Oops! Looked Straight to Me! (The story of Topeka's streets)

Dear Topekans,



Frye Giles one of
Topeka's founding fathers
 



Have you ever looked at a map of our fair city?  If so you have probably noticed the odd angle that much of the downtown area sits at.  This angle is responsible for the easily confused addresses we all know and love like 117 S.W. 6th Ave. and 117 S.E. 6th Ave. (Both are fantastic businesses worthy of your patronage by the way) 

I had always known about this strange angle but put no thought into how it came to be until I read Thirty Years in Topeka: A Historical Sketch by Frye Giles.  Giles was one of the founders of Topeka and wrote his book, Thirty Years in Topeka, about the town's first three decades.  Giles relays some fascinating first hand information about the founding of T-Town like why its crooked.

Map of Topeka

In January of 1855 the task of laying out Topeka was started.  Those doing the work did not have proper survey equipment and were relying on an older survey of the area and what they thought was an east-west portion of the Kansas River to start cutting out streets.  Downtown and much of the early parts of the city were laid out based off of this work.

A few years later a federal survey was conducted of the area and as it turned out Topeka Boulevard, Kansas Avenue, and all the other streets were 18 degrees east of true north.  During this same time several other small towns like Eugene, Potwin, and Tennessee Town were founded near Topeka but with streets facing cardinal directions.  As Topeka grew it began to annex these towns and streets had to be lined up creating all of the strange triangle shaped parks and strange corners near the hospitals, in East Topeka, and elsewhere. 

So now that you know the story stop by and check out our 1887 map of Topeka that shows this transition in detail or pick up a copy of Thirty Years in Topeka for yourself.  We also have lots of other great books about the history of our fair city as well as postcards, photos, and more. 

Our beloved map wall!

What the "Eph" is Ephemera?

One question we are asked on a regular basis is “What is  ephemera?”, so here is a quick breakdown of what exactly is ephemera. 

Ephemera:

Noun Things that exist or are used or enjoyed for only a short time. Items of collectible memorabilia, typically written or printed ones, that were originally expected to be discarded after use but have now become collectibles.   The most fascinating and broad category of collectible we sell is ephemera. It includes everything from matchbooks to telephone books, posters to postcards, and so many countless forms of advertising it would (and has) taken entire books to describe them all.  In our store we focus on a few key areas of ephemera including:   Postcards -   Collecting postcards is just plain fun. No matter what you like be it local history, humor, nature, people, planes, trains, or automobiles postcards have it all.  Postcards became popular in the late 19th century and continue to be mailed even today.  Real photo postcards from the 1910s and 20s are considered by collectors to be the most valuable but don't discount the "artistic" cards.  Some of these full color cards can also bring top dollar because of rarity or artist collectability.  A postcard collection can be started with pocket change and never stop growing so the next time you are looking for something to do stop by and browse through our thousands of cards starting at $0.25!   Advertising -   Ever wonder who decorates TGI Fridays and Bennigan's?  We don't either, but we are sure they would love to browse our Ad Ephemera.  Posters, flyers, and magazine ads from the "classic" era of the 40s, 50s, and 60s are always a great way to start an ad art collection.  We also like matchbooks, labels, flyers, calendars, and even some newspaper clippings.  "And remember folks, if your ephemera is not authentic Oddfellow's brand ephemera you have settled for less!"    Local - Local ephemera is just that, Topeka, KS and nearby photography, pamphlets, official documents, stock certificates, yearbooks, etc.  And while Topeka is our favorite, we have a collection of ephemera items from many Kansas small towns as well.  We have files dedicated to local ephemera and try to keep it organized too.

So there you have it, ephemera is collectable paper items that were originally intended for short term use.  Now, what do you have around the house that will be considered ephemera one day?

Grand Opening!

We have been open for a month now, but that was our "soft" opening.  Our grand opening is this Friday!  We would love for you all to come out and see the changes we have made, the new selection we have brought in and maybe even score yourself a cookie! 

Gary Krohe will be on location to sign his new book Portraits of Troy! 

And everything in the store will be 10% off all day!  See you then!