The Topeka Cemetery is a cemetery in Topeka, Kansas, United States. Established in 1859, it is the oldest chartered cemetery in the state of Kansas.[ citation needed ]
The 80-acre cemetery had more than 35,000 burials by 2019, including several prominent Kansans. Among them is Charles Curtis, 31st vice president of the United States under Herbert Hoover, the only person of Native descent to ever serve in the Executive Branch.
Also buried in Topeka Cemetery are many city and state founders such as Cyrus K. Holliday, first chairman of the Topeka Town Association and founder of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway; U.S. Sen. Arthur Capper, [1] owner and publisher of The Topeka Daily Capital and later Topeka's first radio station, WIBW, shares a cemetery lot with Gov. Sam Crawford, his father-in-law. Capper served two terms as governor and five terms in the U.S. Senate.
The cemetery is notable for its Mausoleum Row, which was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2001. The National Register Listing was enlarged in 2017 to include the entire cemetery.
Facing Mausoleum Row is the Hurley Monument, a memorial to Santa Fe general manager James Hurley, who died in 1910. The obelisk is 40 feet tall, the shaft a single piece. It was paid for by donations from Santa Fe employees across the nation.
In the cemetery's Grand Army of the Republic section stand a granite statue of a soldier, a tribute to the Topekans who died in the Battle of the Blue. [2]
Marion County is a county located in the U.S. state of Kansas. Its county seat is Marion and its most populous city is Hillsboro. As of the 2020 census, the county population was 12,660. The county was named in honor of Francis Marion, a brigadier general of the American Revolutionary War, known as the "Swamp Fox".
Chase County is a county located in the U.S. state of Kansas. As of the 2020 census, the county population was 2,572. Its county seat and most populous city is Cottonwood Falls. The center of population of Kansas is located in Chase County, about four miles north of Strong City.
Kiowa is a city in Barber County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 902. It is located 1 mile north of the Kansas / Oklahoma state border.
Ellinwood is a city in the southeast corner of Barton County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 2,011.
Strong City is a city in Chase County, Kansas, United States. Originally known as Cottonwood Station, in 1881 it was renamed Strong City after William Barstow Strong, then vice-president and general manager, and later president of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 386. It is located along U.S. Route 50 highway.
Oak Hill is a city in Clay County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 24.
Manchester is a city in Dickinson County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 47.
Reading is a city in Lyon County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 181.
Florence is a city in Marion County, Kansas, United States. The city was named after the daughter of the third Governor of Kansas Samuel J. Crawford. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 394. It is located at the intersection of U.S. Route 50 and U.S. Route 77 highways.
Lehigh is a city in Marion County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 161. It is located between Hillsboro and Canton on the north side of U.S. Route 56.
Carbondale is a city in Osage County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 1,352. It is located south of Topeka along U.S. Route 75 four lane freeway.
Osage City is a city in Osage County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 2,861.
Lyons is a city in and the county seat of Rice County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 3,611.
The Santa Fe Trail was a 19th-century route through central North America that connected Franklin, Missouri, with Santa Fe, New Mexico. Pioneered in 1821 by William Becknell, who departed from the Boonslick region along the Missouri River, the trail served as a vital commercial highway until 1880, when the railroad arrived in Santa Fe. Santa Fe was near the end of El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro which carried trade from Mexico City. The trail was later incorporated into parts of the National Old Trails Road and U.S. Route 66.
Edmund Gibson Ross was a politician who represented Kansas after the American Civil War and was later governor of the New Mexico Territory. His vote against convicting President Andrew Johnson of "high crimes and misdemeanors" allowed Johnson to stay in office by the margin of one vote. As the seventh of seven Republican U.S. Senators to break with his party, he proved to be the person whose decision would result in conviction or acquittal. When he chose the latter, the vote of 35–19 in favor of Johnson's conviction failed to reach the required two-thirds vote. Ross lost his bid for re-election two years later.
Colonel Cyrus Kurtz Holliday was an American railroad executive who was one of the founders of the township of Topeka, Kansas in the mid 19th century; and was Adjutant General of Kansas during the American Civil War. The title Colonel, however, was honorary. He was the first president of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway, as well as one of the railroad's directors for nearly 40 years, up to 1900. A number of railway locomotives have been named after him, as well as the former town of Holliday, Kansas. He was also the Deputy Grand Master of the Grand Lodge A.F. & A.M. of Kansas. As a Freemason, he was a member of Topeka Lodge #17 and was highly influential in the decision of moving the State Capitol to the city of Topeka.
Samuel Clarke Pomeroy was a United States senator from Kansas in the mid-19th century. He served in the United States Senate during the American Civil War. Pomeroy also served in the Massachusetts House of Representatives. A Republican, he also was the mayor of Atchison, Kansas, from 1858 to 1859, the second president of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad, and the first president to oversee any of the railroad's construction and operations. Pomeroy succeeded Cyrus K. Holliday as president of the railroad on January 13, 1864.
Ginery Twichell was president of the Boston and Worcester Railroad in the 1860s, the Republican Representative for Massachusetts for three consecutive terms and the sixth president of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway.
Tecumseh is an unincorporated community in Shawnee County, Kansas, United States, and situated along the Kansas River. As of the 2020 census, the population of the community and nearby areas was 696. The community and township are both named for the Shawnee chief.
Huscher is an unincorporated community in Cloud County, Kansas, United States.