24/7 Trauma and Biohazard Cleanup in Topeka, KS

Topeka is the capital of Kansas and the county seat of Shawnee County, standing on the south bank of the Kansas River in northeast Kansas.

Topeka was founded on December 5, 1854, when nine settlers organized the Topeka Association, and it was incorporated as a city in 1857.

Topeka was a free-state stronghold during the Bleeding Kansas era, and the Wyandotte Constitution made it the permanent state capital in 1861, the year Kansas entered the Union.

The 2020 census counted 126,587 people in Topeka, and Census Bureau QuickFacts puts the city at roughly 54,800 households averaging 2.21 people each, with about 59% of homes owner-occupied.

Topeka gave its name to Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, the landmark case filed in 1951 after Oliver Brown's daughter Linda was refused enrollment at a nearby whites-only school.

On May 17, 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Brown v. Board of Education that racial segregation in public schools was unconstitutional, and the Brown v. Board National Historical Park now occupies the former Monroe Elementary School in Topeka.

Washburn University, Topeka's public university, was founded in 1865 as Lincoln College and renamed in 1868 for benefactor Ichabod Washburn; it enrolls more than 6,100 undergraduates and about 800 graduate students and runs law and business schools.

The Kansas State Capitol in Topeka took 37 years to build and was completed in 1903 at a cost of $3,200,588.92; at 304 feet it stands slightly taller than the U.S. Capitol, and its copper dome is topped by the Ad Astra statue.

The Capitol's murals were painted by John Steuart Curry, and its 20-acre grounds were donated by Cyrus K. Holliday, a Topeka founder and railroad promoter.

Constitution Hall, built in 1855, was Topeka's first building and served as a stop on the Underground Railroad.