The marker is affixed to the west facade of the building.

This historical marker indicates the location of the state's first capitol building, constructed between 1857-1858. It wasn't built purposely to house the state capitol offices; these were established in the building in 1861. The building was called the Ritchie Block. Just a few years later, the current capitol building was constructed. Fidelity Bank has been located here since 1922. The present structure was built in 1967.

Historical Marker: Site of the First State Capitol

This short walking tour includes a dozen historical sites including Constitution Hall, the home of the Free State Legislature that stood against the pro-slavery legislature at Lecompton. The tour reveals the diversity of Topeka's people and history with stops related to Hispanic culture and African American history. The tour also includes the current seat of government, monuments to Kansas women, historic buildings that were home to important businesses, theaters,  and other historic sites, landmarks, and institutions.

History of Downtown Topeka

What does American democracy look like?  This tour explores how Kansans have memorialized democracy through statues, monuments, and civic architecture and examines contemporary stories of civic engagement through public art and public spaces that reflect an ever-changing nation. Kansans value their democracy, and you can see it in every town square, city hall, public library, and more.  But where else can you see the stories –  and visions  – of democracy in our hometowns?
 
This Clio tour was created by Humanities Kansas, the sponsor for the exclusive Kansas tour of the  “Voices and Votes: Democracy in America” Smithsonian traveling exhibition. The exhibit explores the dynamic history of American democracy. The tour is made possible through the Museum on Main Street program. Visit humanitieskansas.org for an overview of the Voices and Votes tour.


Sidewalk Civics

On October 1855, 40 Free State delegates elected from across Kansas Territory gathered to write a document now known as "the Topeka Constitution" which prohibited slavery. While this document passed the U.S. House of Representatives, pro-slavery forces prevented the vote in the Senate. On July 4, 1856, 400 U.S. Army troops on horseback assembled in front of Constitution Hall. Calling it the most painful duty of his life, Col. Edwin V. Sumner dispersed the legislators. The Northern-dominated House of Representatives still approved the Topeka legislature's request to recognize the state constitution they drafted and submitted to voters. The Topeka Constitution, in contrast to the one passed by the pro-slavery government in Lecompton, barred slavery. Southerners in the Senate were able to block the admission of Kansas as a free state in 1856.&nbsp; Despite overwhelming evidence that the pro-slavery faction in Lecompton did not represent the sovereign will of the people of Kansas, then-President Franklin Pierce supported the pro-slavery government in Lecompton and actually declared that the Free Soilers who met in Kansas represented an&nbsp;insurrection&nbsp;against law and order. As a result, Kansas was denied statehood until after Lincoln's victory in the Presidential Election of 1860. As&nbsp;Southern Congressmen left Washington in protest, Congress approved a new&nbsp;anti-slavery state constitution, known as the&nbsp;Wyandotte Constitution, and admitted&nbsp;Kansas as a state on January 29, 1861.&nbsp; In&nbsp;remembrance&nbsp;of Pierce's&nbsp;opposition,&nbsp;Topeka skipped Pierce in its section of city&nbsp;streets named in honor of American presidents. In his place, Topeka has a street named after&nbsp;Henry Clay-a moderate on the issue of slavery's western extension and a&nbsp;political rival of Pierce who never served as President.&nbsp;

Constitution Hall was the first stone building in the city of Topeka and served as the headquarters of protest government formed by anti-slavery settlers in the early years of the Kansas Territory. Between the creation of the territory in 1854 and the start of the Civil War, Congress recognized a pro-slavery government based out of Lecompton as the legitimate government of the territory. In response, settlers representing the majority of Kansans who opposed the extension of slavery into their territory created their own government which was headquartered at this location. After statehood was granted in 1861 (without slavery) this building also served as the official meeting place of the new state government during construction of the East Wing of the Statehouse, five blocks to the south.

