Who was Alphonso T. Rodgers?

A.T. Rodgers’ business card (Radges’ City Directory of Topeka, 1885-1886)

Born in Indiana in 1846, Alphonso (a.k.a. “Alphonzo,” “Alonzo”) Thomas Rodgers was a well respected Topeka businessman. In the span of two decades, he had made quite a name for himself within the community, most notably in the grocery and tailoring businesses. 

A.T. married Malvina “Bertie” Geiger in approximately 1881. Interestingly, Bertie’s father, George Geiger, was noted as being one of the oldest Topeka residents at the time of their marriage. Bertie and A.T. had a daughter, Rebecca, in 1882.

A shot in the dark

An illustration of the criminal (Topeka State Journal, June 5, 1889)

Sometime between 3 and 4am on June 4, 1889, A.T. was awakened by a sound  across the hall. He initially suspected it was his daughter Rebecca, who was recovering from whooping cough. When he arose to check on her, he was met by a startled intruder. A.T. attempted to grab the man and was shot point blank in the stomach.  

When the shot rang out it woke up Bertie. She joined her husband in his efforts to restrain the burglar, who ended up firing a second shot during the scuffle. She was hit by this shot, although it’s unclear exactly where. A third and final shot struck A.T. in the arm.

The unlikely hero

During the altercation, Bertie called out to Mary Klinkerman for assistance. The housekeeper’s bedroom was directly across the hall, next to Rebecca’s. Lamp in hand, Mary entered the room ready to take action.

According to Capper’s Weekly, “She [Mary] set the lamp down on a chair and, noting the position of the three parties on the floor, placed both hands on the throat of the enemy and pressed down as hard as she could.”

Perhaps a direct result of Mary’s bravery, the gun was then successfully contained.

“Let me go, I won’t hurt you!” yelled the assailant as he was restrained. He then began to weep and beg for his life. In what could be called an appropriate dose of irony, A.T. Rodgers struck the perpetrator in the head with his own gun. A.T. then released him after reminding him of his undeserved mercy. A.T. fired the fourth and final gunshot in a desperate attempt to call for assistance.

From burglary to homicide

The murder of A.T. Rodgers shook the Topeka community
(Topeka Daily Capital, June 5, 1889)

Several neighbors, a few of which were doctors, arrived after hearing the commotion from Rodgers’ home.  They attempted to stop the bleeding with no success and administered chloroform as an anesthetic. Unfortunately, A.T. succumbed to his injuries just hours after releasing his assailant. What followed was a race by law enforcement to capture a career criminal turned murderer.

While authorities hurriedly organized their pursuit, Bertie and Mary provided their description of the murderer to police headquarters. Immediately, authorities send telegrams with the description to officers throughout the city.  Sheriffs, detectives and deputies scoured Topeka and the surrounding area.

Sergeant Simonton and Patrolman Crist ultimately came face to face with the murderer. They had taken a plug train to Tecumseh and were initially unsuccessful in their attempts to locate their suspect. While walking back to Topeka, Simonton and Crist encountered a suspicious male “about a half mile” from the Tecumseh bridge. The officers separated to pursue the subject. Simonton followed the trail toward Topeka while Crist held back near the bushes where the suspect had fled.  

Crist was quietly seated on a rock when he was met by the perpetrator emerging from the wooded area. Crist confronted him, stating “I believe you are the man I am after.” Surprisingly, the suspect did not argue, and was taken into custody without incident. This, however, was just the beginning of what would result in chaos, vandalism, and ultimately, an additional death.

To be continued….

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The post Local History: Last illegal public hanging in Topeka (Part 1) appeared first on Topeka & Shawnee County Public Library.

I recently learned my archive work in the 1990s was not in vain. During the ’90s I worked with Warren Taylor in the Topeka Room/Special Collections/Genealogy area of the library. On a daily basis Warren would look at the Topeka Capital-Journal and mark articles of local interest that we would place into the vertical file archive of the Topeka Room.  

I was given a database program and began indexing these articles into it. We used the Library of Congress subject heading guidelines to keep everything as cohesive as possible. The scope and quantity of the items grew as my familiarity and comfort level in the process expanded. Ultimately included were items like the Daily Record, wedding announcements, birth announcements and obituaries all with individual’s names. 

It was a great help for a while. My work on that index ended when I moved to Red Carpet Services where I select and deliver items to older adults in congregate living sites. It wasn’t until around 2010 that we realized the information did not match the microfilm we had. We discovered the issue on the microfilm was not the same as the hard copy I used originally. It felt like a decade of work was wasted. 

Newspaper index success

Working in the Topeka Room recently a woman came in asking about wedding announcements and locating them in the newspaper. We chatted and she said the time period was for the 1990s. Needless to say, I was cautious but excited to try.  

I showed her our Local Newspaper Index. We put in the names she was searching for and easily found them. Not only did it pull up the wedding announcements, but also the engagement announcements and the filing for a license. I printed off the citations for both events, pulled the microfilm from the drawers and went to the scanning machine. 

Not only were the dates correct, but the page numbers were as well!  

Searching newspaper index

The process is not difficult, but there are a few steps. 

If you go to the Local History Resources page, there is a link to the Newspaper Index in the Topeka & Shawnee County History section. Here’s the direct link to the Local Newspaper Index.

You’ll notice the top menu of this page also has Obituaries if you want to only search the Obituary Index.

 This search is where you can type in any combination of words to find the articles you want. It is automatically a “keyword” search so it looks for any of the words in the entire record. 

I am also a professional musician and am part of The Castle & Cross Consort so this is the search I will do. You will see that there are four articles indexed. 

Clicking on the first article will give you the abstract showing all the details available. Unfortunately, this full article is only on microfilm. 

The “next” button at the top right will take you to the other citations. Note the date, page and column number to be sure to find the proper reel of microfilm. 

As you can see, the process isn’t complex, as long as you know that it is there and where to look. I’m glad that a decade of my career is still there for everyone to use. 

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The author in her natural habitat: the kitchen

It’s the time of year when baking kicks into high gear, especially when it comes to cookies. As an avid at-home baker, I am constantly on the lookout for interesting new recipes to try. This year I decided to look for some old new recipes and dipped into the newspapers and recipe books available in the Topeka Room.

The following recipes are from between 1913 and 1946. As you will notice, the measurements and instructions sometimes are a bit vague, so half of the adventure when baking these was hoping I had measured the ingredients correctly!

I decided to make this a group project. After baking I had other library staff members taste test these cookies and share their opinions.

Without further ado, dust off your apron and your rolling pin, roll up your sleeves and join me for some retro baking!

Recipe #1: Brown Sugar Refrigerator Cookies (Mrs. Irene Grant; YWCA Young Matrons’ Cook Book, 1946)

• 

  YWCA Young Matrons’ Cook Book (Topeka Room, 641.5 YWC)

  1 ½ cups shortening

• 2 cups brown sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1 teaspoon soda
• 2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 5 cups flour
• ¼ teaspoon salt

Cream shortening and sugar. Add eggs and beat well. Sift dry ingredients together and add gradually. Add nuts, raisins or dates, if desired. Form into rolls and wrap in wax paper. Let stand in refrigerator until firm, then slice and bake. Bake from 12 to 20 minutes at 425 degrees.

