Plan Your Visit

The site is located at 1515 SE Monroe Street in Topeka, Kansas. Visitor parking is available in the parking lot across the street from the site. Accessible parking is available in the parking lot behind the site.

A ranger will greet you at the front entrance for a brief orientation to the site. The exhibits are self-guided, and you should allow approximately 90 minutes to view all of them. Click here for a more in-depth description of what you will find at the site.

NOTE: If you will be visiting with a group of more than 10 people, please follow the instructions and complete the Group Reservation Form found by clicking here.

 

From Brown to Brown: Topeka's Civil Rights Story

One hundred years of Kansas history separates John Brown's war on slavery and the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in Brown v. Board of Education that ended racial segregation in the nation's public schools. John Brown's involvement in Bleeding Kansas set the spark that ignited the Civil War that freed millions of enslaved human beings. Brown v. Board of Education fired the opening shots in the Civil Rights Movement determined to end the second class citizenship assigned to African Americans. Just as Brown's death on the gallows inspired abolitionists, the Brown decision lit the spark of hope in a generation of men and women who struggled for equality across the nation.

Today, historic sites in Topeka link the dramatic events of Bleeding Kansas, the Civil War, and the Civil Rights Movement. Walk in the footsteps of John Brown and others who turned their properties into havens for fugitive slaves on their journey to freedom. Learn about immigrants from faraway lands hoping for a better life. Remember the civil rights activists who fought to force open the school house doors for children of all races. These people and stories are part of the continuing struggle to secure the American dream and basic rights for all citizens.

For more information on our new driving tour, please click here.