Topeka Renewal

National Renewal

Livelihood

Then and Now

Then and Now

The purpose of federal urban renewal was to replace dilapidated housing with new, affordable housing. Topeka turned 100 in 1954, so there were no doubt homes and buildings that were in need of modern amenities. The Bottoms was not unlike other low-income communities in the United States. The Topeka newspapers called the area blighted and slums. There were homes without plumbing or central heating and air conditioning.

I wanted my photo project to look at the area today, 60 years later, and tie in the history of a forgotten community. I wanted to show the lack of representation of Bottoms community members in the decision making that led to the destruction of their homes and businesses. 

Interstate 70, built in the 1960s, went around the east and north boundaries of the existing downtown business district, clearing out homes and businesses in The Bottoms as it turned west.

Buildings like these on the east side of SE Adams Street were spared from Keyway's destruction. The urban renewal map was redrawn multiple times as white-owned businesses were able to convince planners to leave them out of Keyway's path.

"The Urban Renewal Agency sells the condemned buildings to housewreckers for a few dollars. The housewrecker must tear down the building in a certain length of time. He keeps all he can salvage, such us plumbing fixtures, to do with as he pleases." Topeka State Journal, March 22, 1961

As Thomas Rodriguez said in his book, "The Bottoms: A Place We Once Called Home," boys living in The Bottoms would collect extra wheat at the bottom of empty boxcars to sell to people who raised chickens. Some boys would ride the train to the other end of Topeka. Now abandoned and unused, tracks remain in the median of SE 1st Street. This photo looks west on SE 1st Street from NE River Road.

Homes, theaters, bars, restaurants, hotels, churches and more made up the structures of The Bottoms, and about 2,000 people lived there when urban renewal destroyed the area.

Fire Station No. 3, located on the site of the current Topeka Fire Department headquarters, was the first all-Black fire station in Kansas. The building was torn down in 1963 to make way for Keyway.