Winter 2017
GAUCHOS
Basketball: The New Ballet Traditions
The Ambitious Scope of the Brown v. Board Mural
Round Up Club Anniversary
Mentoring Young Talent from All Areas of the City
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TOPEKA MAGAZINE | Winter 2017
FROM THE EDITOR WINTER 2017 | VOLUME 12, NO. 1
Editor Nathan Pettengill Art Director/Designer Jenni Leiste Designer Amanda Nagengast Copy Editor Leslie Andres Advertising Peterson Publications, Inc. Representative publish@petersonpublications.com (785) 271-5801 Ad Designers Jenni Leiste Amanda Nagengast Photographers Kevin Anderson Brian Goodman Nick Krug Katie Moore Bill Stephens
Welcome to the winter edition of Topeka Magazine. We have bundled up this edition with several seasonal story themes including basketball, holiday ballet and warm soup recipes to brighten your winter months. But of course even the most seasonal events, such as the city’s holiday Nutcracker productions featured in these pages, can have a lasting impression throughout the year. By the time we return to you with our spring edition in March, the 2017 Nutcracker performances will be long finished, but the student dancers
will continue performing in other Topeka productions and, in some cases, auditioning for troupes in other cities. And even those who aren’t actively dancing will have taken with them the lessons of discipline, poise and confidence that the performances have helped nurture. We’re grateful to the instructors and dancers who gave us their time for the interviews and photo shoots included in this edition, and we wish them the best for their upcoming ventures—whether those be dance performances or other great leaps in life—for many years to come.
Writers Linda A. Ditch Jeffrey Ann Goudie Kim Gronniger Carolyn Kaberline Christine Steinkuehler Michelle R. Terry Subscriptions $27 for a one-year subscription, including Topeka SR; order at sunflowerpub.com Production Manager Shelly Bryant Director Bob Cucciniello
Please contact us at topekamagazine@sunflowerpub.com for all comments, subscription and editorial queries.
— NAT H A N P E T T E N G I L L , E D I T O R Topeka Magazine is a publication of Sunflower Publishing, a division of Ogden Publications. Ogden Publications 1503 SW 42nd St Topeka, KS 66609
Top Photo: Steven Massey, Founder/Artistic Director of ITAV Bottom Photos (from left): Tyriq Collins and J’Lyn Drew of ITAV Dance Academy; Nathanael Howard, Joann Smith and Ella Brown of Kansas Ballet Academy; Mallory Ming of Ballet Midwest
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Holiday Gift Guide
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1. The Tasteful Olive, 2900 S.W. Oakley, thetastefulolive.com. The store carries fresh olive oils, aged naturally flavored balsamic vinegars, gourmet olives, pastas, olive spreads and dips, sea salts, spice blends, loose-leaf teas and gift certificates. Shop online, too! 2. Patio Pool & Fireside, 3109 S.W. Huntoon, patiopoolandfireside.com. From HotSpring Spas to grills and smokers to vent-free fireplaces, as well as Tervis tumblers, grilling accessories and more. Shop where Santa shops – at Patio Pool & Fireside. 3. Ash Boutique, 3123 S.W. Huntoon, shopashboutique.com. A contemporary boutique focused on style, service + simplicity. As Topeka’s exclusive retailer of Kendra Scott jewelry, there is something for every woman on your gift list.
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TOPEKA MAGAZINE | Winter 2017
WHAT’S INSIDE WINTER 2017 | VOLUME 12, NO. 1
TOPEKANS 10 MARY MADDEN & HER VAST COLLECTION
With over 120,000 historical objects in her care, the state’s historical museum director helps bring Kansas history to life
14 A BIG LEAGUE TYPE OF BASKETBALL
With players from across the city and all areas of town, the Gauchos hope to win games and pass on life lessons
18 ROUND ANNIVERSARY
A Topeka riding club celebrates 70 years and countless miles on the trails
APPETITE 24 GRANDMOTHER’S CHICKEN & NOODLES
Brenda Wockenfuss’ grandmother raised a family, knew all the home remedies … and cooked the ultimate Kansas comfort food
28 A YEAR-ROUND FRESH POTATO SOUP
Topekan’s love of local ingredients got her soup recipe into a new Kansas cookbook
LOCALE 32 THE FINNEY BOND SCANDAL
Nearly 85 years ago, Topeka was shocked by a financial forgery scheme so bold-faced and high-reaching that it took down some of the state’s top office holders and shook Kansas’ reputation for good government
F E AT U R E S 38 MORE HANDS, MORE BRUSHES
AND MUCH MORE THAN ‘JUST PAINT ON THE WALL’
Organizers prepare for the city’s largest, most ambitious community mural project
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DANCING THE NUTCRACKER
For Topeka dance troupes, the classic holiday ballet offers a chance to showcase their young performers and depth of talent
Winter 2017
On the Cover GAUCHOS
Basketball: The New Ballet Traditions
The Ambitious Scope of the Brown v. Board Mural
Round Up Club Anniversary
Mentoring Young Talent from All Areas of the City
Jace Anthony, Darius Mosqueda and Rylan Dodge suit up for the Topeka Gauchos 2029 basketball team. Photograph by Nick Krug
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TOPEKA TALK
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Mural Pride An intriguing aspect from Kim Gronniger’s feature on the city’s mural projects is the backstory of how it all began. We’ve mentioned it briefly before in these pages, but Kim brought more background on this fascinating testimony to community partnerships. It began with Lt. Joe Perry of the Topeka Police Department, who was serving as property crimes commander and had learned how some communities were reducing graffiti and vandalism by tapping civic groups to paint murals. Excited about the idea, he called Sarah Fizell, executive director at ARTSConnect, to find a collaborator. “She was 8½ months pregnant at the time and asked me if we could meet after she had the baby to plan,” says Perry. “I said we should meet the next
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day to plan so we’d be ready to paint after she gave birth. I was ready to go.” The first mural in Oakland was completed on a “shoestring budget” just in time for Fiesta Mexicana. Perry noticed results within the first six months of the Oakland mural’s creation—a 90 percent drop in graffiti within a one-mile radius as compared to statistics gathered six months before the project began. “We’ve completed nine of these murals and not one has been tagged with graffiti,” he says. “We’re excited about the tenth one because it will help make this significant historic Topeka landmark even more inviting.” For Perry, the most gratifying aspect of the community mural project he initiated is that “people come out and want to be involved.”
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Several of our regular Topeka Magazine contributors—Kim Gronniger, Katie Moore and Bill Stephens—appear in this winter’s edition of KANSAS! magazine with a special travel section article on our capital city. Also, Topeka Magazine contributors Linda A. Ditch and Nick Krug team up on the cover story that features the city’s HHB BBQ.
BrooksFest, Congrats! Congratulations to the BrooksFest, whose youth poetry award winners were featured in our fall edition. The event honoring poet Gwendolyn Brooks and her connections to Topeka was a finalist in the “Community Arts” category of the 2017 Arty Awards, sponsored by ARTSConnect. And congratulations to Topeka YWCA Center for Safety & Empowerment which took the top prize in this category.
Next Edition The spring issue of Topeka Magazine will arrive in early March. If your home area is not included in our distribution routes, remember that we distribute complimentary copies through the Topeka & Shawnee County Public Library, the Greater Topeka Chamber of Commerce and other locations. Subscriptions are also available through our publishing company’s website: sunflowerpub.com.
