Topeka

Topeka (t-PEE-k; Kansa: tó ppí ké; Iowa-Oto: Dópike or Dópiúke) is the capital city of the U.S. state of Kansas. It is along the Kansas River in the central part of Shawnee County, in northeast Kansas, in the Central United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 126,587. The Topeka metropolitan statistical area, which includes Shawnee, Jackson, Jefferson, Osage, and Wabaunsee Counties, had a population of 233,870 in the 2010 census. The name "Topeka" is a KansA-Osage word that means "place where we dig potatoes", or "a good place to dig potatoes". In 1857, Topeka was chartered as a city. The city is well known for the landmark Supreme Court case Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, which overturned Plessy vs. Ferguson and declared racial segregation in public schools to be unconstitutional. It was one of the Free-State towns founded by Eastern antislavery men immediately after the passage of the KansasNebraska Bill. In 1862, Kansas admitted to the Union in 1861 as the 34th state, with Topeka chosen as the capital with Dr. Charles Robinson as the first governor. Construction of the state capitol began in 1866. In 1864, a stockade, named Kansas Simple, was built.

History

Topeka was a bastion for the free-state movement during the problems in Kansas Territory between abolitionist and proslavery settlers. It was the site where antislavery settlers convened in 1855 to write the first of four state constitutions, making it the "Free State Capitol" In 1869, the railway started moving westward from Topeka, where general offices and shops of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad were established. In 1878, the first African American kindergarten was established in Topeka. Topeka is home to Washburn University, which was established by the State of Kansas and General Association of Congregational Ministers in 1865. The city is also home to the National Park Service, which recognizes Constitution Hall as headquarters in the operation of the Lane Trail to Freedom on the Underground Railroad, the chief slave escape passage and free-trade road. It is located on the banks of the Kansas River, about 60 miles (97 km) west of Kansas City, Missouri, on the edge of the Great Plains. It has a population of about 100,000, the majority of whom live in and around the city of Topeka and its surrounding areas. The town's name comes from the word "topeka" which means "to cross" or "to go" in English. The word "kansas" means "a state" or a region of the U.S. that was once part of the United States. The state's name is derived from the name of a Native American tribe that lived in the area.

Geography

Topeka is at 39°03N 95°41W, in north east Kansas at the intersection of I-70 and U.S. Highway 75. The city has a humid continental climate (Köppen climate classification Dfa), with hot, somewhat humid summers and cool to cold, fairly dry winters. The area receives nearly 36.5 inches (930 mm) of precipitation during a typical year, with the largest share being received in May and Junethe April through June period averages 33 days of measurable precipitation. The average window for freezing temperatures is October 15 through April 17. Winter snowfall is light, as is the case in most of the state, as a result of the dry, sunny weather patterns that dominate Kansas winters, which do not allow for sufficient moisture for significant snowfall. The maximum temperature reaches 90 °F (32 °C) an average of 41.5 afternoons per year. The minimum temperature falls below 0°F (18 °C), and 21 afternoon per year stay below freezing. The total amount of precipitation may vary from 25 to 47 inches (640 to 1,190 mm), with the spring and summer having the most rainfall. Much of the rainfall is delivered by thunderstorms. These can be severe, producing frequent lightning, large hail, and sometimes tornadoes. An average of 100 days ofifiable precipitation occur per year, and is in USDA plant hardiness zone 6a. Snow depth of at least an inch occurs anAverage of 20 days per year with at least 1.0 in (2.5 cm) of snow being received on five of those days.

Demographics

As of the census of 2010, the city had 127,473 people, 53,943 households, and 30,707 families. Non-Hispanic Whites were 69.7% of the population in 2010, down from 86.3% in 1970. The city's age distribution was 24.4% under age 18, 9.8% from 18 to 24; 26.1% from 25 to 44, 25. 4% from 45 to 64, and 14.3%. The median age in the city was 36 years, and the city's gender makeup was 47. 8% male and 52.2% female. The median household income was $35,928 and the median family income is $45,803. About 8.5% of families and 12.4%. of the city’s population were below the poverty line, including 16.7%. of those under 18 and 8.2. of those age 65 or over. Overall crime in Topeka was down nearly 18% in the first half of 2008, compared with the same period of 2007. The City Council agreed to repeal an ordinance banning domestic violence in an effort to reduce crime. The Shawnee County District Attorney said the office would no longer prosecute misdemeanors committed in the Topeka, including domestic battery, because his office could no longer do so after commissioners cut his budget by 10%. The same day, Topeka City Council voted to decriminalize the same misdemeanor by the same day.

