopedia
Topeka is the capital city of the
U.S. state of
Kansas and the county seat of
Shawnee County, which is named after the
Shawnee Indians. It has a population of 122,377 as of the 2000 census. The Topeka Metropolitan Statistical Area, which includes Shawnee,
Jackson,
Jefferson,
Osage, and
Wabaunsee counties, has an estimated population of 226,268 in the year 2003.
Three ships of the
US Navy have been named USS
Topeka in honor of the city.
The name "Topeka" comes from a Kansas tribal name meaning "a good place to dig potatoes". Potatoes in this case referring to the prairie potato. A perennial herb in the pea family, native to prairies and plains in central North America, and having a tuberous, starchy root that was an important food for many Native Americans.
Topeka, laid out in 1854, was one of the Free-State towns founded by Eastern antislavery men immediately after the passage of the
Kansas-Nebraska Bill. In 1857, Topeka was chartered as a city.
- Giles, Thirty years in Topeka: A Historical Sketch,
- Z. L. Potter, Industrial Conditions in Topeka,
- D. O. Decker, Municipal Administration in Topeka,
The Russell Sage Foundation published the last two books.
19th century
In the 1840s, wagon trains made their way west from Independence, Missouri, on a 2,000-mile journey following what would come to be known as the
Oregon Trail. About 60 miles west of Kansas City, Missouri, three half Kansas Indian sisters married to the French-Canadian Pappan brothers established a ferry service allowing travelers to cross the
Kansas River at what is now Topeka. During the 40 and into the 1850s, travelers could reliably find a way across the river and plenty of whiskey but little else.
In the early 1850s, traffic along the Oregon Trail was supplemented by trade on a new military road stretching from Fort Leavenworth through "Topeka" to the newly-established Fort Riley. In 1854, after completion of the first cabin, nine men established the "Topeka Town Association." Included among them was an "idea man" named
Cyrus K. Holliday who would become mayor of Topeka and founder of the
Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad. Soon, steamboats were regularly docking at the Topeka landing, depositing meat, lumber, and flour and returning eastward with potatoes, corn, and wheat. By the late 1860s, Topeka had become a commercial hub providing access to many of the Victorian era's comforts.
After a decade of
Bleeding Kansas abolitionist and pro-slavery conflict, the Kansas territory was admitted to the Union in 1861 as the 34th state. Topeka was finally chosen as the capital, with Dr. Charles Robinson as the first governor. Cyrus K. Holliday donated a tract of land to the state for the construction of a state capitol.
Although the drought of 1860 and the ensuing period of the
Civil War slowed the growth of Topeka and the state, Topeka kept pace with the revival and period of growth that Kansas enjoyed from the close of the war in 1865 until 1870. In 1869, the railway started moving westward from Topeka. General offices and machine shops of the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railroad system were established in Topeka in 1878.
During the late 1880s, Topeka passed through a boom period that ended in disaster. There was vast speculation on town lots. The 1889 bubble burst and many investors were ruined. Topeka, however, doubled in population during the period and was able to weather the depressions of the 1890s.
20th century
Home to the first African-American kindergarten west of the Mississippi River, Topeka became the home of Linda Brown, the named plaintiff in
Brown v. Board of Education which was the case responsible for eliminating the standard of "separate but equal", and requiring
racial integration in American public schools.
It is interesting to note that, at the time the suit was filed, only the elementary schools were segregated in Topeka, and that
Topeka High School had been fully integrated since its inception in the late 1890s. It is also interesting to note that Topeka High School was the
only public high school in Topeka until Topeka West High School opened in 1961. A Catholic high school--Assumption High School, later renamed after its founder, Father Francis Hayden in 1939--also served the city beginning in 1911.
Monroe Elementary, one of the segregated schools, is now a National historic site with interpretive exhibits. The national historic site was opened by President
George W. Bush on May 17, 2004.
Topeka has struggled with the burden of racial discrimination even after Brown. New lawsuits attempted unsuccessfully to force suburban school districts that ring the city to participate in racial integration with the inner city district. In the late 1980s a group of citizens calling themselves the Task Force to Overcome Racism in Topeka formed to address the problem in a more organized way.
On June 8th, 1966, Topeka was struck by an F5 rated tornado, according to the
Fujita scale. It started on the southwest side of town, moving northeast, passing over a local landmark named Burnett's Mound. According to a local Indian legend, this mound was thought to protect the city from tornadoes. It went on to rip through the city, hitting the downtown area and Washburn University. Total dollar cost was put at $100 million making it, at the time, one of the costliest tornadoes in American history. Even to this day, with inflation factored in, the Topeka tornado stands as one of the costliest on record. It also helped bring to prominence the CBS and A&E broadcaster Bill Kurtis, who became well known for his televised admonition to "take cover, for God's sake, take cover" on
WIBW-TV during the tornado.
Topeka's role in Christianity
Topeka is sometimes cited as the home of Pentecostalism as it was the site of Charles Fox Parham's Bethel Bible College, where glossolalia was first claimed as the evidence of a spiritual experience referred to as the baptism of the Holy Spirit in 1901.
The city is also the home of Reverend Charles Sheldon, author of
In His Steps. Topeka was the site where the famous question "
What would Jesus do?" originated in a sermon of Sheldon's at Central Congregational Church.
The First Presbyterian Church in Topeka is one of the very few churches in the U.S. to have its sanctuary completely decorated with
Tiffany stained glass .
Topeka is also home to the controversial anti-homosexual pastor and disbarred lawyer
Fred Phelps of
Westboro Baptist Church.
