Old Federal Building USPS

Entrance to the Old Federal Building/ Post Office

NPS Image

Quick Facts

Location:

424 S Kansas Ave Ste 1, Topeka, KS 66603

Significance:

Site of the Brown v. Board of Education district court case of Topeka, KS.

MANAGED BY:

United States Postal Service

Amenities

2 listed

Information, Restroom

Topeka’s Old Federal Building housed a post office and U.S. district court, and was formally dedicated on August 30, 1934. In June 1951, local attorneys John and Charles Scott and Charles Bledsoe, and other lawyers from the NAACP, representing 13 adult plaintiffs and 20 children, rose in the courtroom on the third floor to argue Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka. The three judge panel, bound by the “separate but equal” precedent established by the U.S. Supreme Court in Plessy v. Ferguson (1896), reluctantly sided with the Board of Education, clearing the way for an appeal before the U.S. Supreme Court. In a finding of fact, the district court voiced the opinion later adopted by the Supreme Court that legally sanctioned segregation hindered the mental and educational development of black children and deprived them of the benefits they would receive in racially integrated schools.

• Topeka’s Old Federal Building

  
  

  Experience the history surrounding the Brown v. Board of Educaton district court case in Topeka, KS.

  Date created:

  06/07/2023

  Audio Transcript

  Topeka’s Old Federal Building housed a post office and U.S. district court, and was formally dedicated on August 30, 1934. In June 1951, local attorneys John and Charles Scott and Charles Bledsoe, and other lawyers from the NAACP, representing 13 adult plaintiffs and 20 children, rose in the courtroom on the third floor to argue Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka. The three judge panel, bound by the “separate but equal” precedent established by the U.S. Supreme Court in Plessy v. Ferguson (1896), reluctantly sided with the Board of Education, clearing the way for an appeal before the U.S. Supreme Court. In a finding of fact, the district court voiced the opinion later adopted by the Supreme Court that legally sanctioned segregation hindered the mental and educational development of black children and deprived them of the benefits they would receive in racially integrated schools.