Baking

I will begin with the easiest of the four recipes. Unlike the rest of our retro recipes, this is the only one that is recent enough that it contains both a bake time and a temperature. However, this lulled me in to a false sense of security (more on that in a bit). After making the dough, I rolled it into a log and wrapped it in cling wrap and refrigerated it overnight.

The dough, even chilled, can be a bit crumbly. I cut it into ¼” sections and baked them at 425°. I decided to start at 15 minutes, which was a big mistake! There’s been almost 80 years of advances in oven technology since this recipe is written. After only 10 minutes smoke was pouring from my oven. I tossed the black little bricks that had been the cookies, lowered the oven temperature to 350° F, and baked for 15 minutes. That worked perfectly!

 Taste testers

My crack team of library taste testers said this cookie would be best dipped in a hot beverage or in milk. It’s a very crunchy, crumbly cookie that reminded me of a British digestive biscuit. It’s not overwhelmingly sweet, but that means it would pair well with almost anything.

Recipe #2: Cream Cookies (Topeka State Journal, January 4, 1921)

• 

  Unlike modern recipes, this one doesn’t come with a short story before getting to the actual recipe.

  2 eggs

• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup thick cream
• 3 cups flour
• 3 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Beat eggs; add sugar, cream and flour mixed and sifted with baking powder. Chill, shape, and bake. One half cup of caraway seeds may be substituted for vanilla. Use high flame.

Baking

On its face, this recipe seems pretty straightforward. But a closer look reveals the recipe writer seems to have forgotten to explain what to do with the last two ingredients: salt and vanilla. While I appreciate the lack of a short story before this recipe, there is no oven temperature or time for baking.

Using my baking knowledge while pretending this was a technical challenge on The Great British Baking Show, I beat the eggs, then added vanilla, cream and sugar. I mixed the flour, baking powder and salt in a separate bowl, then added it slowly to the wet mixture. I chilled the mixture in the fridge for two hours.

When it was time to bake, I scooped out about a tablespoon’s worth of the very sticky dough at a time and rolled them into a balls. I baked them at 350°F for 20 minutes.

Taste testers

The taste testers were pleasantly surprised by this one. Most of the comments mentioned it was a nice cake-like cookie. Some were hoping for more flavor and said that this cookie “needed something.” One tester suggested you “pair with Early Grey tea & a mystery.”

Recipe #3: Coffee Cookies (Mrs. P.B. Lee; Central Congregational Church Cook Book, 1913)

• 1 cupful New Orleans molasses
• 1 cupful sugar
• ½ cupful lard
• ½ cupful coffee or water
• 1 level teaspoonful ginger
• 2 level teaspoonfuls cinnamon
• 1 level tablespoonful soda
• 1 teaspoonfuls salt
• 1 teaspoonful baking powder

Cream lard and sugar. Add molasses and spices and salt. Sift baking powder into flour. Stir soda into the coffee, and add to the batter, alternating flour and water. Add sufficient flour to roll out; bake in quick oven.

Baking

Again, this appears to be a straightforward recipe, but this one throws you a curve ball. Notice the directions say to “sift baking powder into flour,” but the list of ingredients doesn’t include flour! Again, donning my Baking Show hat, I started with three cups of flour, and then kept adding it until the dough looked right. In the end, I used 6 ½ cups. Since this ends up being like a gingerbread dough, I also decided to chill the dough for about an hour just to make it easier to handle.

When it came time to bake, I had to research what the term “quick oven” meant. This recipe is from a time before ovens had clearly defined temperature settings, so each baker had to know their own oven and how it heated. Most guides place a “quick or hot” oven at between 400° and 450° F. I played it safe and went for 400° and watched it like a hawk. I ended up baking these for about 12 minutes.

Taste testers

The one word that seemed to sum up these cookies comments was “subtle.” While the cookies might look like gingerbread, the flavor is lacking gingerbread’s typical spiciness. Most of my taste testers liked the softness of the cookie and its texture, but found it was lacking in the promised coffee flavor. Several people mentioned it would be good with a cup of coffee or tea.

Recipe #4:  Raspberry Cookies  (Mrs. Hal A. Waisner, Kansas; Capper’s Farmer Country Cook Book, 1928)

• 

  Capper’s Farmer Country Cook Book (Topeka Room, 641.5  CAP)

  3 cups sifted flour

• 2 ½ teaspoons baking powder
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ½ cup butter
• 1 cup sugar

• Grated rind of 1 lemon
• 1 egg (beaten light)
• ¼ cup milk
• ½ lb. raspberry jam
• 1 egg (white)

Sift together three times the flour, baking powder and salt. Cream butter, add sugar, grated rind, egg and alternately the milk & flour mixture. Knead in the last of the flour mixture. Roll the dough (part at a time) into a thin sheet and cut into rounds. Spread half the rounds nearly to the edge with jam; lay the other half over the jam and press together lightly; set into a baking pan, brush over the tops with white of egg, dredge with granulated sugar and bake about 12 min.

Baking

We finish with a more technically challenging recipe. Not only is it lacking in some details, it also is a “some assembly required” cookie. After I got my dough mixed, I separated it into two equal balls and rolled them both out to about 1/8 inch thick. I then used a 2” round cookie cutter. You want to use a cookie cutter that is slightly larger than you think you’ll need to allow for plenty of filling but still have a nice seal to keep the jam from oozing. I decided to try them at 350° 19 minutes.

On a few of them, I got fancy and created an opening in the tops to give it that classic “Jammy Dodger” look. These ones turned out looking incredibly cute.

Taste testers

This was definitely the sweetest of the four cookies and it also seemed to be the runaway favorite amongst the library staff. Words like “yummy,” “sweet” and “delish” were featured in most of the comments. They really liked the mix of lemon and raspberry. One tester said these cookies were on every holiday cookie tray during their childhood.

Get cooking

Hopefully, you’ve been inspired by some of these historic recipes. And if none of these four recipes float your boat, stop by the Topeka Room! We have several shelves dedicated to cookbooks from local organizations that go back to the 1910s. You can also search through our microfilmed newspapers to see what sorts of recipes were published as far back as the late 1800s! Happy baking!

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History of Veterans Day

Choctaw Code Talkers WWI, Fold3 Findagrave

Veterans Day honors the men and women who gave their service and sometimes their lives, to protect the United States. The day is a combination of parades and solemn ceremonies. The origin of Veterans Day is World War I (1914-1918). The war was a catastrophic event that killed 8 to 10 million military personnel in combat or disease. Many millions of civilians also died during the war.

The United States joined the war with the Allies in 1917. The United States lost 53,000 in combat and nearly 118,000 personnel overall. The Armistice, an agreement to end the fighting as a prelude to peace negotiations, began at 11am on 11 November 1918. The Treaty of Versailles, signed 28 June 1919, officially ended the war.

