Historic Designation: African American Heritage Site

These three Topeka buildings were owned by Nick Chiles, an African American entrepreneur, political and civil rights activist, and editor who moved to Topeka in 1886. Chiles founded, edited, and published the Topeka Plaindealer, which had the largest circulation of any Black newspaper west of the Mississippi River, from 1899 until he died at age 61 in …

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Awards of Excellence:
St. Luke African Methodist Episcopal Church – Lawrence

The St. Luke African Methodist Episcopal Church, built in the style of 20th century ecclesiastical Gothic Revival Architecture, is an icon of Old East Lawrence. Constructed in 1910, this church has been an anchor in Lawrence’s African American community for 101 years. In particular, during times of racial discrimination and segregation in the early 20th …

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Constructed in 1936 this Art Moderne style building is the school Oliver Brown’s daughter was denied admission to in the historic Brown vs. Topeka Board of Education decision by the U.S. Supreme Court in 19554.

Photo by Judy Handley Listed on the National, State and Local Registers of Historic Places this is an important African-American site in Kansas history. It is the only remaining building in Wichita’s early African-American business district and was reportedly designed by local African-American architect Josiah Walker. Sadly, the building is currently vacant and in disrepair. …

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Photo by: unknown/Library of Congress The only remaining western Kansas town established by African Americans during the Reconstruction period following the Civil War. A report by the National Park Service indicates that “if Nicodemus is not protected and preserved…..it is inevitable that the historic structures will continue to deteriorate and eventually be razed.”

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