From the September 29, 2021, Topeka (Kansas) Capital