Topeka is the capital city of the state of Kansas and the county seat and most populous city of Shawnee County. Topeka can be translated into "to dig good potatoes" in the languages of the Kansa and the Ioway. The potato referred to is the prairie potato, Psoralea esculenta, a perennial herb which is an important food for many Native Americans.

History

In the 1840s, wagon trains made their way west from Independence, Missouri, on a 2,000 miles journey following what would come to be known as the Oregon Trail. Travelers could reliably find a way across the river but little else was in the area.

In 1854, after completion of the first cabin, nine men established the "Topeka Town Association." Included among them was Cyrus K. Holliday, an "idea man" who would become mayor of Topeka and founder of the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railroad. Soon, steamboats were regularly docking at the Topeka landing, depositing meat, lumber, and flour and returning eastward with potatoes, corn, and wheat.

After a decade of Bleeding Kansas abolitionist and pro-slavery conflict, the Kansas territory was instated to the Union in 1861 as the 34th state. Topeka was finally selected as the capital, with Dr. Charles Robinson as the first governor.

Topeka is home to the first African-American kindergarten west of the Mississippi River, it became the home of Linda Brown, the named plaintiff in Brown v. Board of Education which was the case responsible for eliminating the standard of "separate but equal", and requiring racial integration in American public schools.