In 1921, an unknown soldier was buried in Arlington Cemetery as a remembrance of those who fought and died in the war. Armistice Day ceremonies like this were held around the world at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month. U.S. Representative Edward Rees of Kansas proposed a bill that would change Armistice Day to Veterans Day. In 1954, Congress passed the bill that President Eisenhower signed proclaiming November 11 as Veterans Day, honoring all the men and women who have served the United States so faithfully.

Family research

Lucille and her brother Grant in his WWI uniform

Apparently, my great-grandfather loved to have photos taken of his family and of community events. One of the photos, dated March 1918, is of his son Grant and daughter Lucille. She is saluting while wearing Grant’s jacket and cap. I’ve looked at that photo for years, but never thought about what he did in World War I. I decided to find out.

I found out my great uncle Grant was a 2nd Lieutenant in Battery D 57th Artillery Coast Artillery Corps. He shipped out from New York, on the USS Ryndam, 10 May 1918. The Purcell Register newspaper reported in the August 8, 1918 edition, his mother received a letter, indicating he was “somewhere over there.” He told her he was able to go sightseeing in Paris, and he was to attend a 6-week artillery school. I got the impression it was a don’t-worry-about-me letter. I hope to find out more about him and other vets in my family.

Digital resources

Anne L Monnett World War II · US Army · Sergeant First Class, Fold3 memorial photo

To research the veterans in your family history, the library’s genealogy collection has several helpful sources. Our digital collection includes Fold3. It is the premier collection of original U.S. military records from all conflicts and wars. You’ll find photographs, war stories, service records and census records. Access Fold3 free with your library card.

FamilySearch.org is a free genealogy website maintained by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints that’s available to everyone, regardless of tradition, culture or religious affiliation. The library is very fortunate to be an affiliate site, which means you can access all their research at the library. Our library hours make it easy to come in and access these documents free of charge.

Nathanael Greene General Revolutionary War, Fold 3

Ancestry® Library Edition delivers billions of records of census data, vital records, directories and photos. You can use the database to research its military records collection. Ancestry is available only in the library.

Newspapers.com Library Edition is a great resource to find the stories about your ancestors and their lives. You can research ancestors who fought in any conflict including the War of 1812, Spanish American War, Civil War, both North and South, Korea.

Print resources

Not only do we have a digital collection, we have books and maps. The books are arranged by war. The genealogy book collection in the library has books that cover topics including each state’s veterans, military pensions and militias. A few of the titles in the collection are:

• Atlas of the Union and Confederate Armies, 3 volumes GEN 973.3 ATL
• A Compendium of the War of the Rebellion, 3 volumes 979.7 DYE
• DAR Patriot Index, 3 volumes 973.3 DAU
• Genealogical resources of the Civil War era: online and published military or civilian name lists, 1861-1869, & post-war veteran lists, GEN 973.7 DOL
• Index to Mexican War Pension Files GEN 973 WHI
• Index to Pension Applications for Indian Wars Service Between 1817 and 1898, GEN 973 WHI
• Kansas Troops in the Volunteer Service of the United States in the Spanish and Philippine Wars, 3 volumes, GEN978.1 KAN

Topeka newspapers on microfilm are for use at the library. They are great sources of war reporting, feature articles of local people in uniform and obituaries.

We look forward to assisting you in your research in finding your veterans and for all your ancestors.

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• Los Angeles Daily News: “G-Man Shot Down as Bandits Flee Federal Trap”
• Topeka Daily-Capital: “Bandits Shoot G-Man; Captured in Nebraska”
• New York Times: “Killers of G-Man Doomed to Gallows”
• Fort Worth Star-Telegram: “Pair Die On Gallows for Death of G-Man”

G-Men?

If you haven’t watched 1930s gangster movies, G-Men meant government men. Prior to 1935, a G-Man was slang for anyone who worked for the federal government. However, in September of 1935 the FBI went to arrest George “Machine Gun” Kelly. He came out with his hands up yelling “Don’t shoot G-Men, Don’t Shoot!” From that time on, or so the story goes, “G-Men” referred only to FBI special agents.

One such G-Man was Wimberly Wayne Baker. He was intelligent, clean-cut and athletic. Baker had some experience as a sheriff, in his hometown of Yuma, Arizona. He went on to clerk for the FBI, for about a year, while he earned his law degree in 1936. The FBI assigned Baker to the Kansas City office, and the Topeka stakeout was his first major assignment as a special agent.

Roots of Topeka shoot out

The story of the Topeka shooting starts in Katonah, New York, in March 1937. Robert Suhay and Glen John Applegate robbed the Northern Westchester Bank of Katonah of $18,000. In the first articles about the robbery, Applegate had aliases and it took about a month after the shooting to get his real name. Authorities arrested the duo’s accomplices in the New York area. Suhay and Applegate went on the run.

Outlaws vs. G-Men

The FBI received a tip that the fugitives might be going to the post office in Topeka to pick up mail. Special agents Baker, James Foreland and Roy Martin were assigned to set a trap for the robbers. The agents watched the post office for three days.

On April 16, 1937, Baker and Martin stood guard, while Foreland went across the street for a late breakfast. Around 11am, Baker saw Applegate walk up to the window to get his mail. Baker approached him and told him to put his hands up not knowing Suhay was coming up behind him. Suhay shot Baker multiple times.

Chaos erupted. Martin returned fire. Two bystanders were slightly injured as they dove for cover. The bandits continued firing while running across Kansas Ave to their car parked near the New England Building at 501 S Kansas Ave. The fugitives jumped in their black Buick coupe, went west on 5th Street and got away.

Battle continues out of town

Suhay and Applegate crossed the Kansas river headed toward Rossville. They traveled to Sabetha where they kidnapped a doctor to treat Suhay’s gunshot wound. The Kansas Highway Patrol tracked them by radio, a relatively new technology in 1937, and knew they were headed for the Nebraska state line. Suhay and Applegate were at large for about 10 hours. A small county sheriff in Nebraska, Homer Sylvester, arrested them without firing a shot.

Injured G-Man

Special Agent Baker

Responders took agent Baker to Topeka’s St. Francis Hospital in grave condition. The newspapers reported rumors he was not expected to live, but the FBI shut off all communication between the hospital and the press. Baker died on Saturday night, April 17. However, the FBI didn’t release news of his death until Sunday afternoon.

Hoover, ordered complete secrecy. He later said he withheld the information so the fugitives wouldn’t know they were wanted for murder. Local authorities were angry that the FBI came into the community and set up an ambush without notifying local law enforcement.

Press criticizes FBI

The newspapers had a field day writing critical articles and editorials on the FBI’s failure to capture the bad guys. In an editorial in the Topeka Daily-Capital titled “For Land’s Sake Mr. Hoover, Be Careful,” the writer crowed about how a country officer bagged the gangsters after the G-Men failed. He went on to complain that the FBI’s failure to alert the local police needlessly put the populace in jeopardy. The editorial ended with: “Local officials may lack the finesse of the highly trained G-Men, but they often capture their quarry without shooting up the town.”

The Topeka State Journal was equally scathing in its editorial “A Sheriff Captures Them.” It criticized the FBI’s withholding information from local officers, commenting that “a local officer with no Washington notions captured the outlaws.” The writer called into question the wisdom of using an inexperienced agent (Baker). Papers also criticized the secrecy surrounding Baker’s condition.