Constitution Hall-The Free State Capitol

The lot where the Old German-American State Bank building stands was bought in 1908 by Millard F. Rigby, the owner of a local candy business. In the spring of 1910, the existing building on the lot was demolished and construction began on the new structure. The building cost about $15,000 to build. By mid-1912, the real estate/ insurance office of George M. Noble &amp; Company occupied the second story; a drugstore - Brunt Drug Co. - was operating from part of the first floor of the building. An architect, Charles M. Cuthbert, worked from an office in the building by 1915. The German-American State Bank was established by F.P. Metzger elsewhere downtown (Third and Kansas avenues) in 1908 and gained $89,000 in deposits in its first 89 days. The bank catered to farmers and had four farmers on its board of directors. The bank moved to the building on the corner of Kansas and SW 5th Avenue in September 1915. A newspaper advertisement for the new location touted a "cozy Rest Room especially for the Ladies. The bank's slogan was "Just Plain, Practical, Conservative Banking is Our Policy." Theodore C. Mueller was the bank president in 1915; vice presidents were J.S. Corley and T.R. Paxton. The bank changed its name in December 1917 (during World War I, when the German association was a liability) to the Guarantee State Bank. The bank's president in 1918 was E.E. Mullaney; T.R. Paxton and Roy L. Bone were vice presidents. The bank occupied this building until the 1950s. White exteriors for commercial buildings became popular after the "White City" displays of the 1893 Chicago World's Fair. The glazed brick and terracotta materials used in the bank building reflect this trend. The decorations on the bank buildnig are a blend of Romanesque and classical revivals. While the exterior of the old German-American State Bank building retains a moderate degree of architectural integrity, the interior has been completely renovated. The new second-story windows match the original in type and material except for the addition of tinted glass. The first-floor windows do not replicate the historical windows. A restaurant named Luis' Place is one of the building's current tenants; they operate mainly as a private club with special events and reservation dining only. They are open to the public for Friday lunches and First Wednesdays wine tastings. A gluten-free bakery, Shana Cake, holds the corner space on the main floor. A real estate leasing and management firm, Kansas Commercial, occupies the second-floor offices.

The old German-American State Bank building is a two-story commercial block clad in white glazed brick and terra cotta ornaments. It was built in 1910 and designed by Leeper & Smith. The longer side of the building faces south toward SW 5th Avenue and features two-story arched bays and a stepped parapet. A recessed modern, two-story addition on the building's west end contains a stairway and elevator. The building contained the bank on the first floor until the 1950s; in 1917, the bank changed its name to Guaranty State Bank. The old German-American State Bank building was listed in the Kansas Register in 1979 and in the National Register the following year. 

Old German-American State Bank

Originally
part of a complex that included a hotel and arcade, the construction of the
Jayhawk was overseen by local architect, Thomas Williamson and was one of the
earliest “air refrigerated” theaters in Kansas.&nbsp;
It seated 1,500 people and was the site where Governor Alf Landon
announced his intention to run for president in 1936.&nbsp; 

The theater
closed in 1976, soon fell into disrepair and was considered for demolition in
1992.&nbsp; This was the same year that
efforts began to save and restore the venerable theater.&nbsp; These efforts were successful in having the
state legislature designate it as the Official State Theater of Kansas in
1993.&nbsp; By 1996, most of the debris had
been removed by local Boy Scouts and the public was granted access as
restoration efforts moved forward.

Now located
in the Jayhawk Tower (an office building renovated from the Hotel Jayhawk), the
Jayhawk Theater resumed operations in October of 2014 with the showing of the
Rocky Horror Picture Show.&nbsp; While
restoration is ongoing, it is now open for tours and is scheduled to function
as it was originally intended, as a movie theater and venue for live
shows.&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

Completed in 1926, the Jayhawk Theatre was created to show both moving pictures and live, primarily, vaudeville shows. The Jayhawk was designed by the prominent Kansas City architectural firm of the Boller Brothers, which was responsible for designing almost 100 theaters across the country. Twenty of their theaters are now listed on the National Register of Historic Places, including the Jayhawk.

The Jayhawk Theatre

The Thacher Building first contained the O'Donald Lithographic Company. A Topeka company named Hall and O'Donald Lithographing incorporated in 1890; the charter was filed with the Kansas Secretary of State on March14th. The new corporation had capital stock of $100,000. The firm was among a list of local newspapers and printers that hired union laborers, according to a Topeka newspaper notice in 1897; the ad urged patrons to place their work with these firms. The 1890s was a decade of increasing tension between laborers and management over working conditions across the country. The firm opened branch offices in Minneapolis, Minnesota and Salt Lake City, Utah by the early 1890s. The company letterhead featured a lithograph of the Thacher Building and the tagline "County, Bank, and Office Outfitters." The east side of the building featured the advertising: "HALL &amp; O'DONALD LITHOGRAPHING/ LITHOGRAPHERS PRINTERS/ BLANK BOOK MAKERS." The company did not charge extra for the stone upon which the engraving was done, but the stone did not become the property of the buyer. A rival printer, the Kansas State Printing Company, was located next door in a brick building, by the mid-1890s. The uppermost floor contained a hall that was used for local lodge meetings. In 1899, the Thacher Building became the location of George W. Crane and Company, a printer and publisher, when Crane bought the building. George W. Crane was born in 1843 in Pennsylvania. His father moved to Topeka in 1855 to help make Kansas a free state; George followed ten years later, after the death of his mother and his move to Canada to live with an aunt. He began a bookbinding and blank book business in 1868 in the Ritchie Block and became one of the owners of the Daily Commonwealth newspaper. After a fire in the Ritchie Block in 1869 destroyed the publishing business, Crane moved to the Commonwealth Building. In 1873, another fire damaged the business once again. He moved to the Keith Block and established a successful business only to have it destroyed by fire in 1889. By 1893, Crane recovered from debts due to inadequate insurance, and briefly relocated to Kansas City. He returned to Topeka and established the company again as Crane and Company. He occupied only part of the Thacher building at first. George W. Crane passed away in January 1913 after a year of declining health. He was memorialized at a meeting of the Topeka Typographical Union in May 1913 as being broad-minded and tolerant. His business was praised as being the first one established in Topeka to become well known abroad; the company's plant was likened to a home with the workers being its household. George W. Crane was survived by his wife, Fannie K. Crane. Crane and Company evolved into an office supply business and expanded to fill the entire Thacher Building by 1926. The company closed in the 1980s. The Thacher building was purchased by Gizmo Pictures Inc., a video production company, in 2009 for $350,000. The firm expected to spend around $1 million to renovate the structure and to set up a cafe on the first floor. The buyers were impressed by the building's nine-foot-tall arched windows, ornate decoration, and high ceilings. They painstakingly restored the stained glass windows that were caked in many decades of dirt. Juli's Coffee and Bistro occupies the first floor, offering breakfast and lunch.

