Timeline of Topeka, Kansas explained

The following is a timeline of the history of Topeka, Kansas, USA.

19th century

• 1854 - Topeka Association organized.
• 1855
  • Constitution Hall built.

• • Topeka Constitutional Convention held.
• 1856
  • Free-state government installed in Topeka, March 1856.^[1]
• 1857
  • Topeka incorporated.
  • State Library of Kansas established.
• 1859
  • Kansas State Record newspaper begins publication.
  • Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway chartered and set up offices and work shops.
  • Wyandotte Constitution makes Topeka the temporary state capital.
  • Topeka Cemetery established.
• 1860
  • Grace Church incorporated.
  • Drought.
  • Population: 759.
• 1861
  • Wyandotte Constitution designates Topeka as state capitol.
  • Kansas legislature convenes.^[2]
  • Episcopal Female Seminary of Topeka chartered.
• 1863 - Kansas Farmer begins publication.^[3]
• 1864
  • Topeka threatened during Price's Raid.
  • Fort Simple built in the fall in to defend against Confederate troops during Price's Raid.^[4]
• 1865
  • Lincoln College founded.
  • Harrison School built.
  • Union Pacific railway begins operating in Eugene.
• 1867 - Fort Simple torn down in April.^[5]
• 1868 - Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe railroad construction begins.
• 1870
  • Topeka & Shawnee County Public Library established.
  • Population: 5,790.
• 1871 - Topeka High School established.
• 1872 - Topeka State Hospital opens.
• 1873 - Kansas Academy of Science incorporated.
• 1875 - Kansas Historical Society founded.
• 1878 - Topeka Harvey House opens.
• 1879 - Daily Capital newspaper begins publication.
• 1880 - Population: 15,452.
• 1881 - Chartered as a city.
• 1883 - Public Library building constructed.
• 1886 - Population: 25,005.
• 1887
  • Governor's Mansion built.
  • Topeka Golden Giants baseball team formed.
• 1890 - Population: 31,007.
• 1894 - Christ's Hospital established.
• 1895 - Topeka Industrial and Educational Institute and Stormont Hospital and Training School established.
• 1897 - Topeka Tent and Awning Company established.^[6]
• 1899 - Gage Park established.

20th century

• 1900
  • Bethel Bible College founded.
  • Population: 33,608.
• 1902 - Smith Automobile Company founded.
• 1903 - Kansas State Capitol building constructed.
• 1905 - Topeka Industrial Institute later rebuilt as a women's prison.
• 1906 - Bethesda Hospital established.
• 1909 - St. Francis Hospital established.
• 1910 - Population: 43,684.
• 1911 - Hayden High School established.
• 1914 - G.A.R. Memorial Hall built.
• 1917 - Grace Episcopal Cathedral built.
• 1920 - Menninger Clinic opens.
• 1926 - Jayhawk Theatre opens.^[7]
• 1928 - College of the Sisters of Bethany closed.
• 1933 - Topeka Zoo opens.

• 1936 - Sumner Elementary School built.
• 1941 - Topeka Army Air Field established.
• 1948 - Topeka station established.
• 1950
  • Population: 78,791.
  • Railroad station built.
• 1952 - Topeka Lutheran School opens.
• 1954 - Brown v. Board of Education decided.
• 1955 - Westboro Baptist Church opens.
• 1962 - Cedar Crest (mansion) becomes state governor's official residence.
• 1965 - Topeka Genealogical Society founded.^[8]
• 1966 - Tornado.
• 1976 - Forbes Field (airport) in operation.
• 1980 - Cair Paravel-Latin School founded.
• 1984 - Kansas Museum of History opens.
• 1987 - Sunflower State Expo arena opens.
• 1988 - West Ridge Mall opens.
• 1989 - Heartland Park Topeka motorsports facility opens.
• 1991 - Topeka Performing Arts Center opens.
• 1997 - City website online (approximate date).^[9]
• 1998 - Topeka ScareCrows ice hockey team founded.

21st century

2000s

• 2003 - Kansas Koyotes football team formed.
• 2004
  • Brown v. Board of Education National Historic Site opens.
  • Topeka RoadRunners ice hockey team founded.
• 2005
  • Bill Bunten becomes mayor.^{[10] [11]}
  • Topeka Golden Giants baseball team formed.
• 2006 - Railroad station built.
• 2008 - North Topeka Arts District formed.^[12]
• 2009 - Topeka Mudcats women's football team founded.

