Old Prairie Town at Ward-Meade Park

Old Prairie Town at Ward-Meade Historic Site is a six-acre living history destination in Topeka, Kansas, situated between downtown and the historic Potwin neighborhood. The site centers on the Ward-Meade Mansion, an 1870s Victorian Prairie home listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and surrounds it with a collection of authentic and reconstructed 19th-century structures — among them an 1880 church, an 1891 schoolhouse, a general store, a livery stable, a depot, and a replica 1854 log cabin. For private events, the site offers a range of indoor and outdoor spaces suited to weddings, receptions, rehearsal dinners, bridal showers, and anniversary celebrations. Ceremonies take place at Everest Church, in the lush outdoor Courtyard, or at Anna's Place, a Victorian reading garden. Receptions are hosted in the Preston Hale Reception Room on the north side of the mansion, which includes kitchen facilities. The Lingo Livery Stable and the Potwin Drug Store soda fountain provide additional rental options for smaller gatherings. Surrounding the historic town is a 2.5-acre botanical garden with meandering paths through distinct specialty areas including an Asian garden, herb garden, water features, gazebos, and a monarch butterfly way station.