The Kansas capital offers compelling Civil Rights history and a stunning statehouse.
By Michael Ream

Driving into Topeka feels like a trip into the wide-open spaces of the American frontier. Vast prairie surrounds the Kansas capital as the wind whips across flat, open land. This is a natural spot for the state’s namesake sunflowers, their bright yellow petals fluttering in the breeze.

The interior of the Kansas Capitol dome and some of the building’s beautiful murals. Dave Leiker photo

Located along the route of the historic Oregon Trail, Topeka has seen generations of pioneers initially in covered wagons of westward settlers and later on railroads that carried people and cattle across the Great Plains.

While these successive waves of travelers have followed well-worn routes through Topeka, today’s traveler will find a city with plenty of reasons to stay, including a first-rate history museum, a site commemorating one of the most important events in the Civil Rights movement and a rare opportunity to climb to the top of a Capitol building dome.

With a population of almost 122,000, Topeka has five performing arts venues and numerous good restaurants. The city is laid out on an easily navigable street grid with its main attractions just a short distance from each other by car.

Room at the top

Completed in 1903 at $3.2 million, the copper-domed Kansas State Capitol, at 300 W. 10th St., looms over the skyline–it’s the highest point in Topeka by law. An old-fashioned cage elevator takes visitors to the fifth floor where tours of the Capitol dome begin.

The first stop is a balcony that overlooks the Capitol rotunda. Proceeding inside the dome, tours take a look at the massive support beams and tresses. The final stretch leads up a steep enclosed stairway to the very top, where visitors may step outside for an impressive view of Topeka and a peek at the statue of Ad Astra, a Kansa warrior who stands on a pedestal atop the dome, pointing his bow skyward. There are 296 steps in all to the top of the dome.

Inside the rotunda stand statues of prominent Kansans, including Dwight Eisenhower and Amelia Earhart. The Capitol also has numerous murals depicting events in Kansas’ history, notably John Steuart Curry’s famous “Tragic Prelude” that portrays John Brown as a fanatical advocate of the anti-slavery cause in Kansas Territory before the Civil War.

After making the trek to the top of the dome and back, visitors may want to stop at Hazel Hill Chocolate Traditions, a family-owned sweet shop downtown at 724 S. Kansas Ave. Bubbling kettles turn out such tasty treats as caramel apples covered in crushed Oreo cookies. The shop also has a wide variety of truffles and chocolate dipped fruits and nuts.

History comes alive

An 1880s locomotive is on display in the Kansas Museum of History. Greater Topeka Chamber photo

The railroad was a keystone in Topeka’s development. Trains still roll by the Great Overland Station, 701 N. Kansas Ave. that has been restored to its look during the 1920s. The city was also the birthplace of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad. One of its locomotives dominates the main gallery at the Kansas Museum of History, 6425 SW Sixth Ave., which also has a life-size Cheyenne tipi and a covered wagon among its many exhibits.

If the railroad was Kansas’ heart, the fight over slavery was its historical soul, and the museum has extensive displays on the violent struggle between abolitionist and pro-slavery factions preceding Kansas’ admittance as a free state in 1861. This era of “Bleeding Kansas” immediately preceded the Civil War, which saw black regiments fight for Kansas.

More contemporary history may be seen at the Brown v. Board of Education National Historic Site in the historic Monroe Elementary School at 1515 SE Monroe St., just south of downtown. The Supreme Court case combined five cases from Kansas, Delaware, South Carolina, Virginia and Washington, D.C., under the heading of Brown v. Board of Education because each sought the same legal remedy. In 1954, the Supreme Court ruled that segregation in public schools was unconstitutional. The museum has interactive exhibits from the turbulent days of the Civil Rights Movement.

Green spaces and full tables

Parks are sprinkled throughout Topeka, with the gem being Gage Park, Sixth Avenue and Gage Boulevard. This large city park includes a miniature train, carousel and the Topeka Zoo. The nearby Mulvane Art Museum at 17th and Jewell streets on the campus of Washburn University has a diverse collection of art, including works by local and regional artists.

Topeka is an hour west of the barbecue capital of Kansas City, so it’s no surprise to find a number of restaurants featuring ribs, pulled pork and other manner of smoked delights. But the best of all may be Boss Hawg’s, 2833 SW 29th St. Locals pack into the Blind Tiger Brewery, 417 SW 37th St., for the collection of beers brewed on site as well as burgers, pasta, ribs, steaks and seafood. This place is loud but fun. Both restaurants have two AAA Diamonds. For more upscale dining, New City Café, 4005 Gage Center Drive, in the Gage Shopping Center offers innovative Latin and Mediterranean-influenced cooking, including Jamaican mango tilapia.

Topeka has several overnight options, including Brickyard Barn Inn, 4020 NW 25th St., a quaint, cozy bed-and-breakfast inn housed in a converted 1927 brick dairy barn. There’s also the AAA three Diamond Senate Luxury Suites, 900 SW Tyler St., a historic hotel located just steps from the Capitol. Chain motels are clustered on the west end of town, just south of Interstate 70.

Wherever your journey may take you, Topeka is a perfect place for a stopover. Slow down and feel the wind rustle past.

Michael Ream is a contributor from Clarksville, Ark.