Gage Park is a city park of in

Topeka, Kansas Topeka ( ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of Kansas and the county seat of Shawnee County. It is along the Kansas River in the central part of Shawnee County, in northeastern Kansas, in the Central United States. As of the 2020 cen ...

, United States. It was established in 1899 and is one of the largest parks in Topeka. It features the Topeka Zoo, the Kansas Children's Discovery Center, a miniature train of gauge, the Helen Hocker Theater, the Blaisdell family aquatic center, and the Reinisch Rose Garden. The 70-year-old rose garden is a popular place for weddings and events, and also a place where serious horticultural work is done.

History

Gage Park was established in 1899 when the heirs of Guilford Gage donated their farm to the city of Topeka as a recreational center.

George Kessler George Edward Kessler (July 16, 1862 – March 20, 1923) was an American pioneer city planner and landscape architect. Over the course of his forty-one year career, George E. Kessler completed over 200 projects and prepared plans for 26 co ...

prepared the first plan between 1899 and 1901, city horticulturist Anton Reinisch continuing the work. The zoo and Doran Rock Garden were both constructed in the 1930s. Animaland followed in 1960 – a playground with concrete animals for climbing.

Fred Phelps Fred Waldron Phelps Sr. (November 13, 1929 – March 19, 2014) was an American Minister (Christianity), minister and Disbarment, disbarred lawyer who served as the pastor of the Westboro Baptist Church, worked as a civil rights attorney, ...

and the

Westboro Baptist Church The Westboro Baptist Church (WBC) is an American unaffiliated Primitive Baptists, Primitive Baptist church in Topeka, Kansas, that was founded in 1955 by pastor Fred Phelps. It is widely considered a hate group and a cult, and is known for Prot ...

began their anti-gay crusade in 1991 with what they called "The Great Gage Park Decency Drive", seeking a crack down on homosexuals

cruising for sex Cruising for sex or cruising is walking or driving about a locality, called a cruising ground, in search of a sex partner, usually of the anonymous, casual, one-time variety. Published: 11-14-2007 Published: 9-21-2005 Article from NYT about a ...

in the park. At the time, the church circulated a flyer, "Gage Park Sodomite Rats Nest".

In popular culture

Gage Park was featured in the beginning of the 1997

Stephen King Stephen Edwin King (born September 21, 1947) is an American author. Dubbed the "King of Horror", he is widely known for his horror novels and has also explored other genres, among them Thriller (genre), suspense, crime fiction, crime, scienc ...

novel '' The Dark Tower IV: Wizard and Glass'', with Reinisch garden, the zoo, and the train being mentioned. In the book, the city of Topeka is deserted due to the influenza of King's novel ''

The Stand ''The Stand'' is an epic post-apocalyptic dark fantasy novel written by American author Stephen King and first published in 1978 by Doubleday. The plot centers on a deadly pandemic of weaponized influenza and its aftermath, in which some of ...

''.

References

{{reflist

External links

Rose Garden History
Geography of Topeka, Kansas Parks in Kansas Tourist attractions in Topeka, Kansas Protected areas of Shawnee County, Kansas Protected areas established in 1899 1899 establishments in Kansas