The Thacher Building is a three-story Richardson Romanesque commercial building in downtown Topeka. Built in 1888 at a cost of about $40,000, the stone structure is a two-part commercial block form. The stone balustrade capping the building contains a nameplate inscribed "THACHER." The Thacher Building was constructed for Timothy Dwight Thacher, a local businessman, using cottonwood limestone. Thacher settled in Topeka in the 1850s and helped establish the Kansas Republican Party in 1859. The original architectural plans for the Thacher Building by John Gideon Haskell survive; Haskell also designed the Kansas Statehouse. Not many other commercial buildings downtown from the Topeka building boom era survive so intact. The building was listed on its own in the National Register in 1975 and as a contributing building in the South Kansas Avenue Commercial Historic District in 2015.

Thacher Building

History of Mariachi Estrella de TopekaMariachi music is a folk music that comes from Mexico, and upon hearing its trumpets, violins, and guitars, it is instantly recognizable. This genre dates back to before the arrival of the Spanish, though the modern incarnation of mariachi is associated with the early 20th century. It was first introduced in Mexico City in 1905, and in the 1920s, the music was broadcast throughout the country through several radio networks. The first mariachi groups in the United States came from California in the late 1950s and 1960s. Up until the appearance of Mariachi Estrella de Topeka, the music genre was heavily related to machismo culture, particularly in terms of drinking tequila and womanizing.1 In the later 1970s in Topeka, at the request of a Guatemalan priest who was asking for livelier music in the church choir, seven women joined together to form the first all-female mariachi group, “Mariachi Estrella de Topeka”. These women brought the typical mariachi instruments from Mexico to Topeka and began playing at Topeka’s Our Lady of Guadalupe Church. The group consisted of Teresa Cuevas, Connie Alcala, Isabel Gonzalez, Rachel Galvan Sangalang, Dolores Galvan, Dolores Carmona and Linda Scurlock, and prior to playing at the church, they had little mariachi experience. They learned quickly, however, as they practiced the traditional mariachi instruments in a self-taught atmosphere. After attending a mariachi conference in San Antonio in 1980, the women had caught mariachi fever and cemented their goal to play mariachi on a broader scale. The self-taught musicians returned to Topeka after the conference, practiced diligently, and even had women’s mariachi regalia tailored for them. Soon enough, the seven women were playing across the Kansas State and garnering widespread popularity.2The Walkway Collapse at the Hyatt Regency in Kansas CityMariachi Estrella de Topeka had a gig to play at the Hyatt Regency in Kansas City on July 17th, 1981. Unfortunately, they never played due to one of the worst structural disasters in United States history (it was unsurpassed until the collapse of the World Trade Center in 2001). That evening, around 1,600 people stood in the atrium as well as on the fourth-floor and second-floor walkways watching a tea dance. The members of Mariachi Estrella de Topeka were about to perform for the Fuller Brush company, and with their outfits on, they were traversing the skywalk when the walkway collapsed. The fourth-floor walkway (the skywalk) crashed into the second-floor walkway, and then both walkways fell into the lobby below. In total, 114 people died and 219 were injured. Four of these deaths included Linda Scurlock, Dolores Galvan, Connie Alcala and Dolores Carmona. Only Rachel Galvan Sangalang and Teresa Cuevas survived the fall. The seventh member, Isabel "Bolie" Gonzales, was not at the Hyatt Regency that fateful day. This marked the virtual end of the first all-female mariachi group, but they immediately became legendary, almost mythic figures in Kansas’s Latino community. In fact, they have served as an inspiration to thousands of girls in the state, showing them that when you have a passion for something, you can go out and do it.According to Cuevas, “We kept at it, the girls and me. We had a lot of fun when we played. I think when you’re doing something that you’re doing yourself, you feel very fortunate. It gives me a lot of peace. It has been a very good thing in my life.”3Memorial UnveilingIn 2006, the one-of-a-kind monument was unveiled at the Topeka Performing Arts Center, memorializing and paying tribute to the mariachi group. The eight-foot tall memorial standing on a two-foot pedestal was designed by the Denver-born sculptor Emmanuel Martinez. The statue features a woman in a traditional mariachi costume, and she holds her right arm in the sky while holding a sombrero against her leg. The base relief of the statue features the four women who died in 1981.4 Inscription on the MemorialIn 1977, seven women from Kansas banded together to share with America, the traditions, culture and music of Mexico - and Mariachi Estrella de Topeka was born. Originally a choir of Our Lady of Guadalupe Church, the group rose to become regional performing artists. In the male-dominated world of mariachi, these pioneering women became the first all-female mariachi in Kansas and one of the first groups of its kind in the U.S. Their success, however, was cut short on July 17, 1981, when four members lost their lives in a tragic accident.[Relief](l-r), Dolores Galvan, Connie "Chae" Alcala, Dolores Carmona, Linda Rokey ScurlockAnd their music lived on through mariachi members left behindTeresa Cuevas, Rachel Galvan, Isabel "Bolie" GonzalesThis Mariachi Estrella de Topeka Musical Tribute ensures that the story and the music of these seven women will forever be heard.Dedicated July 12, 2006Sculptor: Emanuel Martinez5

