Riphian tells history of Parks & Rec of Topeka

Bill Riphian gave a very interesting program on the history of the Topeka Parks and Recreation Department of Topeka. He has been with the department for 24 years so has seen a lot of changes during that time.

Bill showed wonderful slides of old pictures of the parks, swimming pools, Ward Meade Mansion and other aspects of the parks. Several TAWGS members could remember some of the things that he talked about as they lived in Topeka during that time.

Bill said that Gage Park was about 3 miles out in the country when the land was given to the city. A lot of the work on Gage Park was done during the depression.