Timeline of Topeka, Kansas

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

This is a dynamic list and may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by expanding it with reliably sourced entries.

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.[2]
• 1860
  • Grace Church incorporated.
  • Drought.
• 1861
  • Topeka designated state capitol.[3]
  • Kansas legislature convenes.[4]
  • Episcopal Female Seminary of Topeka chartered.
• 1863 - Kansas Farmer begins publication.[2]
• 1864
  • Topeka threatened during Price's Raid.
  • Fort Simple built in the fall in to defend against Confederate troops during Price's Raid.[5]
• 1865
  • Lincoln College founded.
  • Harrison School built.[6]
  • Union Pacific railway begins operating in Eugene.[3]
• 1867 - Fort Simple torn down in April.[7]
• 1868 - Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe railroad construction begins.[3]
• 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.[2]
• 1883 - Public Library building constructed.
• 1887
  • Governor's Mansion built.
  • Topeka Golden Giants baseball team formed.
• 1890 - Population: 31,007.[8]
• 1894 - Christ's Hospital established.[3]
• 1895 - Topeka Industrial and Educational Institute[3] and Stormont Hospital and Training School established.[3]
• 1897 - Topeka Tent and Awning Company established.[9]
• 1899 - Gage Park established.

20th century

• 1900
  • Bethel Bible College founded.
  • Population: 33,608.[3]
• 1902 - Smith Automobile Company founded.
• 1903 - Kansas State Capitol building constructed.
• 1906 - Bethesda Hospital established.[3]
• 1909 - St. Francis Hospital established.[3]
• 1910 - Population: 43,684.[3]
• 1911 - Hayden High School established.
• 1914 - G.A.R. Memorial Hall built.
• 1917 - Grace Episcopal Cathedral built.
• 1920 - Menninger Clinic opens.[10]
• 1926 - Jayhawk Theatre opens.[11]
• 1933 - Topeka Zoo opens.
• 1936 - Sumner Elementary School built.
• 1941 - Topeka Army Air Field established.
• 1950
  • Population: 78,791.
  • Railroad station built.
• 1952 - Topeka Lutheran School opens.
• 1954 - Brown v. Board of Education decided.[12]
• 1955 - Westboro Baptist Church opens.
• 1962 - Cedar Crest (mansion) becomes state governor's official residence.
• 1965 - Topeka Genealogical Society founded.[13]
• 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).[14]
• 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.[15][16]
  • Topeka Golden Giants baseball team formed.
• 2006 - Railroad station built.
• 2008 - North Topeka Arts District formed.[17]
• 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

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. "U.S. Newspaper Directory". Chronicling America. Library of Congress. Retrieved September 12, 2012.
3. Britannica 1910.
4. Kansas State Historical Society; Kansas Collection of the University of Kansas. "Territorial Kansas Timeline, 1854-1861". Territorial Kansas Online. Retrieved September 13, 2012.
5. 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.
6. Topeka (Kan.). Board of Education (1886), "Historical Notes", Manual of the public schools of Topeka Kansas, Topeka, Kan: G. W. Crane & co., printers
7. Untitled story, The Topeka Weekly Leader, April 18, 1867, p. 3.
8. Population of the 100 Largest Cities and Other Urban Places in the United States: 1790 to 1990, US Census Bureau, 1998
9. Topeka Tent & Awning Co., Catalog no. 23. 1923.
10. Wishart 2004.
11. "Theatre History". Jayhawk Theatre. Retrieved September 13, 2012.
12. "On This Day", New York Times, retrieved November 30, 2014
13. "About Us". Topeka Genealogical Society. Retrieved September 13, 2012.
14. "City of Topeka". Archived from the original on March 1997 – via Internet Archive, Wayback Machine.
15. "Mayor of Topeka". City of Topeka. Archived from the original on September 6, 2009.
16. "Meet the Mayors". Washington, DC: United States Conference of Mayors. Archived from the original on June 27, 2008. Retrieved March 31, 2013.
17. J. Barone (August 5, 2012). "A Turnaround in Topeka". New York Times.

Bibliography

See also: List of books about State of Kansas (which includes historical information about its counties and cities too)

See also: List of books about Shawnee County, Kansas

• Samuel Radges, ed. (1870), Biennial Directory of the City of Topeka, State Record Book and Job Printing House – via HathiTrust
  • 1872
• Topeka City Directory, 1874 – via Internet Archive
• Biennial Directory to...the City of Topeka, Samuel Radges, 1880 – via Internet Archive
  • 1882
  • 1886
• F. W. Giles (1886), Thirty years in Topeka: a historical sketch, Topeka, Kansas: G. W. Crane & Co., OL 23347923M
• Mary E. Jackson (1890), Topeka Pen and Camera Sketches, Topeka, Kan: G. W. Crane & Co., printers, OCLC 2305406, OL 6586555M
• "Topeka". Kansas State Gazetteer and Business Directory. Chicago: R.L. Polk & Co. 1904 – via Google Books.
• James Levi King (1905), History of Shawnee County, Kansas, and representative citizens, Chicago, Ill: Richmond & Arnold, OL 14013262M
• "Topeka", Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.), New York, 1910, OCLC 14782424 – via Internet Archive
• Topeka City Directory, Polk-Radges Directory Co., 1912, hdl:2027/umn.31951002300151j
  • 1921
• Pocket Guide to City of Topeka. 1913. hdl:2027/chi.69107413.
• Federal Writers’ Project (1939). "Topeka". Kansas: a Guide to the Sunflower State. American Guide Series. New York: Viking Press – via Hathi Trust.
• Ory Mazar Nergal, ed. (1980), "Topeka, KS", Encyclopedia of American Cities, New York: E.P. Dutton, OL 4120668M
• David J. Wishart, ed. (2004). "Cities and Towns: Topeka, Kansas". Encyclopedia of the Great Plains. University of Nebraska Press. ISBN 0-8032-4787-7.

• Burgess, Barbara. "Topeka's Roots: the Prairie Potato". Retrieved 2007-03-10.

External links

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