Topeka, Kansas
Topeka is located on the territory of Kansas. Topeka is the capital of Kansas and the county administrative center of Shawnee. It is located in the central part of the county and Shawn is situated along the Kansas River. The population is 127, 473 people. Three U.S. Navy ships were named after the town.
Topeka is the name that in the language of the Kansa Indians meant "to dig good potatoes". In 1826 was marked the name of the city. In 1885 the town founders chose the name Topeka, because it sounds good and it was the original Indian name.
Joseph James, in whose veins flowed Indian blood, was the first to suggest the name Topeka. The town was founded in 1854. Its founders were men who despised slavery. Topeka in 1857 was recognized as a city.
In the forties of the nineteenth century, three sisters, who were of mixed marriage of Englishman and Indian, founded and served a ferry for everyone to cross the river Kansas.
The sisters were married to three Canadians who were brothers. The ferry was established exactly where today the city of Topeka is. At that time there was still no structures except the ferry, but around it and gradually began to emerge small bungalows.
In the fifties of the eighteenth century, Oregon once passed through Topeka on the way to the newly built Fort Riley. In 1854 nine men founded the Association for the creation of Topeka city. At that time in Topeka many boats stopped, while carrying goods on the river- mainly food such as potatoes, wheat, corn, meat and flour.
In the sixties of the nineteenth century, Topeka became the trading post, where sold and traded were very important to the Victorian era goods. In 1861 Kansas was annexed to the Union as the thirty-fourth state. Topeka was selected as state Capital.
In 1862 local resident donated land for the construction of the state Capitol building on the territory of Topeka. In 1866 began the construction of the Capitol in Topeka. Construction of the building took thirty-seven years.
Fort Simple was built, whose purpose was to prevent Topeka from attacks, when the Confederate forces decide to attack the city. Fort Simple was abandoned completely in 1865 and in 1867 was destroyed.
Officers used the State Capitol, located in Topeka in 1869. Then part of the building was built and it served as an administrative building of the state from 1863 to 1869. The city settled many former slaves who found refuge and understanding here.
In 1865, in the city was founded Lincoln College, who then became the Washburn University. In the eighties of the nineteenth century, Topeka passed through a boom of economic development, which, however, ended disastrously. In 1889 many investors went bankrupt.
During this period, however, despite the difficult economic situation, Topeka doubled the size of its population. In the early twentieth century in the city soared the automotive industry.
At that time, the first university was founded in the city. In the sixties of the twentieth century Western University School of Topeka was based there.
In June 1966 Topeka was struck by a tornado that hit downtown and Washburn University.
Damage from the tornado was estimated at one hundred million dollars. Once recovered from the tornado, Topeka became a city with ascending economic development. In the city was founded an airbase, which, however, closed its doors in 1974, which led to a reduction in the population as ten thousand people left the city. In the early twenty-first century the town began to revitalize a number of programs.