Topeka has long been renowned for its contributions to music in every genre. However, throughout the history of the United States as well as Kansas, few musical groups have been as influential as Mariachi Estrella de Topeka. Consisting of seven women, Mariachi Estrella de Topeka rose to Kansas statewide prominence throughout the 1970s and especially in 1980 and 1981. More importantly, this group was the first all-female mariachi group (a musical genre typically dominated by males) in not only Kansas, but quite possibly the United States. Just as the group was taking off, they met a horrible tragedy in 1981 when the walkways at the Hyatt Regency in Kansas City collapsed, killing four members and 110 other people. An eight-foot bronze statue of a female mariachi player rests in front of the Topeka Performing Arts Center, memorializing the musical pioneers. This story captures the importance of preserving Kansas’s Mexican American communities and culture, which are a crucial part of democracy in the United States.

Mariachi Divina! - Mariachi Estrella de Topeka Musical Tribute

Brief History of the Grand Army of the Republic
The Grand Army of the Republic was a nationwide fraternal organization created by veterans of the Civil War. It was founded in Decatur, Illinois in 1866 by Benjamin F. Stephenson, and across the nation, membership to this organization was limited to discharged veterans of the Union Army, Navy, Marine Corps or the Revenue Cutter Service who had served between April 12, 1861 and April 9, 1865.&nbsp;The group reached its peak membership in 1890 with over 490,000 veterans, and it dissolved in 1956 when the last surviving member of the Union Army, Albert Woolson, died.&nbsp;
Because of the large membership&nbsp;of this organization, with posts&nbsp;in mostly northern states though there were a few in southern states, GAR was a primary advocate in politics. In addition to promoting soldiers and sailors memorial sites (many of which were built in the 1880s and 1890s), GAR helped secure voting rights for Black veterans, promoted patriotic education reforms, made Memorial Day a national holiday, lobbied Congress to establish pensions for veterans, and supported various Republican politicians in elections.&nbsp;GAR’s influence was so widespread that the group helped elect several presidents, including Ulysses S. Grant, Hayes, Garfield, Harrison, and McKinley (all of whom were also Civil War veterans or members of GAR). In fact, Republican candidates could not even get presidential or congressional nominations without a GAR endorsement.1
History of the G.A.R. Memorial Hall
Bringing a monument honoring Civil War veterans to Topeka dates back to 1906, when Captain P.H. Coney of Kansas’s GAR branch suggested to the state to build a memorial crowned with a peace figure. Also at that time, the Kansas Historical Society, which had been operating out of the State Capitol building since 1876, declared that it was simply running out of space to house its vast collection of artifacts, documents, and other historical objects.&nbsp;
Another factor leading to the construction of Memorial Hall was the federal government’s payments to states that helped serve in federal wars. The State of Kansas’s war claims included $97,466 for equipping and sending soldiers to fight in the Civil War as well as $425,065 for rebelling Confederate soldiers and for helping with the Indian Wars. This totaled around $522,531, which in 1909 was equivalent to about $13,750,816 today.
There was overwhelming favor among Kansas citizens to use that money for a memorial building. The GAR Council of Administration then adopted a resolution stating, “the erection of a building as a memorial to the memory of the soldiers of the war for the Union, a portion of said building to be used as a headquarters for the department of Kansas Grand Army of the Republic so long as the organization may exist, (and) the rest of the building to be used by the Kansas State Historical Society.”
In 1909, the Memorial Hall Building Commission was created and the State of Kansas gave $200,000 for its construction (in the end, the state would give $400,000). Two years later in 1911, President William Howard Taft visited Topeka to lay the cornerstone, which featured an inscription that read, “Erected by the State of Kansas as a Memorial to the Union Soldiers and Sailors of the War of the Rebellion.”
A dedication ceremony was held in 1914 at the building’s completion, and around 25,000 people came to the ceremony. The GAR Commander, John N. Harrison, detailed the building’s significance and philosophy at this ceremony, saying, “It’s magnificent walls of pure white marble are more eloquent than articulate speech — its very silence is impressive far beyond and above the words of man, for it assures my comrades living, that my comrades living and dead, are held in sacred memory by the great, patriotic liberty-loving people of Kansas.”
From 1914 to 1995, Memorial Hall stood as the headquarters of the Kansas State Historical Society. In 2000, however, a re-dedication was held, christening the building as the home of the Kansas Attorney General and Kansas Secretary of State.2

