1. MELAN BRIDGE, Kansas Ave. at Kansas River, between Crane and Curtis Streets, is a concrete arch bridge, reenforced with steel, constructed in 1895. It consists of six spans and is 900 feet in length. Two railroad bridges and the streetcar bridge were washed out in the 1903 flood, but the Melan Bridge withstood the high waters, although both approaches were destroyed. Prior to 1938 it was the only connecting link between North Topeka and the south side.
2. The TOPEKA BOULEVARD BRIDGE, Topeka Ave. at Kansas River, between W. 2nd and W. Gordon Sts., was dedicated August 27, 1938. This 4,400 foot steel and concrete structure, designed by Robert J. Justice, of the State Highway Department, is the longest bridge in the State highway system and was built at a cost of $1,500,000 with the State, the city, and the Federal Government sharing the expense. A PWA grant matched State funds for construction of the central span and WPA shared the cost of the two approaches, which eliminate railroad grade crossings. The bridge contains the largest continuous girder plate ever built in the United States, a span 893 feet long, resting on piers and without an expansion joint. The bridge has eliminated the bottle neck that was created by the necessity of routing all north-south traffic across the old Kansas Avenue bridge.
3. The SITE OF FIRST BUILDING, NW. corner Kansas Ave. and 1st St., is commemorated by a bronze marker on the front of the Poehler Mercantile Building. It was a log cabin built by four of the town founders, December 3, 1854.
4. CONSTITUTION HALL, 429 Kansas Ave., with the principal facade remodeled, is, as indicated by a marker on the sidewalk, the original two-story stone building erected in 1855 in which the "Topeka Constitution" for the State of Kansas was written. Today it is occupied by offices and a jewelry store and differs little in appearance from the other square brick front buildings in the block.
5. The FIFTH AVENUE HOTEL, SW. corner 5th and Quincy Sts., a four-story brick structure with Mansard roof, designed in the manner of the French Second Empire, was for many years Topeka's leading hotel. It was built in 1870. On January 22, 1872, Grand Duke Alexis of Russia, returning from a buffalo hunt in the western part of the State, was guest of honor at a banquet given here by Gov. James M. Harvey and the Kansas legislature. The Grand Duke's party included officers of the Russian Imperial Navy. American visitors of note were Generals Phillip H. Sheridan and George A. Custer.
6. The CAPITOL BUILDING AND LOAN ASSOCIATION BUILDING (1924), NE. corner 6th St. and Kansas Ave., designed by George Grant Elmslie of Chicago, is not based upon any traditional style of architecture. The building is constructed of tan brick, polished granite, terra cotta, and reenforced concrete. The decorative sculptural terra cotta is the work of Emil Zettler of Chicago. In the panel over the main entrance is symbolized the American home, and the agricultural and industrial activities that support the homes of Kansas. Figures on the south side of the building symbolize Kansas and its progress.
7. The NATIONAL BANK OF TOPEKA, NW. corner 6th St. and Kansas Ave., a 14 story structure, is Topeka's tallest office building. It was designed by Thomas W. Williamson & Company of Topeka, in the neoclassic style of architecture and completed in 1932. Materials used in the construction are white Indiana limestone, polished granite, and steel. The entrance to the bank is finished in antique travertine trimmed with bronze.
8. The SITE OF OLD STOCKADE, NW. corner 6th St. and Kansas Ave., is marked by a plate on the sidewalk in front of the National Bank Building. Called "Fort Folly" by doubting citizens, the roofless, log structure was erected in 1864 as protection against Confederate raiders under Price.
9. The CAPPER PUBLICATIONS BUILDING, SE. corner 8th and Jackson Sts., owned and operated by Arthur Capper, senior United States Senator from Kansas, is the home office and publishing plant of several farm publications of national circulation, and of the Topeka Daily Capital, a morning newspaper. Completed in 1909, the three-story graystone building adorned with Corinthian columns, is of French Renaissance style. Holland and Squires of Topeka were the architects. The Capital achieved attention in 1900 when its editor, Maj. J. K. Hudson, placed the editorial policy of the paper under the direction of Dr. Charles M. Sheldon, prominent Topeka minister, for one week. Dr. Sheldon, in his first editorial said: "The editor of the Capital asked me to assume entire charge of the paper for one week and edit it as a Christian newspaper."
