Topeka

The city of Topeka was founded on December 5, 1854, by nine men who made camp by the Kansas River at what is today the intersection of First and Kansas Avenues. During Kansas's territorial days, Topeka played a leading role in the Free State movement. In 1858, Topeka was voted the Shawnee County seat, and in 1859 it secured the position of state capital at the final constitutional convention, which took effect when Kansas achieved statehood in 1861. In the century and a half that followed, ...