Tope'ka

Tope'ka, the capital of Kansas, is on both banks of the Kansas River, 67 miles W. of Kansas City by four great railways. It is well built, with wide, shady streets, and possesses a handsome capitol building, a Congregational college, a Roman Catholic seminary, and an Episcopal ladies' college; while close by are the state asylum for the insane and the reform school. Topeka is the seat of an Episcopal bishop. It has nearly a dozen flour-mills, large railway-shops, several foundries and packing-houses, and manufactories of carriages, pottery, bricks, biscuits, starch, vinegar, tents, windmills, &c. Founded in 1854, it became the state capital in 1861. Pop. (1880) 15,452; (1890) 31,007.