Constitution Hall (Topeka, Kansas)

Constitution Hall, in Topeka, Kansas, is one of the most famous buildings dating from the history of early Kansas. It was a two-story building constructed from April to October 1855 by brothers Loring and John Farnsworth. It was built of native limestone with a flat roof on the 400 block of Kansas Avenue, then in the center of Topeka's downtown. It was left uncompleted for a time. After its walls were plastered in October, those opposed to introducing slavery into Kansas Territory met in what became the Topeka Constitutional Convention. The convention opened October 23, 1855.

Almost forty delegates met. They all opposed slavery and the southern element in Kansas. At the time, the southerners controlled the legal government of the territory. While it was legal, it committed many illegal acts. The element controlled by the northern immigrants into Kansas set up their own government, which had no legal standing.

A constitution was written, but it failed to be adopted. It was called the Topeka Constitution. This constitution passed in the United States House of Representatives in July 1856, but failed in the US Senate by two votes. Parts of it became part of the eventual Kansas state constitution in 1861.^[1]

Constitution Hall became the meeting place of the northern element's government and legislature. This legislature drew the wrath of the southerners in Congress, who asked President Franklin Pierce to intervene. Pierce was a southerner. Federal troops, led by Col. Edwin V. Sumner, were called in July 1856 to disperse the Topeka legislature. On July 4, the troops arrived at Constitution Hall. Facing soldiers with rifles, bayonets and a cannon, the members of the Topeka legislature were forced to disperse.^[2]

Constitution Hall continued to serve as the capital of the northern element. Sometimes supplies seized in southern communities were kept in the basement of the building. By the early 1860s buildings were built to the north and south of Constitution Hall and they were attached to it, thus making Constitution one of a row of buildings on the block. Topeka became the state capital of Kansas when the State was admitted to the Union in 1861.

Capitol of Kansas, 1863-1869

A permanent capital building was planned. However, in 1863 a temporary capitol was built, using Constitution Hall and a couple of these surrounding buildings. Some remodelling was done to accomplish this and the result was called State Row. In an 1870s photo on file at the Kansas Historical Society, in Topeka, State Row can easily be distinguished from other buildings. In the row of buildings involved, one can count the upstairs windows to determine where State Row was. It was located from windows 11 through 21.^[3]

While State Row served as the Kansas capitol, the east wing of the current, and permanent State Capitol was built. The east wing was completed in 1869 and the State's offices were moved there.^[4]

Commercial uses, 1869-2006

When State Row was deactivated on December 25, 1869 (Christmas Day), the buildings comprising it were used for commercial uses. Extensive remodelling was done over the next 100 or so years and it became difficult to determine which buildings were Constitution Hall or State Row.

The buildings were used as commercial buildings thereafter. The various businesses occupying them included a gun shop, and undertaker, a used book shop, a drug store, a jewelry store, a cutlery shop, a furniture store, a dry goods store, restaurants, offices and residential apartments.^[5]

The local chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution decided to permanently mark the site of Constitution Hall. On July 4, 1903, the chapter mounted a plaque honoring the building in the sidewalk in front of the Hall. Over the years pedestrian wore down the details on the plaque, so a decision was eventually made to mount the plaque on the side of the building. Cy Cohen, owner of the Topeka Cutlery Shop, at 429 S. Kansas, volunteered to have it placed outside his shop.

It was assumed Cohen's shop was actually Constitution Hall or a part of it. By the mid-1980s, the area around Cohen's shop was becoming vacant for several reasons. In 1986 Cohen was murdered in his shop in a robbery and the Topeka Cutlery Shop closed. Businesses came and went, but no business again moved into 429 S. Kansas. In the end only Dean's Books, at 427 S. Kansas, occupied that part of the block. Cohen's shop became very dilapidated and was at risk of being demolished. Much of the 400 block had been razed by 1990.^[6]

In the early 1990s an effort was made to rehabilitate the buildings of State Row. However, there was disagreement about the validity of saving the buildings, even among historians. It was even suggested the entire block of buildings on the site had been gutted to the point that nothing of the original structure still existed. This first effort failed to go anywhere.^[7]

Official recognition

Eventually, enough support was gathered, much of it from the characteristics of the building itself, to determine that 427 and 429 S. Kansas were Constitution Hall. The Friends of the Free State Capitol Inc. was formed to preserve the building. Much happened in the first decade of the 21st century to ensures the building's survival. In 2001 the National Park Service added the two addresses to the National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom. The Underground Railroad helped fugitive slaves travel north to reach places of sanctuary in free states and Canada.

In October 2002, the National Park Service presented a planning grant to the Friends of the Free State Capitol. Later the City of Topeka presented a $27,000 grant to the organization to upgrade Constitution Hall's roof. In 2006 a large mural was painted on the fronts of some of the buildings of State Row to commemorate Constitution Hall and the 1856 dispersal of the unofficial territorial legislature. Finally, on July 15, 2008, Constitution Hall was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.^[8]

It was speculated in 2008 that Constitution Hall was haunted. A paranormal group was to have investigated this, but nothing was said about any results from the group's investigation.^[9]

References

1. ^ Steve Fry, "Location of Constitution Hall at issue," from the February 3, 2003, Topeka Capital Journal, in the FindArticles website, http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4179/is_20030202/ai_n11795327/ ; Kansas Memory website, http://www.kansasmemory.org/item/192 ; Don Lambert, "Constitution Hall celebrates 154 years," October 22, 2009, in Topeka Capital-Journal online, http://cjonline.com/news/local/2009-10-22/column_constitution_hall_celebrates_154_years .
2. ^ Kansas Memory website: "Constitution Hall listed on historic register," July 22, 2008, in Topeka Capital-Journal online, http://cjonline.com/stories/072208/loc_307492382.shtml ; "Bleedng Kansas: Topeka: 150th Anniversary of the Dispersion of the Free State Legislature: July 4, 1856 - July 4, 2006," in http://www.washburn.edu/cas/art/cyoho/archive/Events/150dispersion/index.html ; Fry, "Location of Constitution Hall at issue".
3. ^ William C. Pollard, Jr., "Forts and Military Posts in Kansas: 1854-1865," (Ph.D. dissertation, Faith Baptist College and Seminary, 1997, a copy of which is in the KSHS archives), pp. 153, 208.
4. ^ Fry, "Location of Constitution Hall sparks rift," February 2, 2003, in Topeka Capital-Journal online, http://cjonline.com/stories/020203/our_consthall.shtml ; "Topeka Constitution Hall," in Google timeline, http://www.google.com/ ; "Bleeding Kansas: Topeka"; Kansas Memory.
5. ^ Fry, "Location of Constitution Hall sparks rift"; Fry, "Location of Constitution Hall at Issue."
6. ^ Fry, "Location of Constitution Hall at issue."
7. ^ Fry, "Location of Constitution Hall at issue"; Lambert.
8. ^ Fry, "Location of Constitution Hall at issue"; "Bleeding Kansas: Topeka"; "Constitution Hall listed on historic register," July 22, 2008, on Topeka Capital-Journal online website, http://cjonline.com/stories/072208/loc_307492382.shtml .
9. ^ "Ghost Tours plans investigation," in Topeka Capital-Journal online, http://cjonline.com/stories/100108/loc_338797646.shtml ;Haunted Kansas Tours website, http://www.ghosttourkansas.com .