Notables

Biographical and historical information on this site comes from primary sources, including newspaper articles, diaries and other first-person accounts and materials in the archives of the Kansas State and Shawnee County historical societies.

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    Cyrus K. Holliday

    1826 – 1900 · Location: Section 8

    Cyrus Kurtz Holliday did more to build and define Topeka than any other individual in its history. He was among the nine signers of the original city charter. Through his political activities he influenced the state constitutional convention to locate the capital at Topeka and even outlined the plans for construction of the Statehouse. And he started the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway, which was the city’s economic lifeblood for decades. READ MORE

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    Vice President Charles Curtis

    1860 – 1936 · Location: Section 8

    Vice President Charles Curtis was the only person of known Native descent to ever serve in the Executive Branch. Not only could he trace his ancestry to Kanza Chief White Plume, he also spent his early years on the Kaw reservation. READ MORE

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    Franklin Loomis Crane

    1808 – 1884 · Location: Section 9

    Franklin Loomis Crane was one of Topeka’s most dedicated founders. In addition to turning over his 40-acre homestead for use as the city’s cemetery, Crane was active in the Topeka Town Association and generous with his other holdings. He also is the only member of the association who can boast a line of heirs stretching another seven generations in Topeka. READ MORE

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    E.P. McCabe

    1850 – 1920 · Location: Section 82

    Edward McCabe had big dreams. He was a land developer and speculator, a lawyer, an immigration promoter, a newspaper owner, and a politician.
    He also was the only African-American to ever hold statewide office in Kansas. READ MORE

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      George T. Anthony

      1824 – 1896 · Location: Section 57

      George T. Anthony is one of four Kansas governors who chose Topeka Cemetery as their final resting place. The seventh governor of Kansas (1877-1879), he was a relative latecomer to the state. After serving in the Seventeenth New York Independent Battery of Light Artillery, he made his way west, settling in Leavenworth in 1865. READ MORE

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      Sam Radges

      1843 – 1921 · Location: Section 58

      Sam Radges, the first publisher of a city directory in Topeka, was known for being a bit odd, or at least for doing odd things to entertain others. Like donning a fur coat in the summer. If it kept the cold out, shouldn’t it also keep out the heat? READ MORE

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      John Ritchie

      1817 – 1887 · Location: Section 18

      John Ritchie was a leader in the free-state movement, working closely with city founders to ensure Kansas came into the Union with a constitution that prohibited slavery. His home on Madison Street also was a stop on the Underground Railroad. READ MORE

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      The Rev. John M. Whitehead

      1823 – 1909 · Location: Section 56

      Topeka Cemetery’s only Medal of Honor recipient is John M. Whitehead, a pastor who earned the nation’s highest military honor without ever lifting a rifle. The chaplain, assigned to the Fifteenth Indiana, was cited for the bravery and compassion he showed under fire at the Battle of Stones River. READ MORE

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      Fry W. Giles

      1819 – 1898 · Location: Section 9

      One of the signers of the town charter, Fry Giles also was the source of most of what we know about early Topeka. His book, “Thirty Years in Topeka, 1854 to 1884,” is a first-person account of the birth and early growth of the capital city. READ MORE

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      A.H. “Hib” Case

      1828 – 1908 · Location: Section 12

      Aderial Hebard Case was the lawyer Topekans called when they were in serious trouble.
      “As a lawyer he was to be feared from the first onset to the last shot fired. If an opponent unwarily had its attention distracted, he was a lost man,” Case’s friend J.G. Waters said in Case’s eulogy in 1908.  READ MORE

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      Marilynn Louise Smith

      1929 – 2019 · Location: Section 82

      Marilynn Louise Smith was a top collegiate golfer in the days when women had to pay their own way if they wanted to compete. As a founding member of the Ladies Professional Golf Association, she spent her entire adult life encouraging girls to get onto the playing fields of sport and of life. READ MORE