J. Edgar Hoover was furious with the criticism. In an angry rebuttal, Hoover said the criticism of the FBI was unwarranted and untrue. W. H. Drane Lester, Hoover’s assistant, went further and said, “If we had had the National Guard and all local police there too, it’s my opinion that we couldn’t have saved Baker’s life.” He also tried to correct the impression that Baker was inexperienced even though this was his first assignment.

Lost in the sniping between local officials and the FBI, was the fact that a young man was dead. Baker’s father and brother escorted his body home to Yuma, Arizona. Dignitaries including state and local leaders attended his funeral service.

Bringing fugitives to justice

The FBI held the fugitives in Kansas City, Missouri, while they waited to be charged. The court system wasted no time bringing them to trial. The trial began June 21, 1937. The judge found Applegate and Suhay guilty of murdering a federal agent. On June 27, 1937, they were given the death penalty. Appeals were denied and both men were hanged at Leavenworth Penitentiary, August 12, 1938.

Newspapers all over the country reported this crime following every detail for more than a year. There wasn’t a 24-hour news cycle in those days, but reporters shared information. The same article, reporting the previous day’s events, appeared in the daily papers from Maine to California.

If you go to the downtown post office today, you will see a mark on the wall made by a bullet fired during the attempted capture of the two New York fugitives. The bullet hole in the elevator door is no longer visible. Next to the elevator is a plaque dedicated to Special Agent Baker commemorating his death in the line of duty.

Doing your own research

The library has multiple resources to dig into local history. The library edition of newspapers.com gives you access to newspapers across the country. I found articles about Wimberly Baker playing baseball, belonging to a university fraternity and the details of his funeral. The Topeka newspapers are digitized through 1922 on newspapers.com and digitized 1999-present on Newsbank. For articles 1923-1998, you can access them on microfilm in the Topeka Room. There isn’t an index for the microfilm, so you need a date to start your research.

More resources in the library

Research area of Topeka Room

The library has many old titles of magazines such as Life, Colliers, Saturday Evening Post, and Reader’s Digest. The December 1937 issue of Readers Digest has an article about J Edgar Hoover and his requirements for the ideal special agent. If you are interested in reading or researching these magazines while you are in the library, ask any library staff member and we will bring you what you are looking for.

When you think of Ancestry.com, you think of genealogy research. Ancestry.com has other goodies, like a collection of yearbooks from 1900-2016. In the collection there were photos of Special Agent Baker in 1926 at Yuma High School and National University’s 1936 yearbook. Ancestry library edition is only available in the library.

The Polk city directory was very helpful in determining the location of Merchants National Bank in 1937. You can find a lot of information in city directories, business information plus residential information such as who lived at a certain address and what their occupation was.

The library and the Topeka Room have fabulous resources for research. Beware, it is easy to fall down a rabbit hole and be sidetracked by an article that has nothing to do with your research, such as the coronation of King VI or the price of a refrigerator in 1937!

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A pioneer resident

Sam Radges, ca. 1910

Samuel Radges was born in Birmingham, England, in 1843. He arrived in the United States in 1860 on the pretense of seeing Niagara Falls. He later moved to Ohio. When the Civil War broke out, “he obeyed the call” and enlisted in the 74^th Ohio volunteers. Radges attained the rank of colonel. After he was honorably discharged in 1865, Radges came west. At first, he settled in Dodge City where he set up a general store and served as the deputy postmaster. Radges later claimed one of his army buddies had managed to persuade President Ulysses S. Grant to give him the position. He only stayed in Dodge City about a year and a half. He moved to Topeka in 1868 or 1869 and began working as an agent for the Merchants Union Advertising Company.

Radges’ Directory

While Sam Radges tended to publish his directories biennially, Radges himself said he would only publish a directory when the town needed one and not before.

The same year he arrived in Topeka, Radges compiled and published the first city directory for Topeka, which was also the first city directory printed in Kansas. Radges’ work was not just a listing of local businesses, it also contained the following:

• an overview of the state of Kansas and its “advantages to settlers as a field for emigration,”
• a historical sketch of Topeka,
• a list of Kansas State Legislators,
• and an appendix giving “short historical sketches” of various businesses and groups in town.

The directory soon became a staple for every business and household in Topeka. For the next 50 years, Radges meticulously compiled and published them. Later directories contained illustrations of various buildings in town, articles on Topeka history and a bit of local trivia. He often touted his headcount for residents of the city was as accurate as any state or federal census (if not more so). In 1907, due to failing eyesight, Radges gave up publishing the directories himself. He went into business with R.L. Polk, “one of the best known directory men in the country.” Polk continued to publish it as the “Radges’ City Directory” even after Sam’s death.

Topeka booster

Radges quickly became one of Topeka’s biggest promoters. He was heavily involved in helping to start several Topeka institutions. After the library lottery fiasco, Radges was one of the most vocal proponents of creating a city supported free library. When the city council refused to appropriate the necessary funds to open the library, Radges took up a collection to cover the $300 needed.

Radges was also an animal lover. He was rarely seen without one of his beloved dogs at his heels. One of his dogs, Mollie, became almost as well-known as Radges. She was even named one of the mascots of the Topeka baseball team. Radges’ love of animals led him to help found the Foster Humane Society, which later became the Helping Hands Humane Society. Radges was elected the first secretary for the society. He provided them with a temporary headquarters in the office block at 5^th and Quincy.

“The colonel likes to be odd”

Only a few years after his arrival in Topeka, Radges had made himself a fixture on the list of “colorful locals.” According to historian Robert W. Richmond, “his eccentricities were many but they were never harmful to anyone and entertained Radges and his fellow Topekans.”  The local Topeka newspapers regularly covered what “our genial friend” Sam was up to lately.

The Topeka Daily Capital regularly carried tidbits about the odd doings of Sam Radges, including his wearing an overcoat in the middle of July (Topeka Daily Capital, July 29, 1910)

Among his odd interests was the Saint Ananias Club, which he helped found in 1873 and served as the perpetual secretary. The club billed itself as “an organization of the prevaricators, fabricators, equivocators and falsifiers of Topeka.” According to their bylaws, every man was required to “invent at least one new and wholly original lie at each meeting.” The club existed until 1907 when it disbanded because there weren’t enough members to get a game of whist together.

One of his best-remembered exploits was from the summer of 1910. Radges stated his belief that wearing more clothes in the summer would keep you cool. He reasoned that wearing a coat kept out the heat as well as the cold. His friend Tom King bet him a box of cigars that he wouldn’t make it a block down Kansas Avenue wearing an overcoat “and the rest of the cold weather togs.” Radges took the bet. He paraded up and down Kansas Avenue wearing his overcoat on one of the hottest days of the year.

