Sumner Elementary School

The Sumner Elementary School in Topeka, Kansas was involved in the Brown v. Board of Education case of Topeka in 1954. Linda Brown's attempted enrollment to the Sumner School was rejected by the Topeka Board of Education, thus forcing her to attend the all-black Monroe School, which was farther away from her home. Oliver Brown, Linda's father, then joined the class action lawsuit against the Topeka Board of Education that was eventually heard before the Supreme Court.The Sumner Elementary School is currently a National Historic Landmark listed with the United States Department of the Interior. It was constructed in 1936 as a part of the Federal Emergency Administration of Public Works, a New Deal program. The school was designed in the Art Deco style by Thomas W. Williamson, and has an unusual amount of stone detailing. Because of the quality of the original construction, it retains many of its original features, including light and bathroom fixtures, clocks, carved woodwork and a marble-rimmed fireplace in the kindergarten.Monroe Elementary School, the segregated school that Linda Brown had been attending, closed in 1975 and was held privately for a number of years before being purchased in 1991 by The Trust for Public Land and added to Sumner's listing on the National Register. Because Sumner was still in use at the time for classes and Monroe was not, Monroe was selected on October 26, 1992 to house the Brown v. Board of Education National Historic Site, the official commemorative location operated for the public by the National Park Service.