Known formally as the Memorial Building, the GAR Memorial Hall is a historic building located in downtown Topeka near the State Capitol. Although the building currently houses the State of Kansas Office of the Secretary State, Memorial Hall is significant as its construction was a dedication to the soldiers and sailors who fought in the Civil War. 

The building itself dates back to 1914, though movements to build a memorial began in 1908 by the Grand Army of the the Republic (GAR). It also stands as an excellent example of French Renaissance style architecture that was favored among government buildings during the early 20th century. From its construction in 1914 until 1995, Memorial Hall’s main purpose was to house the Kansas State Historical Society. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1975.

GAR Memorial Hall, (The Memorial Building) Topeka 

Landon was born in Pennsylvania, and his family later moved to Ohio and then to Kansas. He attended the University of Kansas where he studied law. After graduation in 1908, he became a bookkeeper and eventually saved enough money to start investing in oil ventures. He founded his own company in 1912.

This historical marker indicates the spot on which then Governor Alf Landon (in office from 1933-1937) accepted the Republican Party's nomination for the presidency on July 23, 1936. Unfortunately for him and the party, not only did he lose to the incumbent Franklin D. Roosevelt, he lost by a whopping 523 electoral votes to 8. Landon only won Maine and Vermont. However, despite this loss, Landon remained a strong figure in the party in the coming years, helping to strengthen the party for the 1940 presidential election. He did not run for office again and returned to the private sector, where he had previously made his millionaire fortune in the oil industry.

Historical Marker: Governor Landon's Acceptance

On February 14, 1866, Governor Samuel Crawford signed House Bill 34 "An Act Providing for the Erection of the Statehouse" into law. The statehouse committee chose Kansas resident, John G. Haskell, as the architect for the new undertaking, and work began within the year. On October 17, 1866, builders laid the cornerstone for the East Wing of the statehouse.Unfortunately, one initial problem Haskell had was finding appropriately hard limestone. The original cornerstone and foundations did not harden sufficient, and a harsh winter in 1867 led to the total destruction of the cornerstone and foundation. Thankfully harder limestone from Geary County was found to replace the original, and all future limestone used was a harder variety that could stand up against the winters.Even while construction took nearly forty years to complete, the building was in use by lawmakers and the governor for most of that time. Starting in 1869, state offices were moved into the unfinished east wing, and the legislature held its first sessions in the new capitol in 1870. The east wing was finished in 1873 (with three years of lawmakers enduring the sounds of construction while they worked). After that, construction moved to the west wing, which was completed in 1881. The north and south ends, as well as the dome and entire capitol, were finally completed in 1903, at a total staggering cost of $3,200,588.92.The statue of the Kaw warrior, which can be seen on top of the dome today, was not added until 2002. It took over a century of debate to determine what statue ought to stand on top of the dome and to appropriate the funds for the statue. The original 1889 plan of placing a bronze sculpture of the Roman goddess Ceres on top changed in 1984, when the budget for finally providing for a statute, stipulated that the statue could not be a god or goddess. Finally, in the late 1980s, after a fierce competition, the Kansa warrior design was chosen to commemorate Kansas' Native American heritage and was given the name "Ad Astra," which comes from the state motto: "Ad astra per aspera" or ""to the stars through difficulties."