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TOPEKA MAGAZINE | Winter 2017 STORY BY
Jeffrey Ann Goudie |
PHOTOGRAPHY BY
Bill Stephens
Mary Madden &
HER VAST COLLECTION With over 120,000 historical objects in her care, the state’s historical museum director helps bring Kansas history to life
M
ary Madden always wanted to work in a museum. The director of the Kansas Museum of History, who also wears the hat of education director at the Kansas State Historical Society, regularly encountered museums in the mid-1960s, during summer visits to her maternal grandparents in Chicago. Here, she took in the Windy City’s panoply of museums, including the Shedd Aquarium, the Art Institute, the Museum of Science and Industry and the Field Museum, whose famous displays of dinosaur bones, fossils and animal specimens led Madden’s brother to affectionately name it “The Dead Zoo.” During the rest of the year, Madden was with her parents, who had met during World War II while both of them were serving in the Army. They started a family in Cleveland, home of her father’s large Polish family. Her father worked as a milkman; her mother stayed home until the children went to college and then took a job, eventually becoming an executive secretary for Standard Oil. Madden says it was important to her mother that her children get a college education. Though her mother had been advanced two grades and had graduated high school at 16, she was unable financially to attend college. All three of her children have graduate degrees.
Madden earned a bachelor’s degree in American Studies from Bowling Green State University before going to the University of Kansas for a hybrid master’s degree in American studies/museum studies. She completed an internship with the Kansas City Museum on Gladstone Boulevard and then with the Kansas State Historical Society when it was still located downtown at 10th and Jackson. That was in 1979, and Madden has been with the state agency ever since. Jennie Chinn, executive director of the Kansas State Historical Society, says succinctly about her colleague of 30 years: “She gets it done.” Chinn mentions Madden’s “enormous amount of energy,” and her ability to create opportunities for the public to engage history. She also jokes that Madden’s nickname at KSHS is “Mary Memo” because of her excellent note-taking skills and knack for making and keeping records. “Sometimes I’ve got memory,” jokes Chinn, “but she’s got the memo.” Perhaps part of that institutional memory comes from the variety of jobs Madden has held at KSHS, including assistant director, registrar and move coordinator. When the Kansas History Museum moved from the stately Memorial Building on 10th Street, now the secretary of state’s office, to its present location on 6th Avenue past Wanamaker, Madden coordinated the moving of 77,000 objects in 33 moving trucks. That was in 1984. The museum now boasts 120,000 artifacts.
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In this time, Madden has witnessed the evolution of the museum into a more interactive experience. “Museums used to be the domain of the curators and the objects behind glass,” Madden says. “Artifacts are still critical to making a museum, but there are more ways now for visitors to learn and engage. They can handle reproductions, listen to audio and hear about how people lived at the time.” And while some of that interactive experience has expanded online with the museum’s extensive web presence, Madden believes the museum must remain a welcoming physical space. She points to studies that show although people can access vast amounts of historical materials online, they are still drawn to being near the physical artifacts of history and art. “You can see a picture of Mona Lisa—you’re still going to go to the Louvre,” says Madden. “What we can give people is a social experience.” For the past decade, Madden has shared this insight and her vast museum experience with students in the museum studies program at the University of Kansas, teaching a weekly class on museum public education. The director of museum studies at KU, Peter Welsh, says he appreciates Madden’s “enthusiasm for her subject and for helping students.” With such a demanding job, which involves supervising a staff of full-time and part-time employees, plus teaching and mentoring college students, you wouldn’t think Madden would have time for hobbies, but she was an avid quilter for years. Professionally, she was involved with KSHS’ partnership with the Kansas Quilt Jorge Project, which and Pat Nobo documented over 13,000 historic quilts. Personally, she was a founding member of the “Quilt Cult,” a group of women who met weekly to quilt and socialize. Her friend and former neighbor Anita Miller, now a project manager at StormontVail, says of Madden, “If she has an idea, she charges ahead with it and makes it happen,” adding, “She doesn’t know a stranger.” After quilting for 20 years, Madden switched to rug hooking, which she does regularly in another group. Madden is married to Tim, a lawyer in the Department of Corrections, and has two grown daughters, who introduce new adventures into her life. This fall, the energetic Madden helped her Turkish son-in-law sell handmade shoes at the Renaissance Festival in Bonner Springs. Even in this task, as in the rest of her work, Madden literally makes history come alive, creating and curating objects, bringing a modern community together to understand past communities. About the Writer: Jeffrey Ann Goudie is a freelance writer and book reviewer whose work has appeared in the Huffington Post, the Kansas City Star and the Minneapolis Star Tribune, among others. For Topeka Magazine, she profiles Topekans who are making a positive impact on the community.
The volume of 120,000 objects in the Kansas History Museum’s collection requires a massive storage room.
Winter 2017 | TOPEKA MAGAZINE
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TOPEKA MAGAZINE | Winter 2017
Mary Madden’s 3 favorite artifacts on display at the Kansas Museum of History “I believe artifacts provide an emotional connection to the past. We can learn history from books but to see the real thing makes history come alive.”
1. JOHN BROWN’S PIKE
“This is one of the 1,000 pikes he had made and brought to Harper’s Ferry, Virginia (now West Virginia), in 1859. He planned to lead a slave revolt and supply the slaves with these pikes. To me, it is a symbol of his martyrdom.”
2. COLONEL HUGHES’ POW PANTS
“Colonel James C. Hughes was captured at Bataan and spent 41 months at six POW camps. These pants were issued to him at his second camp, Camp Tarlac, when he was a prisoner of war of the Japanese in WWII. He wore these pants at five of the six camps and wrote about them extensively in his diary. He was teased about how they were only held together by the many patches. They are a physical manifestation of the numerous hardships faced by all POWs.”
3. THE AT & SF STEAM LOCOMOTIVE NO. 132’S PHOTOGRAPH
“In 1880, Cyrus K. Holliday purchased ten steam locomotives for his company, the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway. Each one cost $12,000 and were the most powerful engines of the time. The Baldwin Locomotive Works in Pennsylvania sent Holliday a photograph of one of the engines to show him their work. Unbelievably, it was a photograph of our engine, No. 132, the centerpiece of our museum’s exhibits and by far our biggest artifact. The locomotives were numbered 130 to 139, so why did they photograph No. 132? Sometimes historians get lucky, and this photograph helped us restore our engine back to dayone condition without any questions of what it really looked like.” Photographs courtesy Kansas State Historical Society.
Winter 2017 | TOPEKA MAGAZINE
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The Museum and the Colonel Among the numerous special exhibitions put together by Kansas Museum of History director Mary Madden and her staff, Madden says she is particularly proud of the ongoing show Captured: The Extraordinary Adventures of Colonel Hughes, an ambitious, wide-ranging project that has won the American Association of State and Local History’s 2017 Award of Merit halfway through its two-year run in Topeka. Topeka native James Clark Hughes enlisted as a bugler with the Kansas National Guard in 1905, was sent with his artillery brigade to the Mexican border during the 1916 clash with Pancho Villa and then served on the battlefields of World War I. After a brief try at civilian life, Hughes re-entered the military, posting to the Philippines in October of 1941 and winding up as a Japanese prisoner of war. To chronicle Hughes’ trials and adventures, Madden and her staff drew on photographs, diary entries and other research to create an exhibit that features images, writings, uniforms, videos and even a recreated POW bunk. The exhibit also invites the public to record the name of someone who served in the military on a symbolic poppy chain. Madden says this was done so that “people feel they’ve left a part of themselves in the exhibit and can add to the story. People are proud of their family and friends who have served. I know I’ve put my parents’ names up there since both of them served in World War II.”