Dr. Sheldon, during his short tenure in the editorial sanctum of the Capital, eliminated all news of crime, prize fights, and scandal, and published columns in support of the prohibition movement. After noting the response to Sheldon's "Christian" newspaper, publishers generally were in agreement that there was no demand for this type of publication.
10. The STATE JOURNAL BUILDING, SE. corner Kansas Ave. and 8th St., a classic two-story edifice of white stone and terra cotta, was designed by James E. Holland of Topeka. The late Frank P. McLennan, publisher of the State Journal from 1885 until his death in 1933 directed the designer of the building to make it as nearly as possible a replica of the Herald Tribune Building in New York, N. Y. Henry J. Allen, former Governor and United States Senator, is its present editor (1938).
11. MEMORIAL BUILDING, NE. corner 10th and Jackson Sts., is a four-story structure of white marble designed by the late Charles H. Chandler, State architect. It is of the French Renaissance style. The cornerstone was laid September 27, 1911 by President Taft and the building was dedicated May 27, 1914, to the soldiers and sailors of Kansas. It contains the offices of the State Historical Society and of the Kansas Department of the American Legion, the Spanish War Veterans, and the Grand Army of the Republic.
The NEWSPAPER SECTION, on the first floor, contains more than 42,000 bound volumes of Kansas newspapers dating from 1854. A total of 725 Kansas newspapers and periodicals are received for filing.
In the ART COLLECTION on the first floor is the Philip Billard Memorial, Flight, a 4-ft. statue by Merrell Gage, formerly of Topeka. It was presented to the Historical Society by the Topeka Rotary Club in memory of Lieut. Philip Billard of Topeka, who was killed in line of duty near Issoudon, France, July 24, 1918. Billard was the first Topekan to own and operate an airplane.
The STATE HISTORICAL LIBRARY, on the second floor, contains a collection of newspaper clippings, atlases, and historical reference books.
The MUSEUM, third and fourth floors, contains the Bower Archaeological Collection; the Perkins Mineral Collection; the F. L. Sexton collection of sea shells, and the Goss Collection of birds. In the historical section are numerous articles of interest including a sword found in western Kansas on the handle of which is inscribed the name of Captain Juan Gallego, one of Coronado's band; a drop of the blood of Abraham Lincoln, which fell on a Ford's Theater program; two original sod plows invented in Kansas; and the doors of the house of representatives that were smashed during the Populist uprising in 1893. A recent acquisition is the airplane in which Phil Billard made some of his early flights over the city in 1915 and 1916.
12. KANSAS STATE PRINTING PLANT, SW. corner loth and Jackson Sts., housed in a three-story building of brick and stone on State owned property was erected in 1906.
The plant is equipped with one perforating press, two high-speed automatic presses, six cylinder presses, two open feed presses, and two high-speed envelope machines. Approximately 200 men are regularly employed and the plant has a normal daily output of 85,000 pieces of printed matter. During the biennial sessions of the State legislature the force is increase'd to 300 to meet the increased volume of work and the plant is operated 24 hours a day, production increasing to 250,000 pieces of printed matter daily. The plant also publishes text books used in the public schools of Kansas.
13. The KANSAS STATE CAPITOL, is in the center of a ten acre landscaped park covering a square extending from 8th St. to 10th St. and W. from Jackson St. to Harrison St. The only motor drive entering the ground is an extension of W. 9th St. Long curving asphalt walks lead up to the north and south entrances from Van Buren St. The west driveway, with its entrance at 9th and Harrison Sts., is used only by pedestrians.
The design of the Kansas Capitol is based upon that of the Capitol at Washington, D. C. The plan is composed of four wings, extended in the form of a Greek cross with a large rotunda at the center. These elements are somewhat lacking in proportion and uniformity of design owing to the fact that they were constructed at different times and designed by different architects. Construction of the east wing was begun October 17, 1866, from plans submitted by John G. Haskell and E. Townsend Mix of Lawrence. It was occupied in December 1869. Its classic hexastyle portico, supported by fluted Corinthian columns, has a long flight of granite steps leading up to the main entrance at the second floor. The limestone walls of the central wing on either side of the portico are adorned with pilasters of the same order. Stone used in the construction of this wing was quarried near Junction City; the rotunda and the other wings are of Silverdale limestone. The west wing was constructed in 1880 and is a replica of the east wing.
