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- Topeka
Capital of Kansas · Shawnee County · capital since 1861 · 39.0°N 95.7°W
Topeka, Kansas
Topeka, on the Kansas River in the northeast of the state, became the state capital at statehood in 1861. Wichita, 140 miles to the southwest, is more than three times larger.
Where Topeka is
Topeka is the seat of Shawnee County in northeastern Kansas, at 39.05°N, 95.68°W. The city lies on the south bank of the Kansas River, called the Kaw locally, about 60 miles upstream from its mouth on the Missouri at Kansas City. Elevation is about 950 ft. The Flint Hills, the largest remaining tallgrass prairie in the country, begin about 30 miles to the west. Interstate 70 passes through the city and the Kansas Turnpike runs southwest to Wichita.
Kansas is almost entirely on Central Time, including Topeka; four counties on the Colorado border (Sherman, Wallace, Greeley and Hamilton) use Mountain Time.
How it became the capital
Kansas Territory, created in 1854, had a turbulent series of capitals during the Bleeding Kansas years: Fort Leavenworth, Pawnee, Shawnee Mission and Lecompton were each used by the pro-slavery territorial government, while free-state supporters met at Topeka and Lawrence. The Wyandotte Constitution of 1859 named Topeka, and it became the capital when Kansas was admitted as the 34th state on January 29, 1861. A statewide vote later that year confirmed the choice over Lawrence.
Population
Topeka had 126,587 residents in 2020, the fifth-largest city in Kansas. Wichita, the largest, had 397,532; Overland Park, Kansas City and Olathe, all in the Kansas City suburbs, are also bigger. The Topeka metropolitan area, covering Shawnee and four neighboring counties, has about 233,000 people out of a state total of 2,937,880.
The capitol
The Kansas State Capitol took 37 years to build, from 1866 to 1903. The east wing was designed by E. Townsend Mix; later architects added the west wing, the central section and the copper dome, which rises 304 ft, higher than the dome of the US Capitol. Murals by John Steuart Curry inside include the well-known image of John Brown. A bronze statue of a Kansa warrior, Ad Astra, was placed on top of the dome in 2002. Topeka is also known for Brown v. Board of Education, the 1954 school desegregation case that began in the city.
Distances to other cities
| City | Direction | Road distance |
|---|---|---|
| Kansas City, MO | east | about 65 mi |
| Wichita, KS | southwest | about 140 mi |
| Omaha, NE | north | about 165 mi |
Related maps
- Kansas map — the whole state with borders, cities and counties.
- Kansas county map · blank Kansas map · printable Kansas map.
- All 50 state capitals on one map, and the state capitals quiz.
- Midwest region · West North Central division · Central Time Zone.