An afterlife newspaper subscription

After his death, the Los Angeles Evening Express published a story about Topeka’s ‘queer old codger’, complete with a cartoon of the paper being delivered to his tomb. (Los Angeles Evening Express, February 10, 1921)

Sam Radges was most known for, second only to the directories, was the unusual plans he set up for after he died. At a time when most people didn’t make any arrangements for burial before they died, Radges had a vault constructed at Topeka Cemetery almost 30 years before he passed. He had also communicated precise instructions for his funeral service and burial.

This was so bizarre to Topekans that the Topeka Daily Capital wrote several articles about the preparations and the vault. Completed in June 1895, the vault was made of granite and marble. The paper also detailed the odd provisions Radges had made for when he shuffled off this mortal coil. Radges contracted with John R. Mulvane, the publisher of the Topeka Daily Capital, to have the newspaper delivered to his tomb every morning for at least 20 years. The vault was also wired for electricity and a light was to be kept burning “just over the head plate of the coffin” so Radges could read his daily paper even after death.

The man with two graves

The red granite boulder still stands in the Topeka Cemetery and makes find Sam Radges’ resting place incredibly easy. At the feet of the boulder is a large vault cover that simply reads “Sam Radges Sleeps Here.”

Unfortunately, Radges outlived his fancy tomb. In 1904, Radges sold his vault to an undertaker who asked him for the use of the vault to bury Bertie Easter Fisher, whose “dying request was that her remains be placed in the Radges vault” (newspapers neglected to say why).

A few years later, Radges was able to arrange for a one-of-a-kind resting place once again. A group of Washburn students found a large granite boulder on a farm about six miles southwest of Topeka. Radges purchased the 13,000 lb. stone and arranged for it be carted by a team of six horses to the Topeka Cemetery.

“One of the Most Interesting Characters in the State is Dead”

Samuel Radges died on January 5, 1921, at the age of 78. His directions for his funeral were carried out to the letter, with both a Scottish Rite Masons’ Rose Croix service and a Grand Army of the Republic service included.

Newspapers across the country carried the strange tale of the man who wanted the paper delivered to his grave (Wichita Beacon, January 21, 1921)

Radges was buried in front of his red boulder gravestone. Wanting to stand out, even in death, Radges’ grave was slightly off kilter from the rest of the cemetery. Radges discovered the Topeka Cemetery graves weren’t laid out precisely east to west, and he wanted to make sure his was.

Faithful to his instructions, the Topeka Daily Capital was delivered to his grave every day for several years. Newspapers across the country and in Canada carried the story of the odd man from Kansas who wanted to read the paper even after he was dead.

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What is Spiritualism?

Kate and Maggie Fox are credited with the birth of Modern Spiritualism in the United States.

Modern Spiritualism began in the 1840s in a small town in upstate New York. It quickly grew to become one of the greatest – and most divisive – religious movements of the 19^th century. Almost all historians point to modern Spiritualism beginning in 1848 in Hydesville, New York, where sisters Maggie and Kate Fox began communicating with a “spirit” in their home through rappings and knockings. The girls became a phenomenon. Before long they were communicating with spirits around the nation in front of hundreds of rapt audience members.

Soon, there were spiritual mediums in almost every town. America’s new religion had taken root and showed no signs of stopping.

Frauds and fakes

The secret catalog, Gambols of the Ghosts, sold fake séance items to those hoping to make money from the grief-stricken.

Although there were people who truly believed they had the ability to communicate with spirits, there were also many frauds looking to make money off the grief-stricken. The Fox sisters eventually revealed themselves to be frauds. They confessed they created the ghostly knocking by cracking the joints in their feet.

Frauds were so prevalent that world famous magician, Harry Houdini, made it his life’s work to expose every fake medium he could find. There were even secret catalogs available to fake mediums that offered ghost figures, fake ectoplasm, self-playing guitars and self-writing slates.

William W. Aber comes to Topeka

William W. Aber, ca. 1899

One of these frauds became well-known in Topeka. William Wallace Aber was born on Nov 15, 1861, in Yates, New York (just an hour and a half west of where the Fox sisters discovered their “gift”). According to his biographical summary, his family moved around the United States after his father died, eventually settling in Topeka in the early 1880s. William Aber first went to work as a cigar maker. In his book, Rending the Veil (1899), Aber claimed he knew from an early age he had spiritualist gifts. Around 1881 he sat in on a séance held by a Mrs. Holladay in Topeka, where the spirits declared him to be a powerful medium. Aber recalled:

“I then arranged for séances of my own. It was one year before I was sufficiently developed for the public, but I was being put under all kinds of test conditions with success all the time. Spirits urged that I follow it, and it would not be a great while until they would be able to produce great results. So, in 1882, I went before the public, at Topeka.”

Aber’s star rises

One of the many newspaper advertisements for William Aber’s Spiritualist services.

A few years after the “debut,” Aber made news when he claimed to have discovered a 20-inch coal vein about 12 miles outside Topeka. In a newspaper article, which noted that Aber was “well known to some […] as a so-called materializing spiritual medium,” he claimed an “invisible aid” helped him discover the vein. This discovery, however, was most likely a publicity stunt concocted by Aber, as there is no further mention of this miraculous coal vein.

This publicity stunt did pay off. As word of Aber’s mediumship reached J.H. and Josephine Pratt of Spring Hill, Kansas, they quickly became Aber’s patrons. In September 1888, Aber moved in with the Pratts and began “holding séances there almost daily, to June 1890.” Aber did not wish to abandon his clients, as it appears he continued to keep his address in Topeka, where he advertised both private and public séances.

Indecent proposals from a “Spirit”

In the 1890s Aber’s true colors began to show themselves. Aber had a room at the Olmstead residence on Topeka Avenue, near 6^th Street. He soon became enamored with Mrs. Olmstead. One night he asked if she wanted to speak with the spirit of her first husband. The “messages” from this spirit soon turned suggestive, saying “she should that night visit Aber in his room.”  Mrs. Olmstead was appalled and called off the séance. Aber said the messages had been the work of an “evil spirit” and he had nothing to do with it.

The Topeka Daily Capital carried the full story about Aber’s ‘indecent proposals’ to Mrs. Olmstead (Topeka Daily Capital, Nov 11, 1892)

A few weeks later, on Nov 10, 1892, Aber once again propositioned Mrs. Olmstead through a message from her “husband.” She quickly alerted the county attorney, and Aber was arrested and put in the county jail for three days on the charge of “indecent exposure.” He was released on Nov 14 after Mrs. Olmstead had been persuaded to drop the charges. After this, Aber disappeared from Topeka for a few years. No doubt he was trying to let his brush with the law fade from the minds of the public.

The Aber Intellectual Circle

In 1898 Aber returned to Topeka and began advertising his services as a medium once again. He even performed with his wife, Sallie, at the Kansas State Fair in Topeka. Aber also returned to his work with the Pratts in Spring Hill, where he formed the Aber Intellectual Circle, a psychic society.

A hand drawn portrait Michael Faraday, one of the many spirits that would supposedly visit the Aber Intellectual Circle

During séances held by the Circle, the “spirits” began to urge Aber to write a book. In 1899 he published Rending the Veil an account of the various séances held by the Aber Intellectual Circle. The book named those who were in attendance and which spirits came through. Aber was miraculously able to regularly produce the spirits of Thomas Paine, Michael Faraday, John Pierpont, Mohammed, Voltaire and Abraham Lincoln, as well as the departed loved ones of those in attendance.

