Gage Park | |
Kansas city park | |
Nickname: The Central Park of Kansas | |
Country | United States |
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State | Kansas |
County | Shawnee |
Location | Topeka |
- coordinates | 39°2′20.02″N 95°43′49.68″W / 39.0388944°N 95.7304667°WCoordinates: 39°2′20.02″N 95°43′49.68″W / 39.0388944°N 95.7304667°W |
Gage Park in Topeka, Kansas is a city park of 160 acres (0.65 km2). It was established in 1899 and is one of the largest parks in Topeka. It features the Topeka Zoo, the Kansas Children's Discovery Center, a miniature train of 15 in (381 mm) gauge, an outdoor theatre and the Reinisch Rose Garden. The 70-year-old rose garden is a very popular place for weddings and events, and also a place where serious horticultural work is done.
Fred Phelps and the Westboro Baptist Church began their anti-gay crusade in 1991 with what they call "The Great Gage Park Decency Drive," seeking a crack down on alleged homosexuals cruising for sex in the park. At the time the church circulated a flyer "Gage Park Sodomite Rats Nest."
Gage Park was featured in the beginning of the 1997 Stephen King novel The Dark Tower IV: Wizard and Glass.