Eccentric Destinations in Topeka, Kansas

Standard travel guides and tourist pages are great sources for locating a city's mainstream attractions and points of interest. However, there are often lesser known, odd, or obscure places that are overlooked by mainstream guides.

If you're the type of traveler who seeks out the more unusual spots when visiting a new place, and if you'll be visiting Topeka, the Capital of the Sunflower State, then this is the guide for you.

Bobo's

2300 SW 10th Ave

Hours: M-Th, 11-7:30 F-S 11-8 Closed Sundays
Seated diner and full car-hop service

If there is one most beloved landmark in Topeka that bridges every gap of time and memory in Topekans everywhere since our last century's middle mark, it is Bobo's Drive In restaurant. It is hard to aptly convey just how dear this tiny diner is to so many.

For example, recently I returned to Missouri and Kansas for my aunt's 80^th birthday. At a family brunch, my cousin, who now lives in Connecticut, asked me what my family and I planned on doing in Topeka. I named a few things, and mentioned Bobo's. At the mention, there was a large, communal sigh of endearment...not so unlike if I had held up a cute baby photograph of a long lost, most loved relative.

Also, during this visit, I obtained my grandmother's journals. It seems Bobo's was the hot spot. In reading them, I realized just how central Bobo's was in not just my own family's lives, but likely in those of countless Topekans living in the central, thriving part of the city in the 1950s on.

Bobo's still exists in its original form-a stylized, 1950s spage age, cold war glory, with real carhops that wait for your headlight signals. It was recently featured on Diners, Drive ins, and Dives, on The Food Network. No excursion to Topeka is complete without a trip to Bobo's for burgers, fries, and o-rings.

Topeka High

(785) 295-3150
800 SW 10th Ave

Just down the street is another amazing piece of architecture from 1920-Topeka High School. The first million dollar high school west of the Mississippi, the bell tower, library (said to be modeled after Hampton Court in England), theatre, and general grandeur are must-sees. Tours are by appointment only, of course, since it is a still-functioning school.

Monroe and Sumner schools

Monroe: 1515 SE Monroe, 785-354-4273 (Monroe school National Historic Site)
Open seven days a week from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Sumner: 330 Western Avenue, Closed to the public; external viewing only

Topeka is the place of the groundbreaking Brown vs. Board of Education case. Monroe elementary school, the school in which Linda Brown was finally able to attend due to the landmark civil rights verdict, is now a museum commemorating the events.

However, Sumner school is also an ideal spot to visit. It is the school that was originally petitioned for attendance by Linda Brown, since it was closest to their family home. It is now abandoned, and fenced off, but it's worth a stop for history buffs as well as great photo-ops.

There is easy curbside parking in front and on the south side. Check out the gorgeous art deco architecture and especially the fabulous female busts (Athena, the goddess of wisdom, perhaps?) adorning the exterior walls.

Rochester Cemetery

1200 NW Menninger Rd

Rochester Cemetery, on the outskirts of North Topeka, is a place of legend. It is said that a ghost of an albino woman roams the cemetery, and there have supposedly been many sightings of such. We made an excursion to the cemetery on our visit, and captured some unusual orb photographs. Aside from this, cemetery lovers will like to check out the well-maintained older and newer often-eccentric and very personalized stones.

John Ritchie House

1116 SE Madison

The John Ritchie house in central Topeka is now designated as a historical landmark. As well as being a stop along the Underground Railroad, it is the place where flamboyant abolitionist John Brown is said to have hid in Kansas, as well as the last place he was sighted in the state before his hanging soon thereafter.

Potwin Place Historic District

Potwin Place Association: 300 SW Woodlawn Ave, 785-332-5650 (address is within the neighborhood.)

The Potwin area is lined with late Victorian era mansions and manors, and is a great drive for anyone interested in architecture. It is also the area of a supposedly very haunted house that's received national attention, as well as some eccentricities, including one small manor sporting Tin Man/robot type knights of armour, gargoyles, and other curiosities.

Slave cemetery

27^th & Boswell

The sight of about 100 graves, this slave cemetery was designated as such by founding Topeka father, the aforementioned John Ritchie. Now a landmark with some newly erected stones of known inhabitants, most graves remain unmarked.

Gage Park

6th - 10th and Gage

Finally, there's wonderful Gage Park. Most websites will rave about its rose gardens, which indeed are lovely. But arguably, the best and most beloved part of this large, old urban park is arguably right across (east) from the World Famous Topeka Zoo.

The large cement animals and objects-- gigantic shoe (from the nursery rhyme: There was an old lady who lived in a shoe...) a humongous whale, kangaroos, an octopus, a ship-are well over 40 years old, well maintained, and from an era when kids knew what to do with such simple things: climb and make-believe. Train rides are also available seasonally.