Geography
Topeka is located at . Topeka is in north east Kansas at the intersection of
I-70 and
U.S. Highway 75. It is the origin of
I-335 which is a portion of the
Kansas Turnpike running from Topeka to
Emporia, Kansas. Topeka is also located on
U.S. Highway 24 and
U.S. Highway 40. 40 is co-incident with I-70 west from Topeka.
According to the
United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 147.6 km˛ . 145.1 km˛ of it is land and 2.5 km˛ of it is water.
Climate
Over the course of a year, temperatures range from an average low of about 17°F in January to an average high of nearly 90°F in July. The maximum temperature reaches 90°F an average of 45 days per year and reaches 100°F an average of 4 days per year. The minimum temperature falls below the freezing point an average of 117 days per year. Typically the first fall freeze occurs between the last week of September and the end of October, and the last spring freeze occurs between the first week of April and early May.
The area receives nearly 36 inches of precipitation during an average year with the largest share being received in May and June—the April–June period averages 32 days of measurable precipitation. Generally, the spring and summer months have the most rainfall, with
autumn and
winter being fairly dry. During a typical year the total amount of precipitation may be anywhere from 25 to 47 inches. There are on average 100 days of measurable precipitation per year. Winter snowfall is light, as is the case in most of the state, not due to lack of sufficient cold temperatures, but due to the dry, sunny weather patterns that dominate Kansas winters, that do not allow for sufficient moisture for significant snowfall. Winter snowfall averages almost 20 inches, but the median is less than 11 inches. Measurable snowfall occurs an average of 15 days per year with at least an inch of snow being received on seven of those days. Snow depth of at least an inch occurs an average of 26 days per year.
align="bottom" style="padding:0 0;margin:0 0;"| Source: Monthly Station Climate Summaries, 1971-2000,
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
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| Notes: Temperatures are in degrees Fahrenheit. Precipitation includes rain and melted snow or sleet in inches; median values are provided for precipitation and snowfall because mean averages may be misleading. Mean and median values are for the 30-year period 1971–2000; temperature extremes are for the station's period of record . The station is located at Topeka Billard Municipal Airport at 39°4'N 95°38'W, elevation 881 feet. |
Demographics
As of the
census of 2000, there were 122,377 people, 52,190 households, and 30,687 families residing in the city. The
population density was 843.6/km˛ . There were 56,435 housing units at an average density of 389.0/km˛ . The racial makeup of the city was 78.52%
White, 11.71%
African American, 1.31% Native American, 1.09% Asian, 0.04% Pacific Islander, 4.06% from
other races, and 3.26% from two or more races.
Hispanic or Latino of any race were 8.86% of the population.
There were 52,190 households out of which 28.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 41.8% were married couples living together, 13.1% had a female householder with no husband present, and 41.2% were non-families. 35.0% of all households were made up of individuals and 11.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.27 and the average family size was 2.94.
In the city the population was spread out with 24.3% under the age of 18, 9.9% from 18 to 24, 28.9% from 25 to 44, 21.9% from 45 to 64, and 15.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females there were 92.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 88.4 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $35,928, and the median income for a family was $45,803. Males had a median income of $32,373 versus $25,633 for females. The per capita income for the city was $19,555. About 8.5% of families and 12.4% of the population were below the
poverty line, including 16.7% of those under age 18 and 8.2% of those age 65 or over.
Points of interest
- Brown v. Board of Education National Historic Site
- Reinisch Rose Garden and Doran Rock Garden
- complete with a train inside and a 1950s McDonalds
-
- Photo Tour
-
- Ward-Meade Park Botanical Gardens
- Porubsky's Deli known for its world famous hot pickles and chili
- at Forbes Air Force Base.
- Washburn University, notable as the last city-chartered university in the United States.
- , with murals by John Steuart Curry, including the famous portrait of John Brown towering over "Bleeding Kansas" and the Kansas prairie
- Topeka Zoo, world famous as the birthplace of the first Golden Eagle chick hatched [ captivity
- Topeka High School, a magnificent gothic building constructed during the WPA.
- Heartland Park Topeka, a major drag racing and road racing course just south of the city.
- , award-winning performing arts theater and home of improv comedy troupe
-
- Topeka & Shawnee County Public Library
- CGI Animation & Film Production Studio
Notable natives
...
, astronaut
- Coleman Hawkins, jazz saxophonist
- Kansas, rock band
- Bill Kurtis, television anchor
- Gordon Parks, photographer and filmmaker
- William C. Menninger, psychiatrist
- Karl Menninger, psychiatrist
- Karl Targownik, psychiatrist and Holocaust survivor
- Katrina Leskanich, singer
- Harriet Lerner, author and psychologist
- Charlie Porubsky, chili and hot pickle extraordinaire
- Patrick Porubsky, Charlie Porubsky's grandson
- Michelle Schmidtlein, heiress of the Schmidtlein Excavating fortune and Patrick Porubsky's beautiful fiance
- Matthew M Porubsky, world renownd poet and statesman, author of Voyeur Poems
- Hannah Naeger, noted speech therapist and innovator
- Jay Wright, professional basketball player, played for Indiana Pacers
- Eli Woody, broadway actor
- Shara Stafford, Olympic gold medalist
- Kelly Jacobsen, America's Next Top Model finalist
- Amelia Maxfield, PBA tour champion
- Aaron Douglas, Harlem Renaissance Artist
- Dean Smith, Legendary UNC Basketball Coach
- Fred Phelps, Leader of the Controversial Westboro Baptist Church
External links