Work on the north and south wings and the rotunda began in 1883, but it was not until twenty years later that the completed building was officially accepted by the State. Like the older sections, the north and south wings are approached by flights of granite steps and have the main entrance at the second floor beneath a Corinthian portico. The pediment on each portico was blocked out in preparation for the carving of symbolic figures, but, although a sculptor prepared models for this work, he could not reach an agreement with the State, and the pediments remained unadorned. The best stone carving of the exterior is on the north wing where the delicate Corinthian detail was skillfully executed under the direction of James Halderman.
The rotunda with its lofty dome rising to a height of 304 feet, on an octagonal drum, was designed by John F. Stanton, State architect. The great central dome is more slender in proportion than that of the National Capitol, and is octagonal in shape. The weathered cap of the dome is of copper which the elements have turned to a bluish green color. It is topped with a lantern cupola, also copper covered, with a balustraded platform at its base from which there is an impressive panoramic view of the city and its environs. This platform is reached from the interior by means of a circular iron stairway extending from the fifth floor. The outer drum of the dome, designed in two stages, is adorned with a superimposed ordinance of Doric and Corinthian columns, at the first and second levels, respectively. Light is admitted to the interior through large arched windows in the drum as well as through a row of medallion windows in the lower portion of the dome. The interior of the rotunda is decorated with murals by Abner Grossman of Chicago. These paintings are around the base of the drum. One group of figures depicts Religion, Knowledge and Temperance; the second, Plenty; the third, Peace; and the fourth, Power.
The Florentine decorations in the SENATE CHAMBER, which occupies the third floor of the east wing, were added during the i880's, at a cost of $300,000. The twenty-eight columns and pilasters encircling the room are decorated with hand-hammered copper in a design of ivy, morning glories, and roses. Seats are arranged in a semicircle about the rostrum and there are visitors' balconies at the front and rear of the room. Tennessee marble frames the doors and the walls are paneled in Mexican onyx.
REPRESENTATIVE HALL, on the third floor of the west wing, is less elaborate than the Senate Chamber but of similar plan. Wainscoting on the walls is of imported marble, trimmed with Italian Carrara.
Sgt. Boston Corbett, alleged slayer of John Wilkes Booth, was doorkeeper for the house of representatives for a short time during the legislative session of 1887. Corbett, a religious fanatic who shot Booth in defiance of orders to take the assassin alive, justified his act by saying that God had told him to avenge the death of President Lincoln. While he was acting as doorkeeper he became violently insane, threatened the lives of fellow employees and was arrested and committed to the State Hospital for the Insane. He later stole a visitor's pony from a hitching post at the hospital and escaped to Mexico.
During the session of 1893 several Populists contested the seats of Republican members and each party claimed the right to organize the house. For several days the two bodies held sessions on opposite sides of the hall. Finally, on February 14, the elections committee of the Republican house summoned L. C. Gunn, a Populist, to testify as a witness in one of the election contest hearings. Gunn refused to obey the summons and was arrested by a Republican sergeant-at-arms. He immediately instituted habeas corpus proceedings and the legality of the Republican house was brought before the supreme court. The Republicans next arrested Ben Rich, chief clerk of the Populist body. Enraged Populists stormed the hall, rescued Rich and barricaded the door after clearing out the Republican faction.
The following morning, after battering down the doors with a sledge hammer, Republicans surged into the hall and ejected their rivals. On February 17, an agreement was reached whereby the Populists held their sessions in another room and the Republicans retained the hall. Eight days later the supreme court recognized the Republican body as "the legal and constitutional house of representatives of the State of Kansas," bringing the Legislative War to an end.
The STATE LIBRARY, occupying the third floor of the north wing is divided into three departments: the REFERENCE DEPARTMENT, the LAW DEPARTMENT, and the STORMONT MEDICAL LIBRARY. There are approximately 112,000 volumes in the reference and law departments, exclusive of pamphlets and unbound periodicals. These departments are supported by State appropriations.
The Stormont Medical Library, established in 1889 by a gift of $5,000 from Mrs. Jane C. Stormont, is supported by the income from this donation. Books are selected by a committee appointed by the State Medical Association. This section contains more than 2,000 volumes.
