TOPEKA (KSNT) – Topeka city leaders are protecting the history behind a Topeka landmark.
Tuesday night, the governing body body voted to rezone the Monroe School Overlay District. It’s a crucial step before the Brown V. Board of Education National Historical Park can be listed as a World Heritage Site by the United Nations.
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The new zoning acts as a buffer around the school, rezoning four districts and 40 properties. The approval ensures that structures won’t block the view of the Monroe school, as well as keeping new buildings from degrading the neighborhoods character, protect against unsightly outdoor storage equipment and more. City leaders say these changes are needed to put Monroe Elementary School in the same company as internationally known landmarks like the Taj Mahal and the Great Barrier Reef.
“I just thought it was a wonderful opportunity,” District Two Councilwoman Christina Valdivia-Alcala said. “Not only for the historical significance in a way of civil rights and equity but to be a part of the realm of UNESCO is a big deal.”
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The Topeka school was part of the U.S. Supreme Court case outlawing segregation in the public schools nationwide. It’s one of several sites across the country that’s being nominated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, because of its connection to the Civil Rights movement in the 1950s and ’60s.
The Monroe building opened its doors in 1927, closed in 1985 and has been part of the National Park Service since 1993.
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