By this point Aber was regularly using a spiritual cabinet. The “bust shadowy forms [would] talk and write” from the window of the cabinet. Conveniently, these spirits only appeared when Aber was sequestered in the spiritual cabinet, out of sight of the participants. Any time the spirits did not manifest (or manifested poorly), Aber would blame the “new magnetic influences” of visitors to the circle who might not believe as strongly as true members of the Aber Intellectual Circle.

Aber exposed

By the turn of the century Aber had pulled up stakes in Topeka. Whether this was because he was outed as a fraud, or his criminal behavior caught up with him, is unknown. But William Aber seemed incapable of staying out of trouble for long.

Papers as far away as Lincoln, Nebraska, carried the story of Aber’s exposure in Kansas City (Lincoln Journal Star, Dec 14, 1905)

In the early 1900s Aber’s fraudulent séances were exposed several times in the Kansas City area. In one instance he was exposed by two men who were worried about a woman who had been seeing Aber to contact her deceased husband. The two men grabbed Aber, who was dressed as a “spirit.” Aber managed to escape and locked himself in the bathroom until authorities arrived.

He tried his luck again on the West coast. Authorities arrested Aber in Seattle in 1920 while, once again, dressed as a ghostly apparition. He was told to leave town. Newspapers across the nation carried the humorous headline “Ghost Fined and Must Walk Earth Elsewhere.”

William Aber spent the last few decades of his life in California, where he was the leader of a variety of new-age and Spiritualist churches. The 1930 U.S. Census listed his occupation as a theater showman. He died on Jan 10, 1940, in Chicago, Illinois, at the age of 78.

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Let’s start with what you might not want to keep. How do you decide what is the best practices in discarding, donating or just throwing away items you don’t want or can no longer store?

Advice from the Library of Congress

The Library of Congress is a great resource to help you sort through your personal collection and organize items. Here are some things Laura Kells and Meg McAleer, two senior archivists from the Library of Congress’s Manuscript Division suggest.

Start simply

First, approach your collection as a single unit of stuff. Don’t dwell on individual photos or letters yet. Think about the entire collection as a mass of related things. Kells said, “You’ll scare yourself if you think, ‘I have two hundred things.’ The project will seem bigger.” It is one collection.

Clumps

Consider devoting a rainy weekend to pulling out your collection. At this point you will be surveying its broad landscape. Begin by sorting items into what McAleer and Kells expertly call “clumps.” This is your first pass, so just group things into general categories such as letters and photos. You decide on your categories. Be consistent but accept that there might be overlap between categories. If you want to categorize clumps by year, fine. Maybe it’s phases of a person’s life, holidays or type of materials.

“What you try to do is identify the clumps that already exist,” McAleer said. “And hopefully clumping naturally occurs. For instance, you could have gotten all of your grandmother’s papers after her death. That’s a clump. Trips? That’s a clump. Christmas stuff, that’s a clump. Photographs, that’s a clump.

Be realistic about workspace and time

There are two important things you should address early on: space and time. Your collection will take up space in your house as you sift through it, so plan your workspace realistically. Set aside a temporary workspace if you can – a room or a corner of a room. Or plan to unpack and re-pack your collection for each sorting session.

“In most people’s homes they don’t have a great deal of space to have things sitting out for a long time,” McAleer said. “At some point you will really need that dining room table for dinner.”

Avoid spills

Don’t eat or drink in the work area. Kells said, “Just step away. When you’ve got big piles and you reach your drink and you knock it over, you’ll be real sorry if you spill your coffee all over your documents or your photographs.” McAleer said, “It happens in an instant. None of us anticipate it. It can be tragic.”

Time

“Do not start out with a commitment that every single item within this collection is going to be organized perfectly,”McAleer said. “That could make you feel a sense of defeat. Just start out by saying, ‘I want to improve the organization,’” Kells said.

The Library of Congress also suggests how to scan and digitally store media. To read more, visit Your Personal Archiving Project: Where Do You Start? In addition, check out their Taking Inventory Checklist and their Personal Archiving page.

Digitizing photos

WIRED Magazine lists How to Digitize Old Photos With Your Phone. In addition to reviewing photo scanning products, here’s their advice.

• Curate your images: Don’t scan every photo. Duds were common in the days when we had to wait for them to be developed to see how they turned out, so just select your favorite photos.
• Remove from albums: It may be tempting to save time by scanning photos in frames or albums, but plastic and glass layers will increase the risk of reflections.
• Clean your photos: You can use a soft brush or compressed air to remove dust. Try a lint-free cloth if there are marks or stains, but do not use cleaning supplies, and always go slowly and gently. Any fluid, even water, is likely to cause damage. Sometimes it is easier to clean the image with editing tools after scanning.
• Use a plain background: Solid colors enable scanning apps to find the edges of your images. We found a white background worked well. Avoid patterned or textured surfaces.
• Natural lighting is vital: Bright and soft natural light is best. Scout out a location and do a couple of test runs. Avoid strong light sources and artificial light, as they can cause glare.
• Position carefully: You want to be directly above the photos and as close as possible. Avoid taking shots at an angle. Ensure they are in focus before you scan. It’s also crucial to be still to avoid blurring.
• Share them: Friends and family will get a real kick out of forgotten photos. It can be fun to share them privately by sending them in messages or emails or sharing folders in cloud services. However, be sure to check with the folks in photos before you post them on social media.
• Display them: We use Google Photos and have a folder that displays our favorites on Nest Hubs and TVs with Chromecast around the house. You could also use a digital picture frame or another smart display.

Caring for textiles

Supplies

• University Products
  
• Gaylord Archival
  
• Hollinger Metal Edge
  

 Websites

• Library of Congress, Collections Care Guide
• National Archives, Preserving Your Family Archives
  
• Home Film Preservation Guide
  
• Gaylord Archival, Personal Collections Resources
• National Archives Preservation Guides

Books

• Guide to Collections Care by Gaylord Archival
  
• Caring for Your Family Treasures: Heritage Preservation by Jane S. & Richard W. Long

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The early history of the library is full of uplifting stories of ingenuity, persistence, and community-building. Yet, there were a few bumps in the road, some bigger than others. In 1876, a scandal involving the library rocked Topeka. It threatened to tarnish the institution’s reputation forever and even led to murder. 

Kansas Avenue in 1876, looking north from 7th. Library was housed on the 2nd floor of the Quick Building.

By 1875, the Topeka Library Association (the predecessor to today’s library) had grown from a small collection of books that occupied shelves at a local furniture store, to holding more than 1,700 volumes at their new location on the second floor of the Quick Building on the northeast corner of 7th and Kansas Avenue.   

Library wasn’t free

At that time, the library was not free. Only people who purchased a membership could check out books from the library. The money from memberships went toward operating expenses and buying more books. As the library grew, the money from memberships wasn’t enough and the Library Association had to regularly hold fundraising events to cover expenses. 

New library benefactor?