As an architectural landmark that took more than 30 years to complete and cost $3,200,588.92 over a century ago, the Kansas State Capitol stands out even among state capitols. The beautiful copper dome (which is taller than the dome of the U.S. Capitol building in Washington, D.C.) and the Ad Astra statue, which stands atop the dome, are visible even from distances in Topeka. Built between 1866 and 1903, visitors to the statehouse will find both a window into the past and a chance to see the current state government at work.

Kansas State Capitol

History of Pioneer Women (Memorial Significance)Aside from the statue’s innate beauty and inspirational significance, the Pioneer Women Memorial holds a profound meaning that covers the pioneering mother over the course of the 19th century. After the Louisiana Purchase, and especially after the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854, many men and their families began settling in the area. According to “Stories From Greenwood Pioneer Women” for the Kansas City Star in 1916, there were very few single men first settling Kansas, and similar to the need for oxen and the prairie schooners, these early settlers wouldn’t have been able to establish themselves in the area without the help of women.For example, a drought ravished the area in 1860 and nearly caused starvation in thousands of settlers throughout the state. One story concerned the Willis family who settled in Greenwood County near Wichita. After building a modest farmhouse outside of Eureka, the family found themselves without food. It was Mrs. Willis who brought pumpkin and melon seeds from Illinois, which yielded the only crop in 1860 and saved her family. In addition to starvation, pioneer families fought against prairie fires, stereotypes regarding attacking Native American tribes, and sickness. In building a suitable farm, women worked side-by-side with their mates to turn the soil, plant the crops, the engage in other chores that were traditionally only suitable for men. While working the earth, the women also cooked, cleaned, made clothes, helped build and maintain the house, gathered water, dealt with rodents and marauding animals, raised and nursed children, canned fruits and vegetables, washed laundry on a rub board, ironed with a heavy cast iron, and conducted many, many other tasks. Lastly, women also became the principal caregivers, treated the sick, set broken bones, amputated limbs, and delivered babies.1 In essence, many single men couldn’t have survived the harsh life of a pioneer without a wife, and thus the Pioneer Women Memorial pays tribute to this essential role of the woman in the establishment of Kansas.  History of the MemorialThe Pioneer Women Memorial was conceived and donated by the Kansas Pioneer Women’s Association. This association consisted of women who came to Kansas as pioneers or as daughters of early settlers. The project began in 1927 with a massive fundraising drive, and anyone who donated a dollar could receive membership. Kansas Pioneer Women's Memorial Association first-vice-chair Lilla Day Monroe initially pursued a Kansas pioneer mother monument out of a belief in women's equality. But that did not mean that the association wanted a sculpture that depicted a woman acting like a man. The male-dominated memorial commission selected Bryant Baker's design featuring a sunbonneted pioneer woman holding a scythe. That design closely resembled Baker's famous Pioneer Woman for Ponca City, Oklahoma. But Kansans did not want their monument to remind viewers that Kansas settler women needed to help their husbands with field labor. They urged the sculptor to replace the scythe with a gun. Baker apparently refused. By 1935, Baker's model was on display in the capitol rotunda, but the memorial association awarded a $10,000 contract for the monument to famed American artist and former Kansan Robert Merrill Gage, instead.In the 1920s and 1930s, Americans often imagined pioneer women holding rifles. Twenty-five public sculptures of pioneer women unaccompanied by men were put up in the US during those decades. Fifteen of those 25 include rifles, including Merrill Gage's 1920 Daughters of Old Westport memorial in the Kansas City area. But none of those pioneer women appear prepared to fire their weapons, even in self-defense. Instead, artists included rifles to emphasize these women's need for protection in the supposedly untamed West.A few protested Gage’s depiction of a “pioneer lady holding a gun,” claiming that their mothers never hunted for game or fought Indians.2 But the Topeka Capital’s editors defended Gage, insisting that pioneer women had to be ready to defend her home if necessary in their husbands’ absence. They believed that nineteenth-century women were supposed to be the moral defenders of the home. While pioneer men struck boldly into the savage wilderness to build new homes and communities, pioneer women were supposed to sit within those rough cabins protecting their civility.The Kansas Pioneer Women’s Association constructed the monument with the help of Merrell Gage, who also built the seated Lincoln statue on the Kansas Capitol grounds. It was dedicated on Mother’s Day on May 11th, 1937.3

Located on the southwest quadrant of the stunning Kansas State Capitol’s grounds, the Pioneer Women Memorial pays an essential tribute to an often overlooked facet of westward expansion in the United States: the woman, mother, and pioneer. 
Women pioneers were central to the success of westward settlement, and without these courageous women, many who held several roles in both traveling caravans and small settlements, newfound communities west of the Mississippi would have encountered eventual destruction and abandonment. 