LINCOLN STATUE, by Merrell Gage, southeast corner of the capital park, is of cast iron and depicts the Civil War President seated in an arm chair in a meditative pose. Unveiled February 12, 1918, this was the first statue in Kansas to be executed by a Kansas sculptor.
The OLD COTTONWOOD TREE, 9th St. entrance (L), is a giant tree as old as the capitol itself. According to legend, it sprouted from a stake that was used to secure a guy rope during construction of the first wing of the building. Under its rustling leaves three Presidents have spoken Harrison, McKinley, and Taft. The late Charles Curtis stood beneath its spreading branches and received notification of his nomination for the Vice Presidency. Here, too, in 1936, Gov. Alf M. Landon was formally notified of his nomination as Republican candidate for the Presidency.
FOUNTAIN TREE, just west of the north entrance to the capitol, is a living hydrant. From the faucet in the trunk of this elm, city water is drawn. Years past, an open water main protruded several inches above the ground and became filled with dirt in which an elm seed lodged and the tree sprouted. The tree put out roots above the rim of the pipe and extended them into the earth confining the pipe in the hollow of the trunk. Observing this phenomenon, a custodian bored a hole into the trunk and inserted a small pipe to which he attached a faucet.
The PIONEER STATUE, also by Merrell Gage, stands in the southwest corner of the grounds. The statue portrays a mother guarding her two children. She is holding a baby in one arm and a boy kneels at her side. A long rifle lies across her knee. The statue rests on a granite base.
14. The TOPEKA CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOL, 10th and Taylor Sts., was completed in 1930 at a cost of $2,000,000. Designed by T. R. Griest of Topeka, the building is of Collegiate Gothic architecture, constructed of pressed brick and native stone. The auditorium has a seating capacity of 2,500. In the Gothic tower is a carillon, donated by the late David W. Mulvane as a memorial to his wife. A foreyard of the old United States frigate Constitution is used as a flagpole at the Polk Street entrance. It was presented to the school in 1930 by the United States Navy through the efforts of the late Charles Curtis.
15. The EXECUTIVE MANSION, SW. corner 8th and Buchanan Sts., was purchased by the State in 1901. It was built as a private residence in 1889 by Erastus Bennett, a Topekan who had acquired a fortune by buying European horses and breeding them for Kansas farms. The three-story, 32 room mansion of brick and terra cotta is of the ornate late Victorian style, surmounted with a cupola.
16. GRACE CATHEDRAL, SW. corner 8th and Polk Sts., the Cathedral of the Kansas Diocese of the Protestant Episcopal Church, is a twin-towered limestone structure designed by George M. Seyman of Kansas City, Mo. Its exterior is patterned after the medieval cathedrals of England and Normandy. The interior walls are of masonry, the ceiling of plaster and wooden beams, copied in detail from Westminster Hall, London. The flat, three centered arches under the clerestory wall are designed in the English Perpendicular Gothic style.
An altar piece by the late George M. Stone, Topeka artist, was presented to the church in 1919. It is an interpretation of "The Transfiguration" and depicts Christ with Moses and Elijah on the mountain top before the apostles, Peter, James, and John. The canvas is ten feet by twelve feet and the figures in the foreground are life size.
The pulpit is adorned with eleven figures by Alois Lang, Bavarian woodcarver, representing the Saviour, the Four Evangelists, St. Paul and the Five Angels of Adoration. The rose window is composed of glass left over from a rose window of Westminster Abbey, London, several boxes of which had been stored in the abbey since 1760. The framework was made in Topeka and shipped to London where the glass was fitted. A cherished relic is THE BAPTISMAL SPOON (jor permission to view, apply at rectory west of cathedral), one of five made by King Olaf of Norway in 1571, which was presented to the church by Mrs. Julius Severin Greu. The cathedral has a seating capacity of 1,100.
17. The TOPEKA PUBLIC LIBRARY, SW. corner 8th and Jackson Sts., is a two-story building of brick and limestone, erected in 1882 with funds provided by two railroad companies, the donors stipulating that it should be erected on the capitol square. It is of modified Romanesque design. The library contains 30,000 volumes.
