Brown v. Board of Education National Historic Site: Cultural Landscape Guidelines

Quinn/Evans Architects; Land and Community Associates

The Brown v. Board of Education National Historic Site is located in the City of Topeka, Shawnee County, Kansas, the capital city of the state of Kansas. Located in northeastern Kansas, the NHS is comprised of the former Monroe Elementary School and its site, which are held by the National Park Service. The current setting of the Monroe School is a declining urban neighborhood with a mixed land use that includes a number of residences, light industry, small business, and vacant lots. The goal of this project is to produce cultural landscape guidelines for the area adjacent to the Brown v. Board of Education National Historic Site. Preservation of the character of the neighborhood as it was in the 1950s will provide a geographic context and appropriate setting for the Monroe School. The guidelines describe the character-defining features that historically defined the neighborhood to inform and guide compatible new development. These cultural landscape guidelines developed by Land and Community Associates of Charlottesville, Virginia and Ames, Iowa through a subcontract with Quinn/Evans Architects are intended to provide guidance to the National Park Service in interacting with groups and individuals involved in private and other public (non-NPS) sector development adjacent to the Brown v. Board of Education National Historic Site. The Monroe School is the subject of a separate Historic Structures Report (HSR) being prepared for NPS by Quinn/Evans Architects of Ann Arbor, Michigan. The staff of the NPS Midwest Regional Office previously conducted a Cultural Landscape Inventory documenting the Monroe School and its grounds. These guidelines do not directly address the National Historic Site. The methodology used for this CLR has been based on a multidisciplinary approach that combined documentary, map, onsite landscape analysis, oral interviews, and other research with field investigations. Existing conditions have been compared with those known to have been present during the period of significance. In some instances where there has been scant available historic documentation concerning the 1950-1955 period, informed evaluations have been presented regarding the probable physical character or use of an area during the period of significance. Such evaluations have been made using both extant visual clues and professional knowledge of design, construction, and land use practices believed to have been represented during that period.

Brown v. Board of Education National Historic Site: Cultural Landscape Guidelines

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