| Year(s) Listed: • 2024 |
| City/Town: • Topeka |
| Location Class: • Commercial |
| Built: 1880s | Abandoned: 1990s |
| Historic Designation: • African American Heritage Site • Historic District |
| Status: • For Sale • Abandoned • Endangered |
| Contributor: Abandoned Kansas |
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 1929. The Plaindealer, published from 1899 to 1958, was the nation’s longest-running Black newspaper. These three buildings served as a bar, newspaper publisher and hotel.
The trio of buildings has significant African American historical value but has sat neglected to the elements for a period of time. The buildings have been at the center of controversy the last few years as some of Nick Chiles descendants rally to preserve the structures and want to take them over to create the Nick Chiles Institute. But failure to come under contract and officially purchase the buildings has left owner AIM Strategies no choice but to put the buildings back up for sale and even brought up the possibility of demolishing them.