Captured: The Extraordinary Adventures of Colonel Hughes continues at the Kansas Museum of History until May 2018. Kansas Museum of History 6425 SW 6th Avenue 785.272.8681 HOURS: 9 am–5 pm Tuesdays–Saturdays; 1–5 pm Sundays TICKETS: Adults, $9–$12; Children, $3–$6 For more information about the life of James Clark Hughes, you can also read the Kansas State Historical Society’s summary at kshs.org/kansapedia/james-clark-hughes/19881
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TOPEKA MAGAZINE | Winter 2017
TOPEKANS STORY BY Marsha Henry Goff | PHOTOGRAPHY BY
Nick Krug
A Big League
TYPE OF BASKETBALL With players from across the city and all areas of town, the Gauchos hope to win games and pass on life lessons
TOPEKANS
Winter 2017 | TOPEKA MAGAZINE
G
eo Lyons made lifelong friendships and lasting memories playing club basketball through AAU (Amateur Athletic Union), the nation’s 130-year-old sports league. And when the Topeka West High School in-school suspension supervisor and junior varsity basketball assistant coach had boys of his own, he wanted them to have the same opportunity. So, two years ago, Lyons approached several friends. One of these was Michael Williams, the Communities in Schools site coordinator at Topeka West and head coach of the school’s junior varsity basketball team, who had his own team of second graders. “What made me buy in was the guys who came together,” says Williams. “When you begin with the framework we have, it was almost a no-brainer.” “I wanted to make sure we had the right group of guys and gals together, folks who weren’t just here to win basketball games and make it all about them,” recalls Lyons. “It’s all about the right mix.” By August 2015, this group had formed the Gauchos basketball program. Within one month they had already won their first tournament in Lawrence. And they were already focused beyond the court. “I want my kids to be successful. When you do it bigger than basketball, when you teach life, you’re trying to affect the community,” Williams says. Teaching community involvement became a core skill, like dribbling and shooting. In addition to necessary fundraisers for the team, the players have raised funds for hurricane victims, and they have helped families with holiday purchases. All of the Gauchos coaches recognize that for every player who makes it into the professional leagues, thousands will not. So they concentrate on athletic skills and character while encouraging their players to dream big. “I want to teach my kids a valuable lesson about life that it doesn’t matter where you come from,” says Lyons. “You might wind up in a bigtime corporation ten years from now. You don’t know what you might do, because
(Previous Page) The Kansas Gauchos 2025, one of 13 Gauchos teams. (Left) Quincy Dixon plays for the Kansas Gauchos 2029 youth basketball team.
just look what you were able to do when you were only six.” Mason Gomez, a 7th-grade Gaucho, has been inspired by that message and believes he will “play basketball forever. I may coach when I retire.” Mariah Parker, a player on the 5th-grade girls’ team, loves the chance to run down the court, shoot and score. The Gauchos give her that chance now—and Mariah sees a future where basketball opportunities expand. She notes that women are currently touring with the Harlem Globetrotters and, closer to home, that her grandmother plays with the Granny Basketball league. Nine-year-old Derek Frederick expressed his eagerness to play competitive basketball to a friend who invited him to “come to practice tonight and see if you’re good enough.” Derek made the Gauchos team but admits, “I knew it wasn’t going to be easy. I practice at home every night.”
Michael Williams, Jr. has been playing basketball since he was three and says he is proud to be playing with this squad at the ripe age of 10. “I want people to know we’re a good program, a competitive group, and we love to play basketball.” Only in their third year, the Gauchos are already taking their game on the road. While the younger teams play mostly in Topeka, 4th-grade teams and older begin traveling. Their road trips are made possible by their growing reputation and some magical logistical work from Irene Davis of Travel with Davis, who coordinates hotels for the group, donates money and has bought bags for one of the teams. Davis isn’t the only adult working behind the scenes. Each team has a designated volunteer, many who go by the title “Team Mom,” who attends every practice and does everything coaches do not have time to do. Michelle Williams, 5th-grade team mom,
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TOPEKA MAGAZINE | Winter 2017
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The Gauchos’ coach lineup for the 2017–2018 season Jaycee Schumann plays with the Kansas Gauchos 2023 team.
coach’s wife and medical assistant at Kansas Foot Care, explains her role: “It’s a life. I signed up for it.” A lot of the work that the adults do, Williams explains, is to help the teams with expenses so that the kids can concentrate on basketball. Or, rather, basketball and school. “We make them know that education always comes first,” adds Williams. “We hold them to standards higher than basketball.” Shayla Alejoa, the team mom for the 2nd-grade squad and a schedule coordinator at Covenant Family Dental Care, says the emphasis on scholarship and character helps her in raising her son and Gauchos player Davion Cobin. “All I have to mention is: ‘You’re not playing basketball,’ and he straightens right up,” says Alejoa. Sonda Washington, a certified nursing assistant, works one full-time and two parttime jobs but never misses a practice for her son, Jacorey Robinson. “I do it to keep my son off the streets. I have been out there in the streets, and I don’t want my son out there at all, so I keep him in basketball, football and track. Mike Williams, his coach, is a male figure in his life. If he gets in trouble in school, they know to call Mike. He’s a good support for my son.” Many of the players say they appreciate how the Gauchos parents and coaches push
them. Jo’Mhara Benning, a 6th-grade athlete who also plays volleyball and basketball, says playing with the Gauchos encourages her to do her best because “if I don’t do my best, I’ll probably sit on the bench. Being competitive makes you work harder. I’m a 4.0 student so I get my homework done on time and I can go to practice and I don’t have to worry about it.” And the players, in turn, support the teams. They fundraise with car washes, pancake feeds, concession stands, a softball tournament and the annual basketball tournament to help lower travel and uniform expenses. The Gauchos do not have a major sponsor, but in addition to helping boys and girls grow into responsible young men and women, the program is also helping businesses in Topeka. Mike Bell, Visit Topeka’s vice-president of sales, estimates that the annual Gauchos tournament— which brings 50 teams to Topeka—may also bring as much as $100,000 into the Topeka economy. As Lyons says, “That’s a lot of hamburgers, gasoline and hotel rooms.” About the Writer: Writer Marsha Henry Goff frequently suits up for Topeka Magazine. The scouting reports say she can slam-dunk a sentence like an all-star.
GEO LYONS (above), Topeka West High School staff, coaches 1st-grade, 2nd-grade, 6th-grade, and 7th-grade boys. Lyons: “We are trying to make better people out of them.” MICHAEL WILLIAMS, Community in Schools site coordinator, Topeka West High School, coaches 5th-grade boys. He says, “I think winning is a byproduct of doing things right.” ROBERT BROWN, P.E. teacher, Highland Park Elementary School, coaches 5th-grade girls and 6th-grade girls. He maintains the team’s social media accounts. JAMEEL ANDERSON, para-educator, Highland Park High School, coaches 2ndgrade boys and 6th-grade boys. BRANDON MCDONNELL, driver, FedEx, coaches 4th-grade boys and has both a daughter and son involved in the club. DAMON GUEST, DDT1, Kansas Neurological Institute, coaches 10th-grade boys. DWAYNE ANTHONY, system specialist BC/ BS KS, Youth Pastor El Shaddai, substitute teacher USD 501, coaches 1st-grade boys. TREY JONES, system specialist II, BC/BS KS, coaches 7th-grade girls. MARK HIDALGO, maintenance, USD 501, coaches 11th-grade boys. FONZO SOWELL, master barber, coaches 6th-grade boys. LOUIS ALEXANDER, VMA inside/outside operations, coaches 9th-grade boys. TANIA GIBBS, Mars Chocolate North America, coaches high school girls (mixed ages).
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Winter Wonderland is a benefit for TARC, Inc. in Topeka, Kan. TARC, Inc. is Shawnee County’s most experienced provider of service and support for children, adults and families with developmental, intellectual and related disabilities. All proceeds from Winter Wonderland benefit TARC programming and helps TARC continue to provide these much needed supports as we have for 63 years.