Notice of incorporation for the Library Aid Association, published in the fake newspaper, the Topeka Herald (Dec. 1, 1875)

In December 1875, a new, supposed benefactor for the library appeared on the scene. Local papers announced the creation of the Topeka Library Aid Association, a new private corporation formed with the stated purpose of accumulating funds: 

for the purpose of endowing the Topeka Library Association and to purchase additional books […] by means of this corporation giving Public Literary or Musical Entertainments or Fairs, and to award or distribute by gift or lot to the patrons of the entertainment a portion of the proceeds arising from the sale of tickets of admission.  

What the Library Aid Association was advertising was a lottery. Lotteries had been a popular way of raising money, especially for churches, schools and libraries. Lotteries helped create Faneuil Hall in Boston, as well as Princeton and Harvard Universities. But by the time the Topeka Library Aid Association was created, most people saw lotteries as scams. Lottery managers would advertise themselves as existing to help fund a worthy cause, but would pocket most of the profits. 

One of the many ads for the Library Aid Association’s Grand Fair, at which the lottery drawing would be held (Topeka Weekly Commonwealth, Feb. 17, 1876)

Despite lotteries’ less-than-stellar reputation, several prominent Topeka citizens and businesses supported the Library Aid Association. The organization boasted a former Kansas Secretary of State, the Deputy State Treasurer, and the Treasurer for the City of Topeka as supporters. Both local and national papers published large advertisements for the first Aid Association “Grand Fair” to be held Feb 26, 1876, with “100,000 cash premiums, amounting to $275,000.” The grand prize would be $50,000.  

First signs of trouble

Yet there were signs that not everything was on the level. At the Library Association’s January 4th meeting, Aid Association President, S.D. Macdonald said his organization was willing to pay for $500-worth of books of the library’s choosing. But there was a catch: the Library Association had to publicly endorse the lottery to get the money. Library Association President Fry Giles thanked Macdonald for the offer but did not take him up on it. 

While the Library Association wasn’t willing to officially endorse the lottery, to the public it looked as if there was a direct connection between the Library and the Aid Association. The Aid Association did little to disabuse them of that notion. In several advertisements for the lottery drawing, the Aid Association conveniently removed the word “Aid” from its name so it appeared the Topeka Library Association was sponsoring the drawing. In addition, the Aid Association set up its headquarters on the first floor of the Quick Building, right underneath the library’s rooms. 

The Library Aid Association had also begun a nationwide mailing campaign to advertise its “Grand Fair.” Included in the mailers were copies of what appeared to be a well-established Topeka newspaper, the Topeka Herald. It contained articles praising the creation of the Library Aid Association and stories about those who had won big in other lotteries throughout the United States. But there was no Topeka Herald; it was nothing more than a 4-page advertisement created by the Library Aid Association. 

Warnings of a scam

Not everyone was taken in by the promises of the Library Aid Association. Several Topeka newspapers warned their readers to beware of the “lottery swindle.” In a long editorial, the Kansas Farmer called the Topeka Library Aid Association a “gilt edged lottery humbug” and stated “all lotteries upon general principles [are] swindles.” Many were quick to point out the State Constitution prohibited “lotteries, and the sale of lottery tickets,” but no statute had been enacted to enforce the ban. 

Portrait of J. Clarke Swayze, editor of the Topeka Daily Blade

The harshest criticisms of the lottery came from the Topeka Daily Blade and its editor, J. Clarke Swayze. Almost from the moment the Library Aid Association was announced, the Daily Blade condemned the Aid Association, the lottery and everyone promoting it. Swayze was one of the first to point out that the Library Aid Association used the names of prominent Topekans, who it said “supported” the lottery, without their knowledge or consent. The Daily Blade also reported “the ‘sanction’ of the Library Association was never obtained. It was simply taken and used.”

Predictably, the date for the “Grand Fair” drawing came and went. The Aid Association gave no explanation as to why it was postponed, but ads listed March 31, 1876, as the new date for the fair.9 When that date, too, passed without a drawing, the cries of “swindle” and “fraud” became louder.   

Demand for damages

The Library Association realized “injury had already been done in our good name” and decided to “demand and receive damages from the ‘Aid Association’” totaling $3,000. A verbal promise was made for an additional $2,000 worth of books if the lottery succeeded. The Library Board also asked the Aid Association release a statement saying “the Library and the ‘Aid Association’ were in no way connected.” The promised statement from the Aid Association never appeared.

Finally, on April 29, 1876, police arrested the managers of the Topeka Library Aid Association – S.D. Macdonald, R.A. Barker and G.W. Bain – and indicted them for “using the United States Mails in operating an illegal lottery.” All three were released on bail.13 Several public officials who had earlier been quoted as endorsing the lottery, including Governor Thomas A. Osborn, released a joint statement officially denying such statements and distancing them from the Aid Association entirely. To ensure a drawing would take place, the Governor appointed a committee to coordinate and oversee the drawing. 

Public drawing

On June 8, 1876 – almost 4 months after the “Grand Fair” was originally scheduled – the Topeka Library Aid Association held a small program at Costa’s Opera House. But instead of the promised public drawing, one of the members of the Governor’s committee told the crowd the drawing had been held the night before behind closed doors. Over the cries of “‘Thieves!’ ‘Swindlers!’ ‘Robbers!’,” he announced the winning numbers. No one in the crowd held a winning ticket.

One of the many tickets sold by the Topeka Library Aid Association

Easy punishment

In the end, those in charge of the Aid Association got off with a slap on the wrist. S.D. Macdonald and R.A. Baker pleaded guilty to misuse of the U.S. Mail, paid a fine of $100, and promptly fled the state. G.W. Bain died a few weeks before the drawing. All told, officials estimated the Topeka Library Aid Association brought in between $250,000 and $300,000 (or between $7 and $8 million today). Of that, the Topeka Library Association received only $4,350.

Personal attacks & murder

Headline from the Topeka Daily Blade announcing Swayze’s assassination (Mar. 28, 1877)

Although the Topeka Library Aid Association ended with a whimper, the lottery scandal had far-reaching implications. J. Clarke Swayze, editor of the Topeka Daily Blade, was particularly incensed by the injustice of the lottery. He wrote multiple stories daily that attacked both the Library Aid Association, and anyone associated with it. He trained his ire particularly on John W. Wilson, part owner and editor of the Topeka Weekly Times, which had promoted the lottery. The attacks became increasingly personal, until finally Wilson had had enough. On March 27, 1877, Wilson met Swayze as he was making his way back to the Daily Blade’s offices and shot him dead. A jury eventually found Wilson not guilty – they believed he shot Swayze in self-defense.

Movement to a free library

On a more positive note, the Library Aid Association lottery scam can be credited with turning the Library Association into the Topeka & Shawnee County Public Library as we know it today. After the lottery debacle, membership numbers for the Topeka Library Association stagnated. The Topeka Daily Commonwealth suggested this could be because the library was not completely free and was dependent on “others” (meaning the lottery) for money. The Commonwealth stated “if [the library] is made absolutely free to all by a tax which all pay” then the public would be more inclined to use it. This began the push for a free public library in Topeka. 