The sculpture on the capitol grounds features the image of a pioneer woman, who is said to represent the artistic embodiment of all Kansas pioneer women. Aside her on the marble pedestal includes a dog by one of her feet, a pre-teen son by the other foot, a baby cradled in her arm, and a large rifle sitting across her lap. According to the statue’s inscription, the symbolic pioneer mother is too well-fed to be a pioneer woman, but it nonetheless represents the hardships, struggles, and ideals these women met settling into the Kansas territory. 

Sculpted by acclaimed Topeka resident, Robert Merrill Gage, the Pioneer Women Memorial was dedicated on May 11, 1937, the Mother’s Day of that year. 

Pioneer Mother Memorial

Only one archaeological Kansa site, a former village,&nbsp;from the 1800s remains in Shawnee County. It is located on a site on a bluff overlooking the Kansas River. Its location on the bluff saved it from being washed away in a flood that destroyed two other Kansa&nbsp;villages. Excavations of the surviving site has provided valuable information about Kansa life in the 1800s.&nbsp;

Kansas is named after the Kansa tribe, whose traditional territory was located in the northeast part of the state. This marker, which is located on the grounds of the State Capitol building, provides a brief description of the tribe's culture and history. The Kansa's situation slowly began to change once European traders first made contact with them in the 18th century. By the turn of the 19th century, the tribe's situation worsened. A treaty signed in 1825 decreased the size of the Kansa's territory. The tribe also suffered from disease and the constant arrival of white settlers, who often encroached on Kansa lands. The federal government relocated the Kansa to the Upper Neosho Valley in 1844 and, later in 1863, ordered all tribes to move out of the state into Oklahoma. The Kansa made this move in 1873.   

Historical Marker: The Kansa Tribe

Curtis' mother was an unusual combination of many different Native American heritages: her mother was 1/2 Kansa, 1/2 Osage, and her father was 1/2 Potawatomie, 1/2 French.1 Curtis' father, meanwhile, was of English, Scot, and Welsh descent.&nbsp;In Curtis' earliest years, he lived with his mother on "Half Breed Reservation No. 4" (full-blooded Indians and Indians of mixed heritage were awarded separate land), and his first languages were Kaw and French, rather than English. However, those years ended quickly, as his mother died when he was 3 years old, and his father left for the civil war. For the next&nbsp;two years, Curtis lived with his paternal grandparents in Topeka, even after his father returned from the war with a dishonorable discharge. As his father was considered unstable, Curtis remained under his grandparents' care. When Curtis was five, his maternal grandparents returned to the Kaw reservation at Council Grove, and Curtis went with them. Thus most of Curtis' early childhood memories were developed among the Kaw on the reservation. His identity was fully that of a Native American, and when he later began to race horses, he was known to others as "the Indian Boy."2 When Curtis was 13, his maternal grandparents traveled again with the Kaw Tribe to the Indian Territory of Oklahoma. Curtis traveled from Topeka, where he had been racing horses, to join his grandparents' wagon and return to life on the new reservation. However, his grandmother dissuaded him, convincing him that a good education was necessary to a good life, and he could never find that on the reservation. He took her advice and went to live with his paternal grandmother (his grandfather had passed away) in Topeka. He attended high school and then later studied law. In 1884, then a practicing lawyer, Charles Curtis married Anna Baird, and they had three children. Soon Curtis was running for public office, and it was only a few years later, in 1889 that he first attempted to win a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, though he lost. However, he won the seat in 1892. As a successful representative, he then later won a seat in the United States Senate in 1907. Ironically, Hoover and Curtis were more political enemies than allies, as both had wished for the Republican presidential nomination. Instead, the party handed Curtis the vice presidential nomination. The Great&nbsp;Depression, however, brought down the stock markets, Hoover, and Curtis all together, making Curtis the last for possibly&nbsp;as many things as he was the first.

Charles Curtis was an influential member of Congress and Vice President under Herbert Hoover. He was the first Native American to hold the office, and also the last Vice President to remain unmarried for the entire duration of his service in the office. His home in Topeka is now a public museum that offers artifacts and displays related to his life and era. 

Charles Curtis House Museum

Brief History of the African Episcopal Church
The church was officially established as the Methodist Church Mission in 1868. Before the founding of the Methodist Church Mission in 1868, the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church had been providing opportunities to African Americans since 1787. As the oldest Black organized institution in the United States, starting in Philadelphia, the Church grew out of the Free African Society (FAS). As a religious organization, it&nbsp;developed due to sociological differences as opposed to theological differences, making it one of the first to do so in the Western Hemisphere.&nbsp;The Church’s mission continues to carry the spirit of the original FAS, which is to seek out and save the lost, and serve the needy. In concordance with this mission, AME has also endured as one of the major forerunners of education in the broader African-American community.1&nbsp;
History of the St. John AME Church
Beginning in 1868, the Methodist Church Mission (which was&nbsp;not officially affiliated with an organized religion) met in a small place known as “Alley Barn,” which is located between present-day Harrison and Van Buren Streets. Topeka wasn’t known for having a large African-American community at the time, and Alley Barn was located near the few homes of free African-American men and many ex-slaves who had migrated to Kansas. These ex-slaves typically came from Tennessee, which later led to the community serving Topeka’s “Tennessee Town” neighborhood.&nbsp;
For the first nine years, the Methodist Church Mission didn’t have a pastor. In 1877, Pastor John M. Wilkerson became the first minister, and that same year, he chartered the organization into the St. John AME Church. This made the church the first AME Church in Topeka, and Pastor Wilkerson stated in the church’s charter that is was formed for&nbsp; "Religious, Benevolent, and Charitable purposes, for the promotion of religion, and piety amongst mankind as taught by the Holy Bible, and as taught and practiced by the Methodist Episcopal Church of the United States."
On the corner of Second and Madison streets, the congregation bought land and began building their first church in 1879. Members also laid plans to build a different church on the corner of Seventh Street and Topeka Boulevard, and until this second church was completed in 1889, the congregation gathered in the basement of the first building.&nbsp;
By 1908, the first church was torn down with hopes for a new edifice. The architectural drawings of the new church are often associated with the work of Louis M. Wood, as these drawings resemble the current church today. Beginning in 1908, the new church underwent three major construction periods and was officially completed in 1926.&nbsp;
St. John AME Church and Social Movements
Although St. John AME Church's primary mission revolves around&nbsp;religious services, it has also played a significant&nbsp;role in various American social movements since 1868. The historic activities of the church are quite numerous, but they typically fall within three categories - Black Migration, Literacy, and Equality and Civil Rights.
Black Migration is most related to the Church’s earlier days, when ex-slaves and freed men in pursuit of freedom and a greater standard of living were moving in great numbers from southern states, particularly Tennessee, Kentucky, Missouri and Virginia.&nbsp;Known as the Exodus Movement to Kansas, the St. John AME Church helped migrants and immigrants set up a livelihood in the budding city. In 1865, there were about 839 African Americans living in Topeka, though over the next few decades, hundreds more joined the community. This was, in part, due to the fact that Topeka was a “drop-off” point for ex-slaves.&nbsp;Many stayed in Topeka with the help of the St. John AME Church, though hopes for a bright future were limited due to significant hardship. Furthermore, many of the migrants came to Topeka carrying a myriad of sicknesses and diseases, such as measles, pneumonia, pleurisy, consumption, and the bloody flux.&nbsp;
At the same time, the St. John AME Church had created Sunday schools and other social organizations to help people enhance their literacy skills. In the 1870s and ‘80s, St. John was a prominent host that discussed political, social, literary, and religious issues, with topics&nbsp;ranging from the destructive force of lawyers to resolutions declaring that Native Americans had suffered more than African Americans at the hands of the “White Race.”&nbsp;
In 1874, however, the relationship between educational segregation and Topeka was already on the rise, and leaders of St. John publicly expressed concerns that segregation in education, in public accommodations, and in common carries belied Kansas’s reputation for complete liberty and exact equality. As noted, Topeka was the epicenter of the Brown v. Board of Education case in 1954.&nbsp;
Other equality movements included the formation of the State Central Relief Committee in 1879 by Reverend Thomas W. Henderson, which oversaw relief efforts directed at immigrating freed men. A year earlier, Reverend Henderson was also involved with the formation of the first African-American press in Topeka.&nbsp;The St. John AME Church would continue to be involved with major social, civic, and political issues of the day, including the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s.2&nbsp;

Established in 1868 St. John AME Church remains one of the most essential institutions within Topeka’s African American community. The congregation assisted former slaves as they traveled west in search of farmland prior to and during the 'Exodus' of 1879 that saw twenty thousand African American sharecroppers abandon the South after the failure of Reconstruction. The church continues to play a central role in the community, offering everything from from religious services to a forum to address civil and social issues. Construction of the current church building began in 1908 and it was completed in 1926. The St. John AME Church was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2008.

History of Downtown Topeka

Historical Marker: Site of the First State Capitol

Introduction

Images

Sources