18. CHURCH OF THE ASSUMPTION, NW. corner 8th and Jackson Sts., is a buff-colored brick Roman Catholic church designed by Carroll & Defoe of Kansas City, in the Romanesque style. It was built in 1924 on the site of the first Catholic church in Topeka, erected in 1862.
19. The CAPPER MANSION, NW. corner Topeka Blvd. and nth St., is headquarters for radio station WIBW, owned and operated by Capper Publications. The house, a two-story limestone and concrete structure of the Italian villa type, was designed by Root & Seimans of Kansas City and completed in 1912. It was the residence of Kansas' senior Senator during his two terms as Governor of the State (1915-1919). Capper's successor, Gov. Henry J. Allen, also occupied the Capper mansion during his tenure of office. For several years, Kansas' two United States Senators lived on opposite corners of Topeka Boulevard and nth Street, but Senator Charles Curtis' resignation to accept the nomination for Vice President ended Topeka's senatorial monopoly.
20. CHARLES CURTIS HOME (private), SW. corner Topeka Blvd. and 9th St., is a three-story late Victorian structure built of red brick and limestone. Curtis, grandson of a Kaw Indian chief, spent his boyhood on the reservation. Admitted to the bar in 1881 he launched upon a long and successful political career. Kansas had just adopted prohibition. Elected to the office of county attorney or prosecutor of Shawnee County, Curtis began his career as the scourge of the "jointists," as the illegal saloonkeepers were termed, thus establishing the Kansas tradition, that the successful young office seeker must be an avowed prohibitionist. While the young prosecutor was hammering the liquor trade, his law partner was a recalcitrant old gentleman who was said to be one of the jointists' regular customers. A citizen asked him, "How does it happen that you drink so much liquor when Charley is a strict prohibitionist?" To which came the alleged reply, "Well Charley's closing 'em up and I'm just drinking up the supply on hand." Shawnee County and the Congressional District of which it was a part rewarded Charley Curtis by electing him Representative in 1892, which position he held until 1907 when he was elected to fill an unexpired term in the United States Senate. He represented Kansas in that office until he resigned in 1928 to accept the nomination for Vice President on the ticket with Herbert Hoover. He died in Washington in 1936.
21. TOPEKA'S OLDEST TREE, SE. corner Huntoon and Clay Sts., is marked with a plate placed at its base by pupils of nearby Central Park School. It is a giant locust, with wide spreading branches and a trunk three feet in diameter, and is said to have been a full grown tree when the town was founded in 1854.
22. WASHBURN COLLEGE, 1700 SW College Ave., established in 1865 as a denominational college under the direction of the Congregational Church, represents the New England culture long dominant in Topeka. The 160 acre elm shaded campus, which stretches away to the Shunganunga Valley on the south, was donated in 1858 by John Ritchie, Topeka pioneer. When the college was incorporated, this site was considered too remote from the settlement (it was more than a mile west of the city limits) and classes opened in a stone building known as Lincoln College at loth and Jackson Streets, the present site of the Memorial Building. As donations began to swell the endowment fund trustees decided to use the Ritchie tract. The first building on the campus was erected in 1870 and the college was renamed for Ichabod Washburn of Worcester, Mass., one of the donors. Washburn' s athletic teams are known today as the "Sons of Ichabod" or "The Ichabods."
There are nearly a score of buildings including Rice Hall, Carnegie Library, MacVicar Chapel, Whiting Field House, Thomas Gymnasium, Boswell Hall, the Observatory, Holbrook Hall, Benton Hall, a women's dormitory ; and Mulvane Art Museum. Four sororities and two fraternities have erected chapter houses on the campus since the Kansas Supreme Court ruled in 1933 that fraternity houses are not tax exempt unless they are on school property. Buildings are constructed of Kansas limestone and of varying Romanesque, classic, and modern design.
Washburn is a coeducational nationally accredited college with a liberal atmosphere, offering courses in liberal arts, fine arts, journalism, and law. Its law school has a high rating and many law students from the State University complete their preparation for an LL. B. degree here after receiving their A. B. at the Lawrence institution.
The college has an annual enrollment of 700 to 800 students. Since 1910 it has been conducted as a non-sectarian institution.
