What's Old is Old Again
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Stowed away in hundreds of storage lockers today in the central area of what used to be The Bottoms are peoples' lives. Preserved in that spot. The spot where hundreds before held their entire lives. They may not have had much more possessions than what could fit in one of these lockers. They were the forgotten residents of The Bottoms.
This area became the target of urban renewal in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Federal money for urban renewal and construction of Interstate 70 through the heart of Topeka was a large incentive for citizens of Topeka. An urban renewal commission was formed, and extravagant plans were announced. The planned redevelopment area was named the Keyway project. The Fourth Street District was a prominent Black-owned business center in The Bottoms. The Dunbar Hotel and Macks' tavern, at 400 SE Quincy, were two stops listed in the Green Book - a guidebook listing safe and friendly businesses for African Americans traveling the United States. The Keyway urban renewal plan removed all of this. The building that replaced these businesses at 4th and Quincy now sits abandoned. |
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"To the elected officials and 'power brokers' who wanted the program, Urban Renewal was seen as a way to eliminate an old, dilapidated, blighted area, and as a golden opportunity to create new businesses and add new revenues to Topeka's tax base.
For the residents who lived in the area, however, Topeka's Urban Renewal Program was not something that they sought or wanted. Yet, because they were without economic influence and without political power, they were given no voice or choice in the decisions that forced them to leave their homes and demolished their much loved neighborhood." "The Bottoms: A Place We Once Called Home." Thomas Rodriguez |
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“Decaying areas will be replaced with bright new buildings and homes in landscaped, spacious settings that will not only dress up the city and beautify it, but spur a dynamic new development and sprucing up of the entire surrounding central city.”
“Renewal a Fine Investment,” Topeka State Journal, June 6, 1959 |
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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. As Thomas Rodriguez said in his book “The Bottoms: A place We Once Called Home,” this didn’t seem to matter to many residents. This was their home, and they were happy.
The feel of the area today is one of light industry and desolate, abandoned areas. There are businesses operating there, but it is not the attractive region that was once promised. First Street is divided with a median that still has a train track running through it. Abandoned train tracks are all over the area. In one place, I noticed the street had a combination of bricks, railroad tracks and concrete. The concrete had been placed over the bricks and tracks, deteriorated and then revealed what it was trying to hide. The Bottoms certainly was in need of improving or replacing its deteriorating structures. Homes without plumbing were very common before the 1950s but not so much after that. The popular federal urban renewal program was misused by Topeka to create a new, attractive, mixed-use area instead of properly rehouse residents. This was done so with no or little involvement from the residents of this district. |
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