2010s

• 2010
  • Kaw River State Park opens.
  • Population: 127,473.

See also

• List of mayors of Topeka
• National Register of Historic Places listings in Shawnee County, Kansas
• Timeline of Kansas

other cities in Kansas

• Timeline of Wichita, Kansas

Bibliography

• • • 1872
      • 1882
  • 1886
  • Topeka . 23 . 446 . 1888 . . 1.
  • Book: Kansas State Gazetteer and Business Directory. Topeka. https://books.google.com/books?id=HThEAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA1014. Google Books. 1904. R.L. Polk & Co.. Chicago.
  • Topeka . 27 . 48 - 49 . 1910 . . 1.
    • 1921
• Book: Pocket Guide to City of Topeka. 1913. 2027/chi.69107413.
• Book: Kansas: a Guide to the Sunflower State . Federal Writers’ Project . . New York . Viking Press . 1939. Hathi Trust . Topeka . 2027/mdp.39015027812505?urlappend=%3Bseq=302 . http://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015027812505?urlappend=%3Bseq=302 . Federal Writers’ Project .
  • Book: David J. Wishart. David J. Wishart . Encyclopedia of the Great Plains . 2004 . http://plainshumanities.unl.edu/encyclopedia/doc/egp.ct.000.xml . University of Nebraska Press . 0-8032-4787-7 . Cities and Towns: Topeka, Kansas. .

• Web site: Burgess . Barbara . Topeka's Roots: the Prairie Potato . 2007-03-10 .
• Andrews, B. (1995). Topeka: A City of Opportunity (Kansas State Historical Society).
• Cohen, J. (2007). The History of Topeka (University of Kansas Press).
• Holmes, J. (2020). Topeka: A History (Arcadia Publishing).
• Johnson, C. (1987). A History of Topeka (Kansas State University Press).
• Johnson, W. (1982). Topeka: An Illustrated History. Kansas State Historical Society).
• Kappler, P. (2010). Topeka: The History of a Capital City (Kansas State Historical Society).
• Price, T. (2012). Topeka: The Story of Kansas’ Capital City (University Press of Kansas).
• Smith, M. (2005). Topeka: An Illustrated History (Kansas Historical Society).
• White, J. (2003). Topeka: A History (Kansas Heritage Press).

External links

• Web site: Links . Topeka Genealogical Society .
• Items related to Topeka, Kansas, various dates (via Digital Public Library of America).

Notes and References

1. Topeka’s 100 Years of Inspired Leadership, p. 4 (N.p.: 1954), p. 4 (from the archives of the Kansas State Historical Society, Topeka, Kans.).
2. Web site: Territorial Kansas Timeline, 1854-1861 . Kansas State Historical Society . Kansas Collection of the University of Kansas . Territorial Kansas Online . September 13, 2012.
3. Web site: U.S. Newspaper Directory . Chronicling America . Library of Congress . September 12, 2012.
4. William C. Pollard, Jr., Forts and Posts in Kansas During the Civil War: 1861-1865 (Charleston, S.C.: CreateSpace, June 12, 2015), pp. 117-9.
5. Untitled story, The Topeka Weekly Leader, April 18, 1867, p. 3.
6. Book: Topeka Tent & Awning Co., Catalog no. 23 . 1923 . Topeka Tent & Awning Co. .
7. Web site: Theatre History . Jayhawk Theatre . September 13, 2012.
8. Web site: About Us . Topeka Genealogical Society . September 13, 2012.
9. Web site: https://web.archive.org/web/19970328214308/http://www.topeka.org/ . City of Topeka . 1997-03-28 . .
10. Web site: Mayor of Topeka. City of Topeka. https://web.archive.org/web/20090906212353/http://www.topeka.org/mayor/. dead. September 6, 2009.
11. Web site: Meet the Mayors . . Washington, DC . March 31, 2013 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20080627104834/http://www.usmayors.org/meetmayors/mayorsatglance.asp . June 27, 2008 .
12. Web site: A Turnaround in Topeka . J. Barone . August 5, 2012 . New York Times .