|
< 1650's |
Native peoples before mid 17th Century appear to have been the Padouca. |
|
1650's |
Kansa Indians arrive. The Padoucas appear to first have been driven to the west end of the Kansa’s new range, where they were pressed against the Pawnee. By 1800, the Padouca had been largely assimilated into the Kansa and Pawnee. |
|
1815 |
Treaty of Friendship between US and Kansa, signed at St. Louis. |
|
1838 |
First use by an American Fur Company caravan of the Kansas crossing in present Topeka area. |
|
1842 |
Joseph and Louis Papin arrived and were probably the first white settlers at what is now Topeka. Papin's Ferry operated at the "Topeka" crossing of the Kansas (Kaw) River on the Oregon-California Trail until 1857 when a bridge was constructed. |
|
1852 |
Smith's Kansas river ferry established at a site a few miles above Papin's "Topeka" ferry. |
|
1854 |
Topeka was founded by five antislavery activists. |
|
1854 |
Col. Cyrus K. Holliday came to "Topeka, Kansas Territory." Holliday was a founder of Topeka and promoter of the Sante Fe Railroad. |
|
1855 |
A freestate constitution was framed in Topeka. It did not receive serious consideration in Congress. |
|
1861 |
Kansas admitted to the union as the 34th State and Topeka became the state capitol. Topeka was probably chosen for its promiximity to trails (Oregon Trail, Smoky Hill Trail) and water (Kaw (Kansas) River) |
|
1866 |
Construction begins on the State Capitol building at Topeka. |
|
1879 |
The first telephone switchboard was used in Topeka. |
|
1880's |
Topeka passed through a great real estate boom and the population of the Capital City more than doubled. |
|
1887 |
The Rock Island Railroad line stretched westward from Topeka early in 1887. |
|
1897 |
In the place of sermons or civic service or crusading leagues, Charles M. Sheldon (1857-1946), a congregational pastor in Topeka, wrote a novel: In His Steps (theoretically the best selling book in the world), first published in 1897 and reprinted or serialized innumerable times thereafter. |
|
1897 |
Admitted to the bar in Kansas and in Tennessee, Lutie Lytle, the second black woman admitted to the practice of law in the U.S. called Topeka home. |
|
1898 |
Before he started Bethel College, Charles Parham had a "healing school" in a building still standing at 4th and Jackson. Parham’s newsletter reported many miraculous healings there. |
|
1903 |
Rex Stout, author of the Nero Wolfe novels. Graduates from Topeka High School. Nero Wolfe's investigator Archie Goodwin is named after a Topeka policeman from the 1920's who found young Rex Stout's stolen crank-up record player. |
|
1903 |
State Capitol at Topeka is completed. |
|
1906 |
The Great Smith automobile began it's six year manufacturing run in Topeka. |
|
1908 |
September, five men were arrested in Topeka for playing checkers on Sunday. |
|
1911 |
Installed in 1911, Topeka is home to Tiffany stained glass windows. Located in the First Presbyterian Church in downtown Topeka, the windows, made of Favrile glass, were designed and executed at the Tiffany Studios in New York City under the supervision of its art director Louis C. Tiffany. |
|
1914 |
The Memorial Building at 120 W. 10th in Topeka was completed at a cost of more than $600,000. Most of the money came from the federal government in settlement of Civil War claims. |
|
1917 |
Over 15,000 children attended Governor Arthur Capper's birthday party at Garfield Park in Topeka on July 14. |
|
1930 |
Gypsy Rose Lee gave her first performance in Topeka. Rose's sister, Baby June documents in her autobiography the story of Baby June departing with the stage manager. Their mother dressed Rose in June's costume and pushed Rose onto the stage. Rose was an instant hit and began her career "on the road" in Kansas City the very next day. |
|
1932 |
Topeka is the home of the smiling character Alfred E. Newman, long recognized as the logo character for Mad Magazine. The character was the logo for a Topeka dentist who professed his services "didn't hurt a bit!" |
|
1936 |
Topeka was the home of Alf Landon, the 1936 republican nominee for president defeated by Franklin D. Roosevelt. |
|
1954 |
Brown V. Board of Education National Historic Site. The site was designated to commemorate the landmark Supreme Court decision of May 17 1954, which ended segregation in public schools. Topeka's Monroe School, the all-black school cited in Brown V. Board of Education, has been converted to a national park detailing the court case and the integral role of the Brown decision in the Civil Rights Movement. The Park opened in May 2003. |
|
1954 |
Construction begins on the nine million dollar State Office Building in Topeka. |
|
1966 |
Topeka was struck by an F5 rated tornado, according to the Fujita scale. It started on the southwest side of town, moving northeast, passing over a local landmark named Burnett's Mound. According to a local Indian legend, this mound was thought to protect the city from tornadoes. It went on to rip through the city, hitting the downtown area and Washburn University. Total dollar cost was put at $100 million making it, at the time, one of the costliest tornadoes in American history. Even to this day, with inflation factored in, the Topeka tornado stands as one of the costliest on record. It also helped bring to prominence the CBS and A&E broadcaster Bill Kurtis, who became well known for his televised admonition to "take cover, for God's sake, take cover" on WIBW-TV during the tornado. |
