Question: Because this is the 50th anniversary of the Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka ruling regarding racial segregation in schools, it probably will be in the news quite a bit. I know something about Monroe School, but little about Sumner School. For whom is it named? Can you give a little of its history? -- R.L., Topeka
Answer: Sumner School is named for U.S. Sen. Charles B. Sumner, of Massachusetts, an aggressive anti-slavery leader, said Brad Stauffer, director of communications for the Topeka Public Schools.
"He was born in 1811 and died in 1874," he said. "He served in the U.S. Senate from 1851 to the year of his death."
Sumner led the Senate's opposition to President Lincoln's moderate plans for reconstruction and vigorously attacked the South.
"He gave a stirring speech in Congress entitled 'The Crime Against Kansas,' after which he was assaulted," Stauffer said.
"In his 1856 speech, Sumner made several sneering references to Sen. Andrew P. Butler of South Carolina," according to the World Book Encyclopedia. "Three days later, U.S. Rep. Preston S. Brooks (1819-1857), Butler's nephew, attacked Sumner in the Senate, beating him senseless."
"Sumner helped found the Republican Party, and during the Civil War was one of the most powerful men in the Senate," the Encyclopedia continued. "He favored freeing the slaves and giving them the right to vote."
It is interesting that Sumner School, the all-white school involved in the Brown decision, was a school for black children from its opening until 1885.
"The present building at S.W. 4th and Western is the fourth built on that site," according to the 1990 Bulletin of the Shawnee County Historical Society, "Records differ as to the date of the first Sumner School -- one gives 1875 as the year, another 1880 -- but the original one-story brick building burned down in 1888."
A two-story frame building at S.W. 3rd and Polk was used for the black pupils after 1885 and Sumner was turned over to the white children, the situation at the time the Brown case was filed.
The present two-story brick structure, used as a storage facility, was built in 1935.
Question: What is the composition of the roadway on the US-75 highway project in Topeka? Is looks like an asphalt machine in operation, but when it is done, it looks like concrete, but I never see trucks delivering concrete there. -- M.Y., Topeka
Answer: "The US-75 project north of Topeka has a 4-inch asphalt stabilizing base," said Stan Whitley, information specialist with the Kansas Department of Transportation, "but the final roadway product is 11 inches of concrete."
Question: What happened to Cara Connelly who was the weekend anchor on channel 13? -- R.P., Topeka
Answer: She is the weekend anchor at the NBC station that dominates the Springfield, Mo., market, said Jon Janes, WIBW news director.
"It was a big step up, since that market is about 40 bigger than us," he said.
Connelly was an intern here during her college years and then went to a TV station in Pittsburg, Janes said. She came back to WIBW on an 18-month contract and moved to Springfield after that.
If you have a question for retired Capital-Journal newsman Dick King, call 295-5610 and leave a message, or write to Dick King, The Topeka Capital-Journal, 616 S.E. Jefferson, Topeka, 66607.