MULVANE ART MUSEUM, a two-story limestone building, is in a small grove near the northwest edge of the campus. It is Italian Renaissance in style and was constructed in 1923. It houses the college department of art and contains a collection of painting and sculpture. In the Hall of Sculpture on the first floor are three pieces by Merrell Gage, former instructor in the college department of art: John Brown, Mother and Child, and the Flutist. In the collection of oils on the second floor are Henry Salem Hubbell's the Orange Robe; the Frosty Morning by John F. Carlson, and Bierstadt's Rocky Mountain Landscape. An oil portrait of the late Joab Mulvane, Topeka art patron, whose $50,000 bequest made the museum possible, is the work of George M. Stone.
RICE HALL, a three-story limestone building with red tile roof, constructed in 1870, is the oldest building on the campus. It contains a small MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY, which includes mounted specimens of birds and animals and a collection of insects. Near Rice Hall is the OLD COLLEGE BELL, which hung in the Rice Hall belfry before the fire that partially destroyed the building in 1907. It was used to call students to classes and to ring out the glad tidings of a football victory. The bell was salvaged after the fire, but was never restored to its old place in the belfry.
23. GAGE PARK, 6th Ave. and Gage Blvd., 146 acres, Topeka's largest recreational center, contains a swimming pool, tennis courts, baseball diamonds, picnic grounds, a rock garden, and a small zoo.
The REINISCH ROSE GARDEN, in the southwest section of the park, a memorial to the late E. F. Reinisch, former park superintendent, has been termed the perfect rose garden by national experts. It has received prize awards in several contests.
The OLD SETTLERS' MEMORIAL CABIN, north and east of the Reinisch Rose Garden, was originally on the farm of Adam Bauer, near Topeka. It was removed to Gage Park in the early 1930*5. The cabin is of walnut logs and its dooryard enclosed by a rail fence. It contains numerous pioneer relics including two sewing machines, a spinning wheel, rifles, pistols, and cooking utensils. In the dooryard are several old wagon wheels, two feed troughs hewn out of logs, and many other household and farm implements used in pioneer days.
24. KANSAS STATE HOSPITAL, 6th St. and Randolph Ave., its 22 buildings half hidden by a heavily wooded park, is reached by a drive that is an extension of Randolph Avenue. The institution grounds cover an area of 320 acres. The main drive leads to the administration building, a yellow brick structure with a turreted roof. At this point it turns right and follows a circuitous route past a row of brick buildings in which the 1,800 patients are housed. An area of approximately 80 acres is attractively landscaped. Left of the main buildings are poultry houses, cattle barns, a green house, and implement sheds. Nearly 240 acres are under cultivation and the institution maintains a dairy farm. Farm produce and dairy products are consumed in the hospital dining rooms and the income from surplus products is applied to the annual maintenance fund. The hospital, established in 1878, is one of three State supported institutions for treatment of the insane. All types of mental cases are treated here.
25. UNDERGROUND RAILROAD STATION, in the rear of a private home at the SW. corner 23rd St. and Pennsylvania Ave., is a small, one-story building constructed of walnut slabs. The station was established in 1855 by Daniel Sheridan, an associate of John Brown, as a connecting link in the Underground Railway system that enabled escaped slaves from Missouri to make their way through Kansas and Nebraska to a haven of safety at Tabor, Iowa. From the cellar beneath the building a tunnel connected with an opening in a pasture 100 yards east. Most of the tunnel has caved in and all traces of the exterior opening have been obliterated but the passageway is still visible from the basement.
26. TOPEKA CEMETERY, 10th and Lafayette Sts., contains a monument to the Kansas soldiers who died in the Battle of the Blue. It is a white granite shaft 75 feet high, dedicated May 30, 1895, by Col. George Veale, who commanded the 2nd Kansas Militia in the battle.
27. The SANTA FE SHOPS, 3rd and Holliday Sts., consisting of a dozen factory-type buildings of brick and stone and a network of track, cover an area of 225 acres, part of the old Cyrus K. Holliday farm. An average of 2,000 men are employed here in repairing locomotives and other rolling stock.
Websites about Topeka, Kansas:
- Kansas Facts: Shawnee County Facts
- Kansas State Government | Facebook
- Washburn University | Facebook
- Kansas State Historical Society | Facebook
- City of Topeka | Facebook
- The Greater Topeka Chamber of Commerce | Facebook
- Topeka Capital Journal (Newspaper) | Facebook