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TOPEKA MAGAZINE | Winter 2017 STORY BY
Carolyn Kaberline |
PHOTOGRAPHY BY
Katie Moore
Round
ANNIVERSARY A Topeka riding club celebrates 70 years and countless miles on the trails
Winter 2017 | TOPEKA MAGAZINE
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The Topeka Round Up club began as a Western style riding group—a tradition that continues strongly today—but also offers English style riding lessons and opportunities, shown on these pages.
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fter Joanna and Ira Stamm moved with their two daughters from Boston to Topeka, they found themselves walking to the nearby Topeka Round Up Club, a local horse boarding and riding facility not far from their new west side home. At first it was just to pet the horses, something they weren’t able to do in Boston. But soon, they decided to become members, buy their own horse and board it at the club. It wasn’t long before they acquired three more horses so that everyone in the family could ride and take lessons. Like so many families before them, the Stamms were welcomed into the riding community and became immersed in Topeka Round Up Club activities.
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TOPEKA MAGAZINE | Winter 2017
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“I can easily remember the 100 mile trail rides, the dances, the hayrack rides, the square dances and of course the work days where we mowed, fixed fence and took care of the facilities,” says Joanna. “My best memories are of the wonderful trail rides and sleeping in the old clubhouse afterward. It was so much fun doing stuff with other families.” The not-for-profit Topeka Round Up Club was created exactly for these opportunities. Members have full use of the club’s 200-plus acres of trails, access to trainers (for both English and Western style), use of indoor and outdoor arenas and other facilities. Members also participate in a number of clinics, shows and social events throughout the year.
“My best memories are of the wonderful trail rides and sleeping in the old clubhouse afterward.”
Part of the mission of the Round Up Club is to provide a venue for riding lessons, and for seasoned riders to share the sport with a new generation.
It is a place where riding is taken seriously, but the club’s family-friendly environment has led to its longevity with many members like Kylie Fowler, now the club’s western trainer. Her parents were members, and she recalls helping out as early as six years old, counting change in a chuckwagon concession stand at high school rodeos. She also pitched in with the club’s lawn mowing, painting and upkeep. “Since we lived nearby, I was over at the club almost every day after school and on weekends,” she says. “It was almost like our second property.” Fowler also recalls hanging out with her friends at the old clubhouse, playing checkers with her brother, getting tasty hamburgers from the old grill, and reading books while sitting in the manger near the hay barn. And, of course, Fowler rode. “I think I had all the trails memorized by the time I was 12,” Fowler says. Those trails have changed over the life of the Round Up club, but the combination of riding and relaxation remains. Now, as an adult, Fowler enjoys lingering by the hitching rail near the East Barn with friends and clients. “That’s where we get together and solve all our lives’ problems and those of the world too,” she says. Stamm believes this fellowship is part of the group’s success. “One of the differences of our club, which is governed by a board and not just under one owner, is that we have common interests and are working for a common goal and that brings people together,” Stamm says. And that goal of passing on a place to gather, ride and care for horses is now in the hands of another generation.
About the Writer: Carolyn Kaberline is a teacher, journalist and horse-rider whose writing appears regularly in Topeka Magazine.
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TOPEKA MAGAZINE | Winter 2017
Topeka Round Up Club 70-plus Years of History
The Topeka Round Up Club, located at 7843 SW 37th Street, has brought horse riders together for over 70 years. The club traces its roots to a group that gathered in the mid-1930s for horseback riding, coyote hunting and calf roping. When the calves became too expensive, goats were substituted, and a goat roping club, Old Ironsides, was formed in 1938. At that time, most activities took place on the Bybee farm south of Topeka. In 1941, some of the Old Ironsides members and others began to make plans for what was to become the Topeka Round Up Club. This club sponsored three successful horse shows in 1944, 1945, and 1946 with the revenue from the first two years donated to the Infantile Paralysis Fund, the Cancer Fund, and Winter General Hospital. The profits from the 1946 show were used to purchase 78 acres of land at 61st and Adams for $10,000, which was used primarily for polo. By the time the Round Up Club was incorporated in 1947, the membership, according to an early rodeo program, had grown “to approximately 400 members of men, women and children and includes many members who own gaited and fine harness horses as well as those who
adhere to the Western tradition.” Early activities of the club included “coyote hunts with dogs, trail rides with overnight camping, assisting ranches in the nearby territory with herd driving and in general enjoying themselves with their horses.” Polo was eventually dropped. In 1954, the U.S. government purchased the club’s polo grounds for $40,000 in order to expand Forbes Air Force Base. The following year the Topeka Round Up Club Board purchased their current location, which then consisted of 320 acres for $32,000. This was soon the site of a number of social activities including monthly dinners and weekly trail rides. Some of the club’s early activities from 1947 to 1949 included hosting rodeos at the Kansas Free Fair Grounds where the current Expocentre now stands. Not only were rodeo greats such as World Champion Saddle Bronc Rider Casey Tibbs in attendance, but the 1948 rodeo featured special guest William Boyd of Hopalong Cassidy fame with his white horse Topper as grand marshal. While few may remember those early activities, the club is probably best known for hosting the Kansas State High School Rodeo from 1956 to 1985. Its highly
regarded lesson program began in the 1980s with English, hunter-jumper and dressage lessons offered by long time member Kathy Childs. Western lessons provided by Kylie Fowler were added later. Summer riding camps have also been a big part of the club’s offerings. With the addition of a new barn and indoor arena, which opened in 1989, and a new clubhouse in 1995, the club has continued as a boarding facility and has also sponsored a variety of equine activities appealing to all disciplines. Those activities include barrel races, play days, trail rides, and shows for both English and Western riders. The club has also hosted equine events for the Sunflower State Games. Although the focus of the club has changed over the years from primarily a Western riding facility to one that caters to all disciplines, the goal remains much the same: to provide a safe and enjoyable place for Topekans to board their horses and to enjoy family oriented activities and social events. “Everybody hopes this club will go on forever,” says Betty Kirchner, a past president of the club.
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APPETITE
TOPEKA MAGAZINE | Winter 2017
STORY BY
Linda A. Ditch |
PHOTOGRAPHY BY
Bill Stephens
Grandmother’s
CHICKEN & NOODLES Brenda Wockenfuss’ grandmother raised a family, knew all the home remedies … and cooked the ultimate Kansas comfort food
W
hen Brenda Wockenfuss was three years old, her world was disrupted by her parents’ divorce. She, her mom, and three siblings moved from Plainville, Kansas, to live with her grandmother and great-grandmother in WaKeeney for the next five years. Her mom worked three jobs to support the family, and her time at home was used for sleep. This left the child-raising duties to Grandma. It was a difficult time. Wockenfuss remembers, “My grandmother was a widow. We were moneypoor but resource-rich. We used what was cheap and what we already had. Grandma wasn’t an educated person, but she’s the smartest woman I know.” Memories from those money-strapped days come easily as Wockenfuss makes a batch of chicken and noodles in her cozy home kitchen. She tells about her grandmother’s frugal trick of curing an earache by sprinkling black pepper on a cotton ball then inserting it along with hot castor oil into the ear. It was a typical approach for a grandmother who seemed to have a home remedy for any illness and could rig a solution for just about any problem. And in the kitchen, she passed on this same approach to creating meals.
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“I would stand on a stool and help Grandma cook,” Wockenfuss remembers. “I don’t know if I was much help, but she never said so. She never used a recipe. Grandma took care of us every day either at her house or ours until we were old enough to be home alone. She cooked all of our meals.” As an adult, Wockenfuss taught family sciences in the Rossville school district for 17 years, where her 7th-grade students learned how to make chicken and noodles, the same recipe found here. Then she began serving food to the public, first in her bright red Grandma Wock’s trailer at the Downtown Topeka Farmers Market, and then in her Fairlawn Plaza restaurant with the same name. Wockenfuss is practical in the kitchen. She calls the way she cooks as being lazy, but after hearing the tales of her early life in the Kansas west, it is easy to understand where her cooking style originated. She explains, “I have adapted how I cook. When I make a recipe, I change it so I dirty the least amount of dishes and finish it in the least amount of time.” She serves the comforting chicken and noodle concoction on top of mashed potatoes while recalling her childhood days. Memories of hardship are softened by a loving grandmother’s willingness to teach a child the ways of the kitchen. “She was a strong woman, and I became a strong woman, too,” says Wockenfuss of the grandmother who taught her to cook.
