In order to help preserve the archeological
remains at BRVB, Midwest Archeological Center
(MWAC) staff provided onsite technical guidance
and advice to the construction crews, documented
any structural remnants that were uncovered,
and collected a sample of artifacts that
would provide insights into the history
of the Monroe Elementary School neighborhood.
From 2001 through 2003, the MWAC crew was
able to gather valuable new information
about several residential structures and
other neighborhood features on the BRVB
property.
Monroe Street Residential Neighborhood
Utilizing Sanborn Fire Insurance Co. maps
from 1889-1913 archeololgists were able
to accurately reconstruct the number and
location of historic structures that had
existed in the Monroe Street neighborhood.
The outlines
of structures illustrated on each map were
digitized and then superimposed over a map
of the Monroe Elementary School property
as it exists today. This composite map guided
archeological investigations in several
areas surrounding the Monroe Elementary
School and helped confirm the locations
of historic structures dating to the late
19th and early 20th centuries.
Archeological research has confirmed the
presence of at least 5 of the 18 historically
documented structures on Lots 505–529,
including the structural foundation of the
19th-century Monroe
School. The recording of structural
foundations was conducted as construction
work progressed around the school building.
Intact structural foundations were uncovered
on the east, west, and north sides of the
Monroe Elementary School, representing approximately
sixty years of occupation. The combined
historical and archeological records have
demonstrated that the Monroe School neighborhood
was probably a mixed-ethnicity, working-class
community made up of single family residences
that typically incorporated a frame or brick
main house and several associated outbuildings
along the western side of the property near
the alley.
Constructed in 1874, the Monroe School
was one of the first African-American
schools in the city. By 1886, the City of
Topeka had constructed five schools for
African-American
students: Buchanan, Douglas, Lane, Madison,
and Monroe (Franklin Weekly 1999:47). Academic
curricula and environmental conditions within
African-American schools were poor and substandard
when compared to Euroamerican schools. Thomas
Cox (1982:112-113) has cited an 1879 Colored
Citizen newspaper article stating “the
management of the Monroe Street school has
been such that many children in it are just
where they were 2–3 years ago, and
it is our deliberate opinion that they are
purposely kept back to prevent their entering
a mixed school.” Other African-American
schools were also described as “unsanitary,
inconvenient, undesirable, and a veritable
cesspool.” The substandard school
conditions and second-class education provided
to African-American children continued to
be a significant racial issue throughout
most of the 20th century, culminating with
the Oliver Brown, et al. v. Board of Education
of Topeka litigation.
Playground Investigations
Archeological monitoring was also conducted
during the installation of a geothermal
well system for heating and cooling the
new Monroe Elementary School Visitor Center.
MWAC archeologists monitored each trench
excavation during the installation of the
geothermal system in the Playground
on the east side of Monroe Street across
from the Monroe Elementary School. The excavation
of nine trenches revealed the presence of
several archeological features and resulted
in the recovery of hundreds of artifacts
that contribute significant information
related to the late-19th and early-20th-century
Monroe School neighborhood community. A
Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver
was used to record the well locations, feature
locations, and the length of each trench.
Utilizing GPS to record site information
and features provides precise (within 1
meter) measurement and location information
that is easily transferred into Geographic
Information System (GIS) software packages.
During the trenching for the geothermal
well system, a historic dump was discovered
beneath the surface of the playground on
the east side of Monroe Street. It contains
significant concentrations of late-19th-
and early-20th-century material culture.
The playground dump feature includes extensive
buried deposits of historic debris including
construction materials and artifacts that
had been deposited prior to the field’s
use as a playground. This dump assemblage
provides a useful comparative contrast to
the residential materials and features that
were recovered from the west side of Monroe
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