Economy

The retail trade employs more than a tenth of the working population (11.5%) with Wal-Mart and Dillons having the greater share. Top manufacturers include Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company, Hill's Pet Nutrition, Frito-Lay, and Jostens Printing and Publishing. Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas is the largest insurance employer, with about 1,800 employees. Topeka's largest employer is the State of Kansasemploying about 8,400 people, or 69% of the city's government workers. Other industries are finance, insurance, real estate, and rental and leasing (7.8%), professional, scientific, management, administrative, and waste management services (7.6%), construction (6.0%), transportation and warehousing, and utilities (5.8%). Topeka Public Schools employ nearly 4,700 people, and Washburn University employs about1,650. BNSF Railway is the biggest transportation employer, employing nearly 1,100 people. Biggest bank in Topeka is Capitol Federal Savings Bank with about 2,000 employees. The state's largest bank is CoreFirst Bank & Trust with about 500 employees. Bigest bank in Kansas is Bank of America with more than 1,200 employees. Most of the state's banks are based in Kansas City, Kansas. The largest bank in Missouri is based in Wichita, Kansas with about 100 employees. It is the state’s largest bank with about 200 employees in the city. The city's largest university is Washburn, which employs about 1.650 people.

Arts and culture

Topeka is home to broad areas of fine art, specifically in the North Topeka Arts District (NOTO), as well as the Topeka Civic Theatre. Topeka Zoo is famous as the birthplace of the first golden eagle chick hatched in captivity and as the first zoo in the nation to have an indoor rain forest. The Kansas State Capitol, with murals by John Steuart Curry, is topped with the sculpture of a native warrior named Ad Astra. Heartland Park Topeka, a major drag racing and road racing course just south of the city, is a major tourist attraction. The Topeka Symphony Orchestra was founded in 1957, and Topeka High School is the last city-chartered university in the U.S. to have a football team. The city is also home to the Kansas Hall of Fame and the Kansas Expocentre and Landon Arena, home of the Combat Air Museum at Forbes Field. The City of Topeka has a population of 2.2 million. The population of Potwin is 1.7 million. It is the largest city in the state, followed by Kansas City, Kansas, with 1.8 million. Top Kansas has a high school population of 1.6 million. Its high school is the only high school in the city to be a part of the Kansas City Public Schools system. It has one of the largest public libraries in the country, with a collection of more than 2,000 books. It also has the first indoor rainforest at a zoo, and is the first in the United States to have such a thing.

Government

The current mayor of Topeka is Mike Padilla. The city manager is Bill Cochran. The deputy mayor chairs the Committee of the Whole and represents the city at official functions when the mayor is unavailable. The mayor and nine members of the City Council are elected from separate districts within the city. They select the deputy mayor, Spencer Duncan, from among themselves. The council also selects the city manager, who guides the council through the meetings but cannot vote. It is the state of Kansas that is responsible for the city's finances. The state's budget is $1.2 billion for the next fiscal year and $2.1 billion for next year. It has a population of 1.3 million, the largest state in the United States. It also has the largest economy in the state. It was the site of the first U.S. Census in 1858. It's the state's largest city, with more than 100,000 residents. It had the largest population in the early 1900s, with about 1.2 million people. It now has a smaller population than the state as a whole. It boasts the largest school system in the country. The population is 1.4 million. It ranks No. 1 in the nation for school funding. It ranked No. 2 for state funding in the 2010 census, with $1 billion in state revenue and $3.1 million in state spending. It received the most state aid from the federal government in the last fiscal year, more than any state.

Education

Topeka is served by four public school districts. It is also home to several private and parochial schools such as Topeka Collegiate and Cair Paravel-Latin School. Hayden High School, a Catholic high school is also in Topeka, as well as Cornerstone Family Schools, a non-denominational Christian organization that offers junior and senior high school athletics to home-school families in the northeast Kansas area. Topeka has several colleges, universities, technical schools and branch campuses of other universities around the state. The city is home to the University of Kansas Health Center, which is located in the town of Topeka. It also has the Kansas Institute of Technology, a technical college, and the Kansas State University School of Nursing, all of which are in the Topeka area. The Topeka Police Department is based in the city, and has been in place since the early 1900s. It was the first police district in the state of Kansas. The department was established in 1903. It has been the city's largest police force since the 1950s. The police department is part of the Kansas Department of Public Safety, which has a budget of more than $1.5 million. The district also has a number of other law enforcement agencies, including the Kansas Bureau of Investigation, the Kansas Highway Patrol and the state attorney general's office. The town has a large number of non-profit organizations, such as the Kansas City Chamber of Commerce, which provides services to businesses and community members in the area.