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APPETITE
TOPEKA MAGAZINE | Winter 2017
Grandma’s Chicken & Noodles Over Mashed Potatoes Preparation Time Approximately 1 hour Feeds: 6 to 8 people Ingredients: 12 cups chicken broth 2 to 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts 2 carrots, sliced 1/4-inch thick 2 celery stalks, sliced 1/4-inch thick 3/4 cup diced yellow onion salt and pepper, to taste
For mashed potatoes: 2 pounds Russet potatoes, peeled 4 tablespoons butter, melted 1/3 cup whole milk salt and pepper, to taste For noodles: 1 cup flour 2 eggs, beaten 1 teaspoon salt water, if necessary
Instructions 1. In a large pot, bring the broth to a boil. Add the chicken, carrots, celery, and onion. Turn the temperature down to low and simmer until the veggies are just tender, about 15 to 20 minutes. 2. For the mashed potatoes, place the peeled potatoes into a large pot of water. Bring to a boil, and cook until the potatoes are tender. Remove the pan from the heat and set aside. 3. For the noodle, measure out the flour and salt in a large bowl. Add the beaten eggs and mix until the dough comes together. If necessary, add water, a tablespoon at a time, to help the mixture form a ball (or add more flour if the mixture is too wet). 4. Turn the dough ball out onto a floured surface and knead it a bit until smooth and soft. Roll out the dough until it is about 1/8-inch thick. Using a pizza cutter or a chef’s knife, cut the dough into long strips, and then cut each strip into short pieces about 2 inches long. 5. Add the noodles to the chicken pot. Simmer until they are tender, about 15 minutes. 6. While the noodles cook, remove the chicken from the pot and cut into bite-sized pieces or shred with two forks. Also, finish the mashed potatoes by draining the water, adding the melted butter and milk, and mashing the mixture together. Add salt and pepper, to taste. 7. Once the noodles are ready, add the chicken back to the pot. Spoon a mound of the mashed potatoes into each bowl. Then ladle the chicken and noodles on top. Ready to serve.
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APPETITE
TOPEKA MAGAZINE | Winter 2017 STORY BY
Linda A. Ditch |
PHOTOGRAPHY BY
Bill Stephens
A Year-Round
FRESH POTATO SOUP Topekan’s love of local ingredients got her soup recipe into a new Kansas cookbook
W
hen Bobbi Luttjohann asked her children which recipe she should submit for a Kansasthemed cookbook, her kids answered all at once: ‘Your potato soup!’” They knew their soup. Luttjohann’s recipe was one of two from Topeka selected for The New Kansas Cookbook: Rural Roots, Modern Table by Frank and Jayni Carey. They book was originally released in 1989 but was extensively revamped to reflect culinary changes over the past three decades and the growing strength of
farm-to-table and localvore eating. As the Careys wrote in their preface, “If Kansans can’t grow it themselves, they want to purchase it locally, seasonally, and freshly harvested.” This is a sentiment Luttjohann embraces wholeheartedly. She buys raw milk from an Osage County dairy to make homemade cream cheese and yogurt. She buys grass-fed beef from Graze the Prairie in Latham. If she can’t get bacon from a neighbor who processes his own hogs, she looks for brands labeled “From the Land of Kansas.” Plus, she has a backyard
garden and egg-laying chickens at her Indian Hills home. Luttjohann says she buys local because she feels what she is getting is healthy for her family. She also likes supporting growers because she believes they care about the product they produce. “Buying directly from the farmers is putting a face to my food,” she explains. “You get the personal touch when you buy local. They know you and you know them. When we lose that connection with our food, we lose the knowledge about our food.”
Winter 2017 | TOPEKA MAGAZINE
When Luttjohann was a youngster, she helped her mom in the kitchen. Once she was on her own, she learned to experiment with recipes. The soup recipe started from one Luttjohann saw on the internet in the early 1990s. Through the years, she has adjusted it to fit her family’s tastes. That’s not always easy, given that the Luttjohann household consists of husband, Steve, and 5 daughters, ages 15 to 25. But good food generally gets a good reception, even for six different palates, and sometimes presentation is key. For example, Luttjohann has put her potato soup through a blender so one of her daughters, who had a mouth full of braces at the time, could enjoy it. Luttjohann’s pleasure comes from these types of moments, from the preparation to the serving, to the hope that these traditions will continue for another generation. “What I enjoy about cooking more than anything is my kids have picked up on it,” she says. “Cooking is an art, and you can pass it on.” But when it came time to passing on her potato soup recipe, Luttjohann had a difficult time choosing exact measurements. Since she’s made it so much—even served it for Easter dinner one year—she no longer uses a recipe. She just eyeballs the amounts and puts in whatever ingredients she has on hand. So, she suggests that people take her recipe as a starting point. “I hope people use this as a base recipe, but make it their own.”
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TOPEKA MAGAZINE | Winter 2017
Instructions 1. In a large pot or Dutch oven, combine the potatoes, onion, carrots, celery, and pepper. Pour in the chicken broth, bring the mixture to a boil over medium heat, and cook until the potatoes are tender, about 10 minutes. 2. Using a potato masher, mash approximately half of the cooked potatoes to release their starch for thickening (this step is very important). 3. Reduce the heat to low and add the cream cheese a little at a time. Stir frequently until the cream cheese melts. This step takes a while, so be patient. Whisk the soup gently to blend, if needed. Heat the soup until just simmering.
Bobbi Luttjohann’s Perfect Potato Soup Printed with permission from The New Kansas Cookbook: Rural Roots, Modern Table by Frank and Jayni Carey (University Press of Kansas, 2016)
4. Remove the pot from the heat and immediately stir in the shredded cheddar cheese and bacon. Taste and season with salt and pepper, if desired.
Preparation Time 30 to 60 minutes
*A high-quality or organic cream cheese or heavy whipping cream may be substituted.
Feeds 6 people
Ingredients 6 cups potatoes, peeled and cubed 1/4 cup onion, chopped 2 medium carrots, chopped 2 celery ribs, chopped 1/4 teaspoon black pepper 6 cups homemade chicken broth 1 cup homemade cream cheese made from raw local whole milk, or 1 cup raw local cream* 1/2 to 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese, to taste 6 bacon strips, fried and crumbled Salt and black pepper, to taste
Home Care, Transportation, Housekeeping,
and so much more! Serving Topeka and Surrounding Communities
Sherri L. Moore, Owner 15380 210th Road, Holton, Kansas 66436 785-364-6614 g.fridayseniorservices@yahoo.com girlfridayks.com
About the Writer: Linda A. Ditch is a national food journalist who lives, works, writes and eats in Topeka.
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LOCALE
TOPEKA MAGAZINE | Winter 2017
STORY BY
Christine Steinkuehler
William Jardine (center) is sworn in as Kansas treasurer in 1933 to put an end to one of the state’s largest financial scandals. Photograph from the collection of the Kansas Historical Society.
