Topeka dates to 1854, and 16% of its homes were built before 1940
More historic than 74% of U.S. towns · #37 of 151 in Kansas. What drives it
93 places in town are on the National Register, among them the Sumner Elementary School and Monroe Elementary School, a National Historic Landmark, and ten historic districts with 424 buildings between them. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1883 on, and the census since 1860.
Founding year: Wikidata. First post office: 1855.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Topeka’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Topeka is more historic than 74% of U.S. towns, #37 of 151 in Kansas. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.
B+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Topeka’s overall grade.
Among the 400 U.S. cities of 100,000 or more, Topeka ranks #153 on History.
Kansas towns list more on the Register than most of the country (a typical Kansas town has 5.1 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Topeka’s 41.5 sits above most of its state (89% of Kansas towns have fewer) while its 522 historic buildings outnumber those of 97% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C+ to A. The pre-1940 share (±1.2 points) is firm at this size. Two sources give 1854.
Founding year: Wikidata (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →
What stands out about Topeka’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving. One is a National Historic Landmark, the highest tier. Boundary changes and added documentation are counted with their listing.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Places that used to be
Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds
Topeka’s post office has been open since 1855. Six other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.
Topeka
1855–today
Eugene
1866–1870
North Topeka
1870–1879
Oakland
1888–1910
Quinton Heights
1889–1899
Wanamaker
1889–1903
Highland Park
1890–1894
18501940today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Adams Heights Mobile Home ParkBelmontBrittany Place Mobile Home ParkCaravan Mobile ParkCoachlight Village Mobile Home Courts NorthCoachlight Village Mobile Home Courts SouthEngland Mobile Home EstatesGarfield Mobile Home ParkHighland ParkHillside Mobile Home ParkMathews ParkMeadowood Mobile Home ParkNorth TopekaNorth Valley Mobile Home VillageOaklandRidgewood Estates Mobile Home ParkS and J Estates Mobile Home ParkShady Acres Mobile Home ParkSouth Village Mobile Home ParkTerra HeightsWhite Lakes Mobile Home ParkWilcox Court Mobile Home Park
Gone or out of use
Allen AirparkairportBenham SchoolschoolBoswell Junior High SchoolschoolChallenderlocaleClay SchoolschoolCrane Junior High SchoolschoolCurtis Junior High SchoolschoolEast Junior High SchoolschoolGage Elementary SchoolschoolGrant SchoolschoolHighland Park North Elementary SchoolschoolHudson Elementary SchoolschoolMcKinley SchoolschoolMonroe SchoolschoolPolk SchoolschoolPotwin Elementary SchoolschoolRice SchoolschoolRoosevelt Junior High Schoolschool
9cemeteries and burying grounds inside Topeka
Bennie Lee Graham MemorialFosterMount AuburnMount CalvaryMount HopePennwell - Gabel Cemetery and MausoleumRochesterSecurity Benefit AssociationTopeka
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Help out
Start Topeka’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Topeka’s history is told.
Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
The name "Topeka" is a Kansa-Osage word that means "place where we dig potatoes", or "a good place to dig potatoes". As a placename, Topeka was first recorded in 1826 as the Kansa name for the Kansas River. Topeka's founders chose the name in 1855 because it "was novel, of Indian origin, and euphonious of sound". Mixed-heritage Kansa Native American Joseph James, called Jojim, is credited with suggesting Topeka's name.
As the fragments of the Topeka bridge floated past Tecumseh, satisfaction there at Topeka's disaster was undisguised. Subsequently Tecumseh renewed her efforts to build her bridge, but it was too heavy an undertaking; her people realized that Topeka was passing them in the race. The south abutment, a fine specimen of masonr}', was removed in 1873 to make room for the Lawrence &
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
tions of railroad connection with Chicago by way of the Rock Island road, and in 1870 made an effort to have that road extended via Leavenworth to Topeka. Olficers of that road and citizens of Leavenworth came to Topeka, and proposed to extend the road to Topeka within one year from that time if the countv of Shawnee would subscribe $200,000 to its stock, and issue its bonds in pay-
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Timeline
Topeka, 1854 to 1987
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Topeka. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1950Topeka sheet · 1:24,000
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Topeka.
Every building
Topeka, building by building, 1883–1913
Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.
In 1854, according to Wikidata. Topeka’s post office opened in 1855, and the census of 1860 counted 759 people here.
How does Topeka rank for history?
Topeka is more historic than 74% of U.S. towns, #37 of 151 in Kansas. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
What is on the National Register in Topeka?
93 listings: 79 buildings, among them the Sumner Elementary School and Monroe Elementary School (a National Historic Landmark since 1987) and the St. Joseph's Catholic Church (listed 1971, the first), 11 historic districts with 424 contributing buildings, 2 sites, and 1 structure. 522 historic buildings in all.
How old are the homes in Topeka?
16% of Topeka’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±1.2 points), against a typical 10% for a Kansas town; the median home was built in 1967.
Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
From Wikimedia Commons (1), Wikidata (5), the National Register of Historic Places (93), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System, Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress) and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
★ Landmark
