Kansas 2006

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Kansas 2006

Ok, so Kansas might not be the first scenic place you would look for, but like every place we have visited it has its special places, its charm and its beauty. I hope we can give you a few sights to enjoy here.

Here are a few pieces of information about Kanas, State song, "Home on the Range;" State flower, wild native sunflower; Insect, honeybee; Amphibian, barred tiger salamander; Reptile, ornate box turtle; Bird, Western meadowlark; Tree, cottonwood; Animal, American buffalo; Nicknames, wheat state, sunflower state, Jayhawker state

Topeka, KS - State Capitol - It took 37 yrs. (1866-1903) to build the Capitol at a cost of $3,200,000. From the ground floor to the top is 306 ft., about 11 ft. higher than the US Capitol. The outside of the dome is covered with copper sheeting.

Donna and I climbed through the interior of the dome - see pictures below. Here Donna is standing on the railing. This is the one shown to the right at the arrow, just above the top of the dome.

Above where Donna was standing at the top of the building is Ad Astra, a bronze statue of a Kansas Indian, which was placed on the Statehouse dome on Oct. 10, 2002. It cost $1.6 million., stands 22ft. 2 in. tall, weighs 4420 lbs. It pays tribute to the KS Indians who were hunter gatherers who lived in the Topeka area, and to the state's pioneers. His bow is pointed to the North Star to symbolize the state's pioneers use of the star as a navigational tool enabling them to find their way.

This is Cedar Crest, the governor's mansion. Unlike most of the official residences of governors which we have visited, this one is quite a ways from the Capitol. It is situated on over 200 acres on the edge of Topeka. The grounds are a state park, and the public uses it. There are tours of the mansion, and we found it quite nice. It was given to the state in a bequest, and was not in good condition at the time, but the restoration was excellent. They told us that this is the smallest governor's mansion in square footage of any state.


This is the top of the dome which you see from inside the capitol building. You can climb the stairs in a catwalk you see on the left to go toward the exterior dome. The interior dome is made of translucent material so it conveys light to the building's rotunda.	These are the stairs that Donna and I climbed to get to go outside at the top of the dome. This had been closed for a number of years, but recently the tours were restarted. We were glad to have the chance, but it is a lot of steep stairs to get there.

This is a view of the capitol grounds, a quarter of them anyway, from above the dome.

Topeka, Kansas, First Presbyterian Church. We had never heard of this church's Tiffany Windows until we arrived in Kansas, but they assert in their brochures that they are "world famous". After looking at them we could believe it. The windows were installed in 1911 at a cost of $14,000. Their insured value in 2006 is $3 million. Favrile glass was the invention of Louis Tiffany. It is a glass made without paint, enamels or stains. Colors were produced by the development of formulas using additives such as cobalt, gold, copper, etc. These formulas were destroyed on order from Tiffany after his death. A special characteristic of these windows is the depth and perspective especially in the landscape windows. The colors are enriched by using layers of glass or by wrinkling or changing the surface texture.


These are some of the Tiffany Windows. This set has raised crystals.	This is typical of most of the Tiffany windows with scenes from Christ's life. These are really spectacular, but our photos do not really to them justice. This was the best of the ones we took.

Not every important building is beautiful in itself. This one below represents what I believe is an idea that is beautiful: that every child, regardless of race, creed, or color deserves an equal opportunity for education.

Topeka, KS - Monroe Elementary School - Brown v. Board of Education National Historic Site commemorates the US Supreme Court decision that ended racial segregation in America's pubic schools. May 17, 1954 the court announced its unanimous opinion: "We conclude in the field of public education the doctrine of separate but equal has no place. Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal."

This site is run by the National Park Service and although the building is not particularly large, the displays are powerful. They are also a reminder of how recently hatred based on race was common in some parts of the country. Perhaps it also reminds us that we cannot forget how close to the surface it may still be.

The next picture continues this theme of education based on race. The Kaw indian boys were forced into school at this mission school, where one of the goals was to convert them to Christian, American boys. (It did not work out.)

Council Grove, Kansas - Kaw Mission State Historic Site. This stone mission was where 30 Kaw (Kansa) boys lived and studied from 1851 to 1854. The problem with this concept was that the boys didn't want to be here and they weren't far from home so they ran away anyway. The US govt. removed the Kaw to Indian Territory, now OK, in 1873. The Kaw, known as "the People of the South Wind," gave KS its name.

One last thing from Kansas, Donna's grandparents came through Kansas on the way to Montana. They stayed and some of her relatives remained. We took the time to find some gravestones of great grandparents. But, her grandfather did go on west, and like most people, they probably passed through Council Grove. This is a facinating little town and we spent a day here walking the downtown and along the river as well as visiting the Kaw Mission shown above. We had many pictures of this historic place, but one her grandfather probably saw was the crossing of the Neosho river.

Riverwalk along the Neosho River - In 1868, a local merchant recorded that 3072 men, 3000 wagons, 618 horses; 20,812 oxen; 8046 mules and 98 carriages hauled 15,000 tons of freight valued at $40 million through Council Grove to NM. Most travellers crossed at about this point for years along the Santa Fe trail until railroads took over.

I should also mention that, although we did not have any pictures from it, there is an excellent museum of space flight in Hutchinson, Kansas. We had expected it to be sort of "rinky dink" so we only planned about 4 hours there. We spent much more, and still were short of what we wanted to actually spend there. It was not the Smithsonian's Air and Space Museum, but in its areas of interest, it was not far behind.

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