The name “Topeka” (meaning unknown) is believed to derive from the languages of the Kansa and Ioway tribes. City founders chose it because it “was novel, of Indian origin, and euphonious of sound.” Laid out in 1854, Topeka was a Free-State town established by Eastern anti-slavery men after passage of the Kansas–Nebraska Bill. Read more Topeka and Kansas history in Tazia and Gemma (see NOVELS).