City of Topeka history

On December 5, 1854, nine men met on the banks of the Kansas River at what is now Kansas Avenue and Crane Street.

Lawrence Lawrence, city, seat (1855) of Douglas county, eastern Kansas, United States It lies on the Kansas River.

The city was incorporated in 1857, following promotional efforts of nine founders of the Topeka Association.

In May, 1858, a privately built bridge was constructed across the Kansas River connecting Topeka with the community of Eugene, now known as North Topeka.

Established by the Episcopal Church in 1860, the College of the Sisters of Bethany was billed as the “Wellesley of the West” for American women.

One of the nine, Doctor Charles Robinson, became the first Governor when Kansas was admitted to the Union as the 34th state in 1861.

Among those institutions are a research arm of the University of Kansas, which was founded in Lawrence, in 1864; Washburn University; and the College of the Sisters of Bethany.

The city is the seat of Washburn University (1865); Mulvane Art Museum is located on Washburn’s campus.

The college was renamed Washburn College in 1868, to recognize church deacon Ichabod Washburn for his $25,000 donation to the institution.

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.

The Kansas Museum of History contains an actual 1880 Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railroad locomotive and cars, along with a fully stocked, covered wagon ready for the Oregon Trail.

In early 1887, the Rock Island Rail Lines signed a contract with the Union Pacific and the Chicago, Kansas and Nebraska Railway Company for joint use of the U.P. tracks between Kansas City and North Topeka.

In 1889 the bubble burst and many investors were ruined.

At Eleventh Street it enters a residential section built in the 1890's.

In the spring of 1903 a flood of the Kaw River inundated North Topeka, which lies in the valley.

The Topeka State Journal on April 3, 1911, reported: "Work is progressing rapidly in tearing down the old Culp livery barn at 508 Quincy Street, preparatory to the erection of an undertaking establishment.

Because of its general economic setting, regional growth in Topeka-Shawnee County kept pace with the rest of the nation until 1930.

Prior service refers to employment with the railroad before 29 August 1935.

Republican Alf Landon ran unsuccessfully against Franklin D. Roosevelt in the 1936 presidential election.

Compiled and Written by the Federal Writer's Project of the works Project Administration for the State of Kansas, 1939.

Forbes Air Force Base was established during the war, and the Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company opened a plant in 1944.

Again in 1951, the Kansas River overflowed, resulting in the permanent closing of the Morrell Meat Packing Plant and the elimination of over 1,000 jobs.

The university was rebuilt following Topeka’s devastating tornado of 1966.

In 1974, Forbes Air Base closed and over 10,000 people left Topeka, impacting the city’s growth patterns for years to come.

Washburn's basketball team won the 1987 national small college championship (NAIA).

Shawnee County Register of Deeds Mortgage and deed records from 1988 to present are available on Public Access Computers located in our office during office hours (8 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.).

A large auto racing complex opened in August, 1989.

The Topeka Performing Arts Center opened in 1991.

Board of Education National Historic Site was established in October 1992, at the now-famous Monroe Elementary School.

Voters also approved a quarter-cent sales tax for a new Law Enforcement Center, and then in 1996 approved an extension of the sales tax for the East Topeka Interchange connecting the Oakland Expressway, K-4, I-70 and the Kansas Turnpike.

Full text articles and archives (1999 – present).

In 2000 the citizens again voted to extend the quarter-cent sales tax, this time for the economic development of Topeka and Shawnee County.

The project was completed in August 2001.