Driving Around Topeka, Kansas in 4k Video

Filmed on Sunday, November 26 2023, I drive around Topeka, KS to see what's going on. The name "Topeka" is a Kansa-Osage word that means "place where we dig potatoes", or "a good place to dig potatoes". 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. In the 1840s, wagon trains made their way west from Independence, Missouri, on a journey of 2,000 miles, following what came to be known as the Oregon Trail. About 60 miles west of Kansas City, Missouri, three half-Kansas Indian sisters married to the French-Canadian Pappan brothers established a ferry service allowing travelers to cross the Kansas River at what is now Topeka. During the 1840s and into the 1850s, travelers could reliably find a way across the river, but little else was in the area. In the early 1850s, traffic along the Oregon Trail was supplemented by trade on a new military road stretching from Fort Leavenworth through Topeka to the newly established Fort Riley. In 1854, after completion of the first cabin, nine men established the Topeka Town Association. The group included Cyrus K. Holliday, an "idea man", who became mayor of Topeka and founder of the Atchison, Topeka & 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. By the late 1860s, Topeka had become a commercial hub that offered many Victorian era comforts. After a decade of abolitionist and proslavery conflict that gave the territory the nickname Bleeding Kansas, Kansas was admitted to the Union in 1861 as the 34th state. About 37 years were needed to build the capitol building, first the east wing, and then the west wing, and finally the central building, using Kansas limestone. Home to the first African-American kindergarten west of the Mississippi River, Topeka was the home of Oliver 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. Today, the biggest employer in Topeka is the State of Kansas, employing about 8,400 people. Other employers in the area include Goodyear Tire, Hill's Pet Nutrition, Frito-Lay, and Jostens. #driving #drivingtour #travel