Infrastructure

I-70, I-470, and I-335 all go through the City of Topeka. Amtrak stops at the Topeka Station. Greyhound Lines provides bus service westward towards Denver, Colorado, eastward to Kansas City, Missouri, southwest to Wichita, Kansas. Topeka has two major hospitals, Stormont-Vail and The University of Kansas Hospital - St. Francis Campus. The city is also home to the Colmery-O'Neil VA Medical Clinic and Topeka ER & Hospital. The Topeka Metropolitan Transit Authority offers bus service from 6 am to 6:30 pm Monday through Friday, and 7 am to 5 pm on Saturday. The Burlington Northern Santa Fe railroad and Union Pacific Railroad provide freight service as well as several short line railroads throughout the state. The Kansas Department of Transportation has asked Amtrak to study additional service, including daytime service to Oklahoma City, including the Chicago-to-Los Angeles Southwest Chief during the early morning hours and makes intermediate stops at Lawrence and Kansas City. The topeka airport is located in south Topeka in Pauline, Kansas, formerly known as Forbes Field. The next closest commercial airport is Manhattan Regional Airport (MHK) in Manhattan, Kansas; Kansas City International Airport (MCI) in Kansas City is the closest major airport. It is also the home of the highly decorated 190th Air Refueling Wing, which is based in Topeka's Oakland area. It also serves as an Air National Guard base.

Air Quality, Water Quality, Superfund Sites & UV Index

The Air Quality index is in Topeka, Shawnee County, Kansas = 73.6. These Air Quality index is based on annual reports from the EPA. Higher values are better (100=best). The number of ozone alert days is used as an indicator of air quality, as are the amounts of seven pollutants including particulates, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, lead, and volatile organic chemicals. The Water Quality Index is 40. A measure of the quality of an area’s water supply as rated by the EPA. Higher values are better (100=best). The EPA has a complex method of measuring the watershed quality, using 15 indicators such as pollutants, turbidity, sediments, and toxic discharges. The Superfund Sites Index is 98. Higher is better (100=best). Based upon the number and impact of EPA Superfund pollution sites in the county, including spending on the cleanup efforts. The UV Index in Topeka = 4.3 and is a measure of an area's exposure to the sun's ultraviolet rays. This is most often a combination of sunny weather, altitude, and latitude. The UV Index has been defined by the WHO (www.who.int/news-room/questions-and-answers/item/radiation-the-ultraviolet-(uv)-index) and is uniform worldwide.

Employed

The most recent city population of 126,587 individuals with a median age of 38.4 age the population grows by 3.65% in Topeka, Shawnee County, Kansas population since 2000 and are distributed over a density of 2,000 residents per square mile of area (780/km²). There are average 2.34 people per household in the 412 households with an average household income of $47,606 a year. The unemployment rate in Alabama is 7.00% of the available work force and has growths 1.16% over the most recent 12-month period and the projected change in job supply over the next decade based on migration patterns, economic growth, and other factors will increase by 36.42%. The number of physicians in Topeka per 100,000 population = 247.2.

Weather

The annual rainfall in Topeka = 34.4 inches and the annual snowfall = 18.9 inches. The annual number of days with measurable precipitation (over .01 inch) = 96. The average number of days per year that are predominantly sunny = 211. 90 degrees Fahrenheit is the average daily high temperature for the month of July and 17.3 degrees Fahrenheit is the average daily low temperature for the month of January. The Comfort Index (higher=better) is 32, where higher values mean a more pleasant climate. The Comfort Index measure recognizes that humidity by itself isn't the problem. (Have you noticed nobody ever complains about the weather being 'cold and humid?) It's in the summertime that we notice the humidity the most, when it's hot and muggy. Our Comfort Index uses a combination of afternoon summer temperature and humidity to closely predict the effect that the humidity will have on people.

Median Home Cost

The percentage of housing units in Topeka, Shawnee County, Kansas which are owned by the occupant = 75.00%. A housing unit is a house, apartment, mobile home, or room occupied as separate living quarters. The average age of homes = 28 years with median home cost = $51,080 and home appreciation of -0.44%. This is the value of the years most recent home sales data. Its important to note that this is not the average (or arithmetic mean). The median home price is the middle value when you arrange all the sales prices of homes from lowest to highest. This is a better indicator than the average, because the median is not changed as much by a few unusually high or low values. The property tax rate of $13.84 shown here is the rate per $1,000 of home value. If for simplification for example the tax rate is $14.00 and the home value is $250,000, the property tax would be $14.00 x ($250,000/1000), or $3500. This is the 'effective' tax rate.

Study

The local school district spends $4,835 per student. There are 11 students for each teacher in the school, 338 students for each Librarian and 350 students for each Counselor. 5.12% of the area’s population over the age of 25 with an Associate Degree or other 2-year college degree, 6.99% with a master’s degree, Ph.D. or other advanced college degree and 1.71% with high school diplomas or high school equivalency degrees (GEDs).