The
FINNEY BOND SCANDAL Nearly 85 years ago, Topeka was shocked by a financial forgery scheme so boldfaced and high-reaching that it took down some of the state’s top office holders and shook Kansas’ reputation for good government
T
he first reports described a criminal act almost too brazen to be believable. It involved high-ranking government officials assisting a financier in forging bonds and then using state funds to cover their tracks. And all of this was not in a large metropolitan city on the Coast, or even in the scandal-ridden boss-machine political landscape of Kansas City, but in the civic-minded state politics of Kansas. The scandal publically erupted in August 1933, when federal bank examiners were conducting a routine investigation at the National Bank of Topeka where they found irregularities in the accounts of the Kansas State School Fund Commission. Trying to rectify the discrepancies, an examiner asked the state treasurer for permission to examine the bonds in the state’s vaults, only to be denied access. Learning of the standoff, Kansas governor Alf Landon took immediate action. He placed the Kansas capital
under martial law, summoned the National Guard to the vaults and ordered that the examiners be allowed entry. When they arrived, the examiners found two sets of school fund bonds, one of them forged, and a trail pointing to the Finneys, one of the state’s most successful business families. The Finneys were honored in 1883 with an entire county—Finney County—being named for their patriarch, the Union war veteran, businessman and former Kansas lieutenant governor David W. Finney. Synonymous with success through ownership of utilities and banks, the Finney family was known across Kansas for its philanthropy and status within the state’s elite social and political circles. The Finneys’ friends included the famed newspaper editor William Allen White and Governor Alf Landon—in fact, they were the largest contributors to Landon’s campaign. There was hardly a mover and shaker in the state who had not been to their
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home for Mrs. Finney’s chicken dinner or out to the Finney ranch in the Flint Hills or a guest at the family’s luxury cabins in the Rocky Mountains. Ronald Finney, David’s grandson, lived a Gatsbyesque life of country club parties, lobster and bootlegger’s liquor. He made legitimate profits in the commodities markets, but his undoing began when he began check-kiting between his father’s banks in order to cover bad loans. Eventually, he simply began forging bonds and using them to secure loans from the likes of the National Bank of Topeka at the corner of Sixth Street and Kansas Avenue. One of these loans for $150,000 is what got him in trouble. Its discovery lead Finney go to his friend Thomas Boyd, the state treasurer, to bail him out, which Boyd did by drawing a check on state funds to cover the loan. Boyd—it turned out—was twice complicit. He had given Finney free run of the state’s treasury vault to forge bonds. Boyd, along with Finney, was arrested in the days following the showdown at the vault. In quick succession, Finney-owned banks were closed, a Chicago brokerage house that had been used to secure loans with the forged bonds was shut down, several other public figures were under suspicion, those who weren’t guilty were doing their best to disassociate themselves from a figure who had embedded himself in the social and financial network of the state’s ruling class. A generation later, historian Robert Smith Bader wrote “the total financial, political, psychological, and personal cost of the tragic affairs became almost impossible to calculate,” but the cynical newsman Charley Trapp had his verdict shortly after the scandal unfolded and as reputations were still in tatters—little ol’ Kansas had set new heights in outright, shameless corruption. Comparing Finney’s scheme and his double-forgery cover-up to the ballyhooed burlesque dancing of Sally Rand and the medical quackery of goat-gland physician John R. Brinkley, Trapp wrote: “Sallie [sic] cashed in on her cuticle, Doc sold goat epidermis at a fabulous charge, but Ronald took the hides of suckers. … I’m proud of Kansas, always she’s the forefront. Any other state would have been content with one set of forged bonds.”
About the Writer: Christine Steinkuehler is a Topeka educator who frequently contributes articles on the city’s history.
LOCALE
TOPEKA MAGAZINE | Winter 2017
The Topeka Connections
1
Although the Finney Bond Scandal is often remembered as a statewide crisis caused by an Emporia businessman, it impacted the lives of hundreds of Topekans. Its epicenter was in Downtown Topeka, at the Jayhawk Hotel where two very different worlds—the freewheeling lifestyle of Ronald Finney and the austere, good-government philosophy of Arthur Capper—existed just a few floors apart. Here is a breakdown of some of the city’s citizens most connected to the affair. 4
GROUP 1: THE WHISTLE-BLOWER
1st
5 3
3rd
6th
ST
RE
ET
ST
RE
ST
ET
RE
3
ET
10th STREET
1 MB Gurley Various locations
BOSWELL
LANE STR EET
AVENUE
ET
14th STREET
1
16th STREET 17th STREET
A reporter of the Topeka State Journal, Schultz wrote the column “Kansas Political Gossip” and lived at the Hotel Kansan, whose Purple Cow coffee shop and roof garden dining room were popular social spots.
3
4
1
Clif Stratton 2 2012 Bolles Ave (Washburn Ave)
19th STREET 20th STRE ET
2
Biographer and confidant of Senator Arthur Capper, Stratton was also the Washington correspondent and columnist for Topeka’s Capper-owned newspaper, The Topeka Daily Capital. This publication, considered reformminded and proper, would lead the press in outrage and column space about the bond scandal.
WASHBURN
Trapp was the editor and publisher of The Pink Rag, an independent weekly newspaper that featured Trapp’s biting wit. The Finney Bond Scandal offered the perfect grist for the acerbic Trapp.
GROUP 3: THE IMPLICATED
1 Thomas Boyd 1926 Bolles (Washburn Ave)
29th STRE ET
1 33rd STRE ET
D
AVE.
21st STREET
Charley Trapp 3 1029 Madison St.
The Kansas State Treasurer gave Ronald Finney a check drawn on public funds to cover a bank loan. Boyd also gave Finney access to the treasury’s vault, enabling Finney to steal bonds and replace them with forgeries. In return, Boyd received several personal checks from Finney. He resigned his office in disgrace, stood trial, was found guilty and sentenced to prison.
RE
KANSAS BO ULEVAR
1
ST
D
1 Al “Dutch” Schultz Hotel Kansan
1
TOPEKA BO ULEVAR
GROUP 2: THE PRESS
11th
LANE
This Topeka bond dealer was offered bonds from school district #92 and the Eureka school district. When he called the bond clerk in the state auditor’s office, Gurley was told that those bonds belonged to the state’s School Fund Commission and were not for sale, causing him to alert the U.S. attorney’s office. Along with two federal bank examiners who stumbled upon irregularities in the commission’s accounts, Gurley triggered the collapse of the Finney Bond scheme.
PEMBROKE
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MA DIS O
N
3
2 Ronald Finney Fifth Floor Suite, Jayhawk Hotel
1
1
Scion of an Emporia banking and communications mogul, Finney became the bonds trader with a golden touch. Moving to the capital, he established himself at one of the state’s finest residences, the Jayhawk Hotel. Groucho Marx, Gypsy Rose Lee, Sally Rand, Bing Crosby and others were known to have stayed at this residence. Even U. S. Senator Arthur Capper, who split his time in Washington D.C., lived in the Jayhawk until his death in 1951. Designed by Thomas W. Williamson, who is best known for his design of Topeka High School, this hotel was the epicenter of the Finney Bond Scandal mechanism. Finney would be put on trial, found guilty and sentenced to 635 years of jail. He served 12 of them before being released.
3 Ronald Boynton 338 Woodlawn Kansas Attorney General and a cousin of William Allen White, Boynton approved the state’s purchase of bonds from Finney (often at rates higher than market price). The Kansas House impeached Boynton, but the Senate failed to convict him so he served out his term of office.
4 William J. French 1029 Billard Blvd.
3 John Hamilton 1616 Boswell
As Kansas State Auditor, French was charged with registering every municipal bond in Kansas. He also steered deposits to Finney’s banks. Impeached by the House, French also escaped conviction by the Senate and continued in office until the end of his term.
Finney’s attorney before the scandal, Hamilton did not participate in the criminal defense of his client.
