Constitution Hall named to Historic Register
4:53 p.m. Tuesday, July 22, 2008
On July 15 Constitution Hall-Topeka was listed by the National Register of Historic Places.
According to nomination consultant William Seales, Constitution Hall is one of the principal landmarks standing in the American West. Its events were among the sparks that ignited the Civil War.
Based on the listing report, the property is associated with well-documented and highly important events of national significance that focused the nationwide attention of slavery proponents and abolitionists on the issue of Kansas sovereignty and territorial law.
This issue became one of the nation's most widely debated political crises in the years prior to the Civil War, and this property alone represents the important events related to the Free Soil Movement.
Located at 429 S. Kansas Avenue, the building is historically significant as Capitol of the Free State government on the Kansas Territory. In 1855, the Topeka Constitution was ratified within its native stone walls, which set the course for the Wyandotte Constitution under which Kansas entered the Union as a free state in 1861.
"Constitution Hall is Topeka's first building," according to Doug Wallace, local historian. "Its survival is truly remarkable and our community can look forward to its restoration."
Friends of the Free State Capitol, a Kansas 501 (c) (3) corporation, acquired the property in 1998 with assistance Kansas Economic Development Initiative Fund.
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