A large group of Catholic emigrants from the Volga arrived in Baltimore, Maryland, on 23 November 1875 aboard the SS Ohio. They came from the colonies of Herzog, Katharinenstadt, Liebental, Beauregard, Ober-Monjou, Neu-Obermonjou, Mariental, Louis, Marienberg, and Graf.
The group arrived by train in Topeka on 28 November 1875. Some of them moved to Western Kansas and founded the town of Liebenthal in Rush County on 22 February 1876. Other members of the original group in Topeka left for Ellis County to found the town of Catharine in March and Herzog in April. Of this first group, only one family remained in Topeka.
In 1877, another group of Volga German immigrants arrived in Topeka and many of those settled permanently there.
Volga German families that settled in Topeka moved out of the downtown area over time and many settled in the neighborhoods north of the Kansas River.
- Appelhanz, Isadore. The Volga-Germans in Topeka, Kansas, 1875-85. Topeka: privately published, 1992.
- 1880 Kansas State Census - Volga Germans - Shawnee County, North Topeka Ward 1
- 1885 Kansas State Census - Volga Germans - Shawnee County, North Topeka
- Topeka Kansas, 1912 City Directory
Topeka (Wikipedia)
Colonies
Temporary Housing for Volga Germans in Central Kansas (1875). Based upon the date, this is probably a group of Mennonites coming through the Immigrant House in Topeka.
Source: March 20, 1875 issue of Leslie's Magazine (New York).