GROUP 4: THE POLITICIANS
1 Governor Alf Landon Governor’s Mansion, 8th and Lincoln Nominally the Chairman of the Treasury Board that approved bonds to protect state deposits, Landon cultivated an image of an honest and clean politician, the head of a Kansas Republican party whose history and integrity was a stark contrast to the bootlegging, contract-dealing, vote-trading politics of the Democratic machine in Kansas City, just across the Kansas-Missouri state lines.
2 Arthur Capper Jayhawk Hotel A local-media giant, Capper owned radio station WIBW and the newspaper Topeka Daily Capital. As a former Kansas governor and sitting U.S. Senator, Capper championed honest politics and rural values.
3 Frank J. Ryan 108 W. Courtland The Kansas Secretary of State also served as chairman of the School Fund Commission and sat on the Treasury Board. Not implicated in the scandal, he would midwife the postscandal regime by swearing in the new state treasurer, William Jardine.
GROUP 5: THE MILITARY
1 CL Thomas 1334 Tyler
ANIA AVE
24th STRE ET
PENNSYLV
ADAMS ST REET
2 2
2
Winter 2017 | TOPEKA MAGAZINE
ST RE ET
LOCALE
A National Guard officer, Thomas was summoned by Governor Alf Landon to guard the State Treasury office after Landon placed the capital under martial law.
GROUP 6: THE LAWYERS
1 Tinkham Veale 1535 Pembroke
Defense attorney for Tom Boyd, Tinkham Veale is mostly remembered by Topekans as the property developer of Westboro region and as the namesake of a downtown building.
2 Paul Heinz 2424 Pennsylvania Heinz originally represented Finney, but during the process of the investigation and trial, he was appointed to a judgeship by Governor Alf Landon.
4 Sardius Brewster 1539 W. 16th Street The Kansas Attorney General from 1915-1919 and U.S. District Attorney from 1930-1934, Brewster was the first to notify Governor Alf Landon of Finney’s bond forgeries and would be one of the lead attorneys in prosecuting Finney. Brewster was a larger-than-life character who recited Shakespeare and classical literature in the original Latin and Greek. Dutch Schultz said of him: “Eating breakfast with a grizzly is a joy, as compared with being on the opposite side of a rough and tumble lawsuit with Brewster.”
5 Ralph O’Neil 315 Woodlawn Ralph “Dyke” O’Neil was a well-connected Democrat who kept residences in Topeka and Washington, D.C., where he served as Roland Finney’s Washington contact man. He scanned the D.C. papers and gave Finney news that might be pertinent to the market. (Finney also had men in London, Chicago and Philadelphia doing the same thing.) There was never any evidence to indicate that O’Neil had any knowledge or involvement in Finney’s bond forgeries.
GROUP 7: THE STAR WITNESS
1 Bernice Long 1311 SW 11th
The bond clerk at the State Treasurer’s office, Long’s testimony on how Finney and Boyd removed Eureka depository bonds to Chicago was critical to the prosecution of both men.
GROUP 8: THE CLEAN UP MAN
1 William Jardine Memoralized at 2600 SW 33rd Street The former U.S. Secretary of Agriculture and special minister to Egypt, Jardine was tapped to clean up the office of Kansas State Treasurer. Beginning in October 1933, he fired everyone in the office and then rehired all positions before reopening the treasury office. He also recommended a number of reforms that were never implemented because the legislature believed they would be too costly. USD 501’s Jardine Middle School is named after him.
35
FEATURES
38
More Hands, More Brushes and Much More than ‘Just Paint on the Wall’
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Dancing The Nutcracker
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TOPEKA MAGAZINE | Winter 2017
Artist Michael Toombs (forefront) stands in front of the location for the planned Brown v. Board of Education mural, joined by (from left) Yesenia Villarreal, Daryoush Hosseini, Timothy Steward, Hector Bernal, Mary Thomas, Sarah Fizell, Cathy Burchett and Felix Maull.
B e r o M , s d n a e H r e o r M Mo h c u
s e h s ru
Winter 2017 | TOPEKA MAGAZINE
n a h t
t n i a ' P l l ' Just a W e h t n o M d n a
Organizers prepare for the city's largest, most ambitious community mural project Story by Kim Gronniger Photography by Bill Stephens, Katie Moore and Kevin Anderson
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TOPEKA MAGAZINE | Winter 2017
THE IMPORTANCE OF PLACE The new Brown v. Board of Education mural will tie together several neighborhood aspects to lend additional context to the events and history of the region made famous by the 1954 court decision: • MONROE SCHOOL, • MRS. LAURA’S • QUINCY STREET, where master teacher CAFÉ, the gas where McKinley Mamie Williams taught station and Burnett, president of the Topeka NAACP and for which the restaurant where and plaintiffs’ nearby Williams Science students gathered attorney, lived and Fine Arts Magnet to buy candy School is named
• CUSHINBERRY PARK, named for philanthropist and community leader Grant Cushinberry
“Not only will all of these clusters help make connections, they will also breathe new life into this community,” says Joan Wilson of the Brown v. Board of Education National Historic Site.
I
n 2018, Topeka celebrates five years of a successful public mural art program by launching its biggest and most ambitious project yet. The goal is to create a massive outdoor canvas orchestrated by one of the region’s premier professional artists and inspired by the artwork of Topeka students. According to Sarah Fizell, executive director of ARTSConnect, the idea for the new mural came in 2015 as several individuals judged student entries for an annual Martin Luther King Jr. celebration contest sponsored by the nonprofit Living the Dream, Inc. The judges, gathered at the Brown v. Board of Education National Historic Site began talking about how nice it would be to project the kids’ artwork onto a larger canvas to display their interpretation of Topeka’s legacy of civil rights and social justice.
“As I remember it,” continues Fizell, “we collectively looked out the window at that moment and saw the perfect wall north of the parking lot.” That perfect wall was a 30-foot by 130-foot cinderblock sprawl that happened to be owned by Larry and Carol Hill, who happened to live in the house Fizell grew up in, and who happened to be perfectly supportive of transforming the blank surface into a showpiece symbolizing racial justice, tenacity and triumph. “Using words like serendipity and fate seems dramatic for this project, but they’re accurate,” says Fizell.
With the site secured, Fizell approached Michael Toombs, a nationally recognized artist who has completed numerous creative community projects involving and inspiring school children, university students and juvenile drug offenders. “I basically called Elton John to ask whether he gives piano lessons,” says Fizell, laughing. “Michael’s a really big deal and we couldn’t have made a better choice.” She pitched a project that would be similar to what the city had already accomplished in previous murals—a collaboration between a star artist and community members. It was an approach that spoke to Toombs and his delight in working with nonprofessional creative teams.
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ALL AROUND TOWN The Topeka murals are part of a larger community art project bringing creativity to public spaces. In November 2017, ARTSConnect released a guide to 150 pieces of public art in conjunction with the opening of the Rita Blitt Gallery and Sculpture Garden on the Washburn University campus. The list of Topeka’s art attractions is available on the ARTSConnect website, artsconnecttopeka.org.
“The magic happens when everyday people discover that they have creative energy,” says Toombs. “Sometimes they don’t know it until they get submerged in the process. I enjoy seeing the wonderment on their faces and hope they’ll continue to keep at it long after the project is done as they connect with not just what’s in front of them but what’s inside of them.” The new mural will be the tenth community mural that ARTSConnect has undertaken since 2013 to beautify spaces and unify the community. Whereas previous efforts were typically grassroots collaborations with schools and area artists, Fizell and board members believe a Brown v. Board mural, with its thematic connection to one of the nation’s most influential Supreme Court decisions, needs to be more than “just paint on a wall.”
“We need to pay the proper homage to the Brown v. Board of Education decision and what it’s meant for Topeka,” says Fizell. “We want the mural to depict what the decision did—not only for the country but for Topeka—how it’s changed us and how we pay it forward.” Joan Wilson, interpretive park ranger at the Brown v. Board of Education National Historic Site, shares that belief. “Our hope is that students will look at the artwork on the mural and study the history of our leaders and their involvement in this decision and question what their own legacy might look like,” Wilson says. With a projected cost of more than $50,000, the mural will be covered by regional and national grants, as well as by local funding from the FHLBank Topeka, Kansas Creative Arts Industries Commission, U.S. Bank and the City of Topeka. Mural painting will begin in the spring and extend over a two- to three-week period. In addition to community participants, visitors to the museum, which draws about 39,000 people annually, will also be able to pick up a brush and add their mark to the mural’s themes of diversity, equality, justice and inclusion. “We’re all about more hands with more brushes,” says Fizell. “You don’t need a lot
of skill or experience to participate in this project. It’s a little like paint by numbers since the professional artists we’re working with will have everything lined out before we start.” Promoting participation instead of perfection resonates with Toombs, who would like to allocate space not only for the artwork of the annual art contest’s place-finishers but also for a drawing encompassing the names of all mural painters to celebrate their coming forward to commemorate a monumental moment in Topeka’s history. “We want more people in the mix willing to do the best they can,” he says, “from highly accomplished artists to novices to parents with steady hands and little ones who want to help.” “This is a pivotal moment in Topeka, a time when a lot of people are sticking their necks out to make this city a better place and reach goals that are big and important,” Fizell says. “We believe this mural project can help change the trajectory of the community because art can transform attitudes.” Toombs agrees. “Sometimes society puts up walls, and art can become an access point for understanding and helping individuals adjust their attitudes and progress through difficult points in their lives.”
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TOPEKA MAGAZINE | Winter 2017
Oakland Murals The first ARTSConnect mural project in 2013 was precipitated by a cold call to Sarah Fizell, executive director of the organization, from Topeka police officer Joe Perry, who is also an ARTSConnect board member. “We had no idea what we were doing, but we were game to try,” says Fizell. Topeka artists Jamie Colon and Maria Guzman answered a call for artists. Their creations, located at the Located at the intersection of Huntoon and corner of Seward & Lake streets in Oakland, represent Lane streets, this mural depicts the area’s vibrant family, neighborhood, culture and connection. Colon history since its establishment in 1879. The mural also painted additional murals on adjacent buildings. brought together lead artists Jamie Colon and Support for the project came from the BNSF Foundation, Jordan Brooks, the Downtown Topeka Rotary the Kansas Creative Arts Industries Commission and Club and community residents to create a colorful individual donors. tribute in 2015.
Tennessee Town Neighborhood
A MURAL TOUR The Topeka Mural Project partnership includes ARTSConnect, the Topeka Police Department, Safe Streets Coalition and Downtown Topeka Inc. Together, these organizations have already created 9 murals across the city.
Hi-Crest Container Mural
Created by a collaboration between neighborhood matriarch Betty Phillips and Jamie Colon, this mural is located at the former Avondale The Container Mural, cultivated with the East Elementary School, which is now home to Net-Reach, Community Shawnee County Extension Master Gardeners, Resources Council and other organizations. The property serves as a Senne Company and Gray and Company, features community center for the neighborhood. Treanor Architects and Mars the work of artist John Sebelius, who created the assisted with additional site improvements such as a new sign, landscaping design and led more than 20 volunteers in painting and refinishing of aluminum lettering. One fun aspect of the mural, the image the surface of a large railroad container adjacent to a of the girls jumping rope, was inspired by the girls who lived across the street at community garden south of the Kansas Expocentre. the time of painting.
Winter 2017 | TOPEKA MAGAZINE
Meadows Designed by printmaker Justin Marable, this mural on the retaining wall on the northwest corner of Meadows Elementary School began in 2014 and was completed in 2015. Marable and Jamie Colon worked alongside community members and Meadows students, who painted the mural with the support of donors and in-kind contributions from USD 501, CJ Wright Contractors and Treanor Architects.
Old Town Painted by Jamie Colon in the summer of 2015, the depiction of the Longren biplane honors the state’s aviation pioneers. The mural is on the east side of the Joe Gutierrez State Farm Agency building at 6th and Lincoln streets.
Rip-On Skate Park Fourth Street Bridge
The Rip-On Skate Park at Shunga Glen draws hundreds of young people who skate and socialize at the site. ARTSConnect joined forces with Shawnee Jamie Colon and others painted the Fourth Street County Parks and Recreation and the Topeka bridge located between Branner and Lafayette. A main Community Foundation to enhance the popular thoroughfare for pedestrians, bicyclists and school buses space. Bold graphic lettering, a light bulb, a snake’s carrying students to nearby Scott Dual Language Magnet head and more are depicted along skating structures. School, the bridge’s surface was transformed into an ARTSConnect first got involved with painting at the attractive honeycomb pattern and colorful geometric park in the summer of 2016, when artists (Jamie Colon shapes to build pride and help deter vandalism and crime. and JoDee Jensen, among others) painted large murals More than 100 neighbors joined in the painting of this on the skating surface. 3,000 foot-long mural.
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TOPEKA MAGAZINE | Winter 2017
Artist Michael Toombs has created murals with public groups since the early 1990s.
Guest artist Michael Toombs says the scope of the Brown v. Board mural project is especially intriguing. “It’s unique to involve an entire city in an art project,” he says. Gregarious, resourceful and resilient, the successful mid-career artist says he had difficulty establishing himself, partly because of barriers he faced as an African American. Instead of trying to find ways to display his work in venues that would draw people, he would go to venues where people already were and create art with them instead of for them. Based in Kansas City, Toombs has worked extensively with schools, community centers and the courts “to help people understand themselves and their lives and the direction they want to go to be better.” One of Toombs’ first murals was for Donnelly College, which had a culturally diverse student body comprising hundreds of nationalities. Perplexed that students of different backgrounds didn’t often interact, the Catholic college president thought a mural through which they could incorporate elements of their heritage would help unify the group. This resulted in The Sun Rises and Sets, completed in 1995. Toombs says the process of creating this mural brought people together “so they could slow down and get to know
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one another better.” The Donnelly College assignment led to additional murals for Toombs, including one in 1996 for Bartle Hall, Enlightenment, which involved public participants on both sides of the river and 30 local muralists. Toombs calls the process “interactive arts education” and looks upon it as a culmination of his artistic talents. “My new direction took all of what I’d learned about how to create a work space that allows all kinds of people to enter into it.” In 2008, he secured a three-year, $750,000 grant to study and document the attributes and outcomes possible with interactive arts education through an established curriculum. Toombs notes that natural disasters and other community tragedies in recent months have encouraged people to help one another without concern for skin color. Topeka, he notes, has chosen not to wait for a crisis to create that same opportunity. “The opportunity to paint a mural with significance all over the country and to portray insights about overcoming challenges will have a huge impact on those who participate and those who view it long after it’s completed,” Toombs says.
Winter 2017 | TOPEKA MAGAZINE
Daniel Mangiaracino will bring his leaps and jumps to Ballet Midwest’s 2017 performance of The Nutcracker.
Story by Michelle R. Terry Photography by Katie Moore, Brian Goodman and Nick Krug
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Performers for the It Takes a Village Dance Academy performance of The Chocolate Nutcracker include (back row from left) Azalaiah Thompson, Rain Rich, Imani Thompson and (front) J’Lyn Drew.
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The Kansas Ballet Academy performance includes, from left, Nathanael Howard, Joann Smith and Ella Brown.
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Performers for the Ballet Midwest rendition of The Nutcracker include, from left, Mallory Ming, Daniel Mangiaracino and Sydney Frantz.
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