Along the eastern side of Kansas is the state capital of Topeka. For some reason I thought Topeka was the largest city in Kansas before I visited, but it’s actually only the fourth largest. I always like to include the capitol building as my first photo from every state, but on this trip it actually was where I began exploring Kansas. I found Topeka to be a nice, clean, and welcoming city. When I arrived in August I had just been in India the week before, and the dry temperatures here felt a million times better than the hot and humid conditions I had just left. It was nice being able to walk around again without immediately being covered in sweat!
The Capitol is surrounded by several other government buildings, including this one along one of the main streets through the city. I visited on a Saturday afternoon, and despite more than 100,000 people living in Topeka, the downtown area was nearly completely empty.
There were a few businesses open and a large group of what seemed to be high school or college students dressed up and getting their photos taken near the Capitol, but otherwise there wasn’t much activity. This is another government building that houses the Department of Travel and Tourism.
This massive building also got my attention while I was walking around. At first I thought it might be some kind of cathedral, but it’s actually Topeka High School. It’s certainly a lot more impressive looking than the high school I went to!
These are two more views from downtown Topeka, both taken around 10th Avenue. Maybe things are more lively during the work week, but on the Saturday I visited this definitely wasn’t an exciting place to be. Fortunately one of the most interesting places in the city was only about a mile away.
Only about a mile from the Capitol is probably the most famous historical site in Topeka. Since it was so close, I walked over to the Brown v. Board of Education museum. From the late 1800s through the middle of the 20th century, many public schools in the United States were segregated by race. In 1951 a lawsuit was filed against the Topeka Board of Education challenging segregation in the city’s public schools.
The case eventually reached the United States Supreme Court, which ruled in 1954 that racial segregation in public schools was unconstitutional. The decision became one of the most important turning points of the American civil rights movement. The museum is located inside the former Monroe Elementary School and goes through the events leading up to the lawsuit, the people involved, and the larger struggle against segregation in the United States.
The museum doesn’t stop with school segregation either. There were exhibits discussing other forms of discrimination and intolerance, making the museum about much more than a single court case. I thought this was easily one of the most interesting places I visited in Kansas.
Despite Topeka being home to one of the most important landmarks in the history of American civil rights, only a few miles away is the infamous Westboro Baptist Church. The small church became internationally known for its extreme rhetoric and for protesting events around the country, including military funerals. I had heard about them plenty of times before this trip, but I never even realized they were based in Kansas until I arrived in Topeka.
To be honest, I expected to find a much larger and more public looking church. Instead the property looked more like an upscale home sitting in an otherwise quiet residential neighborhood. Curiosity got the best of me after visiting, so I later looked through their website and read more about their beliefs. Their views were even more extreme than I realized, with seemingly every country, religion, and group of people finding its way onto their list of grievances. Around the property were some of their signs along with an American flag and rainbow flag both being flown upside down.
Just like I had mistakenly imagined the church would be a large public building, I also assumed there might be supporters living throughout the surrounding neighborhood. That wasn’t the case at all. Other than the church property itself, I didn’t see a single other home displaying the same kind of rhetoric. Actually, a large percentage of the houses around the neighborhood were flying American flags.
I’d say my favorite place in Topeka was easily Gage Park. I almost didn’t visit because I assumed it would be nothing more than a large picnic area with a few local teams playing soccer or baseball. The park is actually huge and filled with different places to explore. It’s even big enough to have a small train that takes kids around part of the park.
I had absolutely perfect weather when I visited. I was in the middle of a good book at the time and wished I had brought it with me, because I probably would have spent an hour or two sitting around the garden reading.
Gage Park is also home to a swimming complex, outdoor theater, and the Topeka Zoo. I wasn’t really feeling like visiting the zoo at the time, although in hindsight maybe I should have gone. There’s enough here that the park could easily take up a good portion of the day.
The park also has a large rose garden that’s been around for decades. Several benches throughout the garden were dedicated to people who had passed away. After spending most of the day walking through downtown and visiting museums and historical sites, this was a relaxing place to finish my time in Topeka.