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Great Overland Station, Topeka, 2023

Welcome back to my tour through Topeka and Shawnee County’s railroad history! After my limited results on my previous project, I switched to a subject I knew would have several paths to investigate. Railroad depots, train stations, terminals, whatever you call them, they’re the buildings where passengers arrive, depart and buy tickets. Railroad employees also used deports to communicate with each other, and where they received and distributed mail, baggage and other cargo.

There were lots of railroads operating in Kansas by the late 1800s. Every small town needed a station so there are lots of them to learn about. To complicate things, rail companies changed names a lot as companies merged or ceased to exist. Sometimes railroads shared stations (I’ll talk more about that later).

Stations could be anything from grand palaces to a one room shed. As the railroad reached its peak as glamorous passenger transportation, the stations reached their peak of luxury and décor as well. Let’s look at some of the styles that existed in Topeka and Shawnee County.

Basic stations

One thing all the rail lines had in common was a basic small train station usually called “frame stations.” The Bulletin of the Shawnee County Historical Society’s article “Silver Lake UP depot: Shawnee County gem” comments that:

“Early UP [Union Pacific], ED [Eastern Division] and Kansas Pacific depots, out of necessity, were exceedingly plain, the road needing every dime it could spare. Only later did the UP have the fiscal resources to erect handsome stations, and then primarily in the larger, more important towns. Thus, most small communities could only boast of a modest, standardized frame depot, pretty much like all the others up and down the line.”

Pauline station

Pauline station at Ward-Meade Park, Topeka, 2023

One great example of this type of station is the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe railroad depot that used to be in Pauline, Kansas. Pauline is seven miles south of Topeka. The depot was originally completed in 1910. It is now located at Old Prairie Town at the Ward-Meade historic site and park, and has been since 1983.

In my non-expert opinion the Pauline Depot is a great of example of a smaller station. I’ve taken commuter trains from outside of Chicago and New York City several times. But I never paid a lot of attention to the small stations before. When I stepped into Pauline Depot, I was surprised and pleased to find how much it felt a lot like those commuter stations.

Pauline station barn door

Perhaps I shouldn’t have been, because it serves the same function, and was probably built around the same time. (The combination of cars becoming more popular and the Great Depression brought a stop to most station building by 1929.) There’s a waiting room at the front, a ticket window and office in the middle, which ticket buyers could approach from inside or outside the building. There’s also a space that would have probably been a private office and cargo storage space to the back. The Pauline Depot has a sliding barn door on the end, which would have been used for loading things in and out. These stations had everything they needed to function, but not much more.

A happy medium

In many places in Shawnee County stations were upgraded as time went on. Silver Lake’s first station, built in 1875 by the Union Pacific Railroad, was a frame station like Pauline’s. According to Wallace, “the subsequent one easily would have won – outside of Topeka – as handsomest in Shawnee County.” It was built of native Kansas limestone and had large arched windows. There’s a photograph on this page. It wasn’t huge or heavily decorated, but stone buildings are made to last.

I’m not sure what the inside looked like, but you can see the same kind of shape as frame stations in the photos. It’s got symmetrical “wings” on the sides and something that might be the ticket window in the middle. It’s still very practical, but looks more permanent than a wooden frame station. Silver Lake was the only stone depot of this style in Shawnee County. Unfortunately it was demolished around 1950.

Palatial stations

Great Overland Station, Topeka, 2023

According to Douglass W. Wallace, editor of issue 89 of the Bulletin of the Shawnee County Historical Society,  “The rural depot, homey and humble, might stay the same, immutable for the ages, but its city cousin evolved dramatically as each decade passed.” ( from “Handsomest in the midwest: the new UP station”) Was he right? Topeka is not the biggest city around, did Topeka’s main passenger station evolve dramatically? Did it meet expectations set by bigger, fancier stations? Let’s start at the beginning of the railroad era and see what happens.

The first railroad in town was the Santa Fe. The article “Gone and almost forgotten: Santa Fe’s Passenger Depots” by Patricia Michaelis, tells the history of Santa Fe’s stations in Topeka. (It has excellent photographs, too.) The first one was built of wood in 1869. It was remade in brick in the 1880s, and expanded and remodeled many times over the years. It continued serving Santa Fe passengers until the current station was built by Santa Fe in 1949. The brick station is also known as the first place Fred Harvey set up a restaurant that became his chain of Harvey Houses (Learn more What’s a Harvey House?)

The other major railroad in Topeka was Kansas Pacific, which became part of the Union Pacific in 1880. By 1871 there was a station with a hotel attached, which was very nice for its time. By 1893, the Union Pacific hotel was losing customers to newer, fancier places.

Great Overland Station

Restored interior of Great Overland Station, Topeka, 2023

The grandest station in Topeka was (and still is) the Union Pacific station completed in 1927, now known as the Great Overland Station. Here is an article from the Topeka State Journal from Jan 27, 1927, the day before it opened, declaring it “One of the finest west of Kansas City.” The photographs in the article look a great deal like what you’ll see if you visit the restored station today. As passenger train travel decreased, the station became run down and was abandoned in 1989. It was further damaged by fire in 1992. Railroad Heritage, Inc., a non-profit group, leased the building from Union Pacific to stop it from being torn down. Eventually it was restored and opened as a museum and event space in 2004.

Union stations

A “union station” served all railroad passengers, instead of just one rail line. If there wasn’t one, you had to go to a different station for each rail company. Think about what a huge pain it would be if each airline had a separate airport. Also imagine you had to take a horse-drawn carriage to get there! It was really like this for train passengers in Topeka. The Kansas Pacific and then the Union Pacific had their station north of the Kansas River, and Santa Fe’s was south of the river. Neither company wanted to change location, mostly because their trains would lose time traveling from the main track to “park” at the station.

I read quite a few articles from issue 89 of the Bulletins, which is entirely about the Great Overland Station and earlier local stations. Every article about new and improved train stations in Topeka, from 1871 onward, mentioned the possibility of a union station. There was even one plan to build a station that spanned the river! (There’s a sketch in this article  so you can see what it might have looked like.) But despite the talk, there was never a true union station in Topeka. The Rock Island railroad eventually had its trains use the Union Pacific station, so technically it was a union station. But Santa Fe continued using its old brick station until they built a smaller, more modern one in 1949. This became the current Amtrak station in 1971.

My final judgment is that the Great Overland Station is indeed a palatial station suitable to a city the size of Topeka. Shawnee County is lucky to have preserved examples of both little and large railroad stations.  I highly recommend visiting!

Credits & more info

Thanks to Robert Chitwood of the Topeka chapter of the National Railway Historical Society for giving me a private tour of Pauline Depot and discussing sources and topics to consider for this railroad “journey” I’m on. Thanks to Gena Brooks with Shawnee County Parks and Recreation for letting us access the depot on a weekday afternoon in the middle of winter.

Read more

• “The Pauline Depot”
• “Last Call for Rossville” Rossville’s was also one of the plain stations much loved by its community. In 1969, protests from the Rossville community helped save this Union Pacific station, but it burned down in 1978.
• What’s a Harvey House?

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