Topeka Heritage Trail to mark historic sites with sidewalk murals

From escaping slaves who fled along the Underground Railroad and sought shelter at the home of Mary and John Ritchie to the U.S. Supreme Court’s Brown v. Board of Education decision, Kansas’s capital city has played a key role in the nation’s struggle for equality and civil rights.

Historic sites dotted around Topeka, such as the Ritchie House and the Brown v. Board of Education National Historic Site, will soon be linked through a project dubbed the Topeka Heritage Trail that combines education with public art. Thanks to a $25,000 grant from the National Parks Foundation, Freedom’s Frontier will partner with local students from elementary through high school to design and create interpretive sidewalk murals depicting the stories of at least 10 local sites.

The murals mark the first step in a permanent walking trail that will connect landmarks that span five miles, largely in Topeka’s urban neighborhoods, and more than a century of history. The project will hopefully result in a better understanding and appreciation of the city’s culture, said Jim Ogle, Freedom’s Frontier executive director.

“By getting students involved, we’re hoping have a lot of diversity in the murals,” he said while standing in front of the Ritchie House this week.

More details will be unveiled during the summer, likely during the Freedom Festival, McPike said, where the group will seek input from community members. During the first semester of the 2017-2018 school year, area students assigned to the murals will learn about a specific site and then design and paint a mural.

“We really want the students to see this through from start to finish,” she said.

McPike wrote the grant application, which made possible through support from the Coca-Cola Company and the Coca-Cola Foundation. The concept was modeled on a 4-by-8-foot mural at Royal Valley Middle School honoring the 1st Kansas Colored Volunteer Infantry. Students there researched the soldiers and the Civil War before painting the mural. A similar concept has been used on buses in Lawrence, she said.

Topeka Mayor Larry Wolgast wrote a letter to the National Parks Service in support of the grant. Wolgast said the city’s role for more than a century in the civil rights movement should be celebrated nationally.

“This is who we are,” he said.

McPike said it’s possible the trail could be extended in the future, but for now the it will focus on sites in Topeka’s core.

The Topeka Heritage Trail will involve 10 site. Those being considered now include:

• Ritchie House
• Brown v. Board of Education National Historic Site
• The Great Overland Station and future Oregon Trail park
• Constitution Hall
• Old Prarie Town
• Charles Curtis House

For years, those involved in the preservation and promotion of historic Topeka sites have discussed how to connect historic sites and make them more visible to residents and tourists, said Grant Glenn, a member the Friends of the Free State Capitol board, which oversees Constitution Hall. That site received a $25,000 piece of the Topeka’s transient guest tax last year to conduct market research on how best to promote the historic tourism in the city.

The Heritage Trail will play a key role in that tourism, Glenn said.

“This is another way to enhance and celebrate Topeka’s heritage for Topekans and visitors,” he said.

Contact reporter Luke Ranker at (785) 295-1270 or @lrankerNEWS on Twitter. Like him on Facebook at facebook.com/lukeranker.