What to See in Topeka - Top Sights and Attractions

Building in Topeka, Kansas. The Kansas State Capitol, known also as the Kansas Statehouse, is the building housing the executive and legislative branches of government for the U.S. state of Kansas. Located in the city of Topeka, which has served as the capital of Kansas since the territory became a state in 1861, the building is the second to serve as the Kansas Capitol. During the territorial period, an earlier capitol building was begun but not completed in Lecompton, Kansas, and smaller structures in Lecompton and Topeka were where the territorial legislatures met.

The dome, at 304 ft (93 m), is taller than the 288 ft (88 m) United States Capitol dome, although its diameter (50 ft (15 m)) is approximately half that of the national capitol (96 ft (29 m)). It is one of the few capitols in the United States that continues to offer tours that go to the top of the dome. Visitors enter the dome by climbing 296 steps leading from the fifth floor to the top.^[1]

Protected site in Topeka, Kansas. Brown v. Board of Education National Historic Site was established in Topeka, Kansas, on October 26, 1992, by the United States Congress to commemorate the landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in the case Brown v. Board of Education aimed at ending racial segregation in public schools. On May 17, 1954, the Supreme Court unanimously declared that "separate educational facilities are inherently unequal" and, as such, violated the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution, which guarantees all citizens "equal protection of the laws."

The National Historic Site consists of the Monroe Elementary School, one of the four segregated elementary schools for African American children in Topeka, and the adjacent grounds.^[3]

Truckhenge is a grassroots art exhibit, part of Lessman's Farm & Catfish Pond, located between Tecumseh and Topeka, Kansas. Truckhenge and Beer Bottle City are also part of the Kaw Region Art Park, as designated by the Association of Shawnee County Recycling And Preservation.

Ron Lessman began creating Truckhenge in May 2000, using antique trucks and a bus he collected over the years. After a legal battle with Shawnee County, Kansas over the trucks, a judge ordered Lessman to "pick up the trucks". So, he picked them up. Each truck is anchored into the ground with 23 tons of concrete, and each truck contains several quotes by Ron Lessman. Along with the trucks, there are several beer-bottle sculptures and structures integrated into the park as "Beer-Bottle City".

On July 5, 2006, Truckhenge was officially dedicated as part of the Kaw Region Art Park after the Shawnee County Recycling and Preservation Association presented Lessman with a plaque in honor of his work.

On July 7, 2006, the Lessman Farm and Catfish Pond hosted a political fundraiser for the Libertarian Party of Kansas (LPKS), after the fundraiser was forcibly blocked from its original location at Lake Edun by Shawnee County officials.

The Lessman Farm & Truckhenge played host to a concert called "The f*** Phelps Phestival" on June 1 to June 3, 2007. The concert was headlined by the band "Bite Boy".

In July 2007, Ron Lessman began adding onto Truckhenge using several small boats.

Truckhenge has been featured in videos from the KDHE (KS Department of Health & Environment), Roadside America, KS Travel, Rare Visions and Roadside Revelations, and the Filip and Frederik Show.^[5]

Catholic church in Topeka, Kansas. St. Joseph's Catholic Church is a historic Roman Catholic church in Topeka, Kansas, United States. It was established to serve the needs of the growing population of Volga Germans, ethnic Germans from Russia.

The church was listed on the National Register of Historic Placesin 1971. It was deemed "an outstanding Kansas example of a large 19th century brick church building."

It is a red brick church. Its NRHP nomination states: "Most impressive to one approaching the church are the two identical steeples towering over all the neighboring buildings and trees. These towers begin as squares and then are quite nicely transformed into octagons. This transformation is executed very gracefully by first cutting off the square corners at the clock level; the next logical step is an octagon roof with equal sides."^[8]

Museum in Topeka, Kansas. Great Overland Station, listed on the National Register of Historic Places as Union Pacific Railroad Passenger Depot, is a museum and former railroad station in Topeka, Kansas. The station was built from 1925 to 27 and designed by Gilbert Stanley Underwood, whose firm designed over 20 Union Pacific Railroad stations from 1924 to 1931. The station's Free Classical Revival design uses terra cotta extensively and features a center pavilion with two increasingly smaller pavilions on either side. Passenger service to the station began in January 1927; almost 20,000 people attended the station's grand opening, and the new station was considered "one of the largest and finest stations west of the Missouri River".

Passenger totals at the station declined through the 1950s and 1960s, and the last regular passenger service to the station ended in 1971. The Union Pacific Railroad repurposed the station as office space and a customer service center before abandoning the building in 1989. In 1992, a fire damaged the western part of the station; the same year, the group Railroad Heritage, Inc. (then known as Topeka Railroad Days, Inc.) agreed to consider renovating the station. The station was extensively rehabilitated from 2000 to 2002 and is now a railroad heritage museum.

The Great Overland Station was added to the National Register of Historic Places on October 1, 2002.^[13]