Kansas

April 5, 2013

Kansas

Kansas is a beautiful place to travel to, it has lots of scenery. It has many cities like  Wichita, Topeka, which is the capital of Kansas, Overland Park, Kansas City, Olathe, More.

Topeka Kansas capital: The Topeka metropolitan area is rich in history and highly favored by nature. Founded in the middle of the nineteenth century, Topeka has weathered many storms, both man-made and natural. Geographic location has always worked to a decided advantage for the area. In fact, location is the key to Topeka's future development.

Topeka lies on rich sandy loam river bottomland where Indians lived for many years using the excellent fords on the Kansas River. The first permanent settlers in this area were three French Canadian brothers. They married three Kanza Indian sisters and established a ferry over the river in 1842. A grandson from one of the marriages was Charles Curtis, the only Vice-President of the United States to be of Indian descent. The Oregon Trail crossed the river at Topeka, several ferry boat services were established and prospered. In May, 1858, a privately built bridge was constructed across the Kansas River connecting Topeka with the community of Eugene, now known as North Topeka. A flood destroyed the bridge later that year, but Topeka's location relative to westward traffic made the need for a new bridge obvious. Railroads have played a key role in the development of Topeka, including the St. Joseph and Topeka Railroad, the Kansas Central, the Union Pacific, Missouri Pacific and the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad. The Burlington Northern Santa Fe still has one of the largest railroad shops in the world in Topeka.

On December 5, 1854, nine men met on the banks of the Kansas River at what is now Kansas Avenue and Crane Street. The men drew up an agreement, which later became the basis for the Topeka Association, the organization mainly responsible for the establishment and early growth of Topeka. The nine men...