Old Prairie Town at Ward-Meade Historic Site
124 NW Fillmore. Anthony Ward’s family established a homestead and an Oregon Trail stop here in 1854. The Ward-Meade house (NRHP), built in 1870, was the first Victorian mansion in Topeka. The beautiful home is now a backdrop for lovely botanical gardens and a turn-of-the-century prairie town complete with church, depot, schoolhouse, and a working soda fountain in Potwin Drug. The Mulvane General Store operates as the park’s gift shop and visitor center. Park hours, daily 8 a.m.-dusk. Potwin Drug and General Store, Tuesday-Saturday 10 a.m.-4 p.m.; Sunday 12-4 p.m.