About this city
Also known as: Top City
Topeka is the capital city of the state of Kansas and the county seat of Shawnee County, centrally situated in northeastern Kansas along both banks of the sweeping Kansas River. Founded in 1854 by anti-slavery pioneers and incorporated in 1857, the city became a critical western crossroads for the Oregon Trail and the legendary birthplace of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway. Topeka achieved monumental civil rights fame in 1954 as the focal point of the historic Supreme Court case 'Brown v. Board of Education,' which declared racial segregation in schools unconstitutional. The city's landscape features a powerful mix of grand neoclassical government architecture, tree-lined residential neighborhoods, and major industrial centers.
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Practical Tourism Metadata
Suggested stay: 1–3 days
Tour the breathtaking dome and admire historical murals by John Steuart Curry inside the grand Kansas State Capitol; immerse yourself in civil rights history at the Brown v. Board of Education National Historic Park; experience high-speed auto racing at the Heartland Motorsports Park; and take children to the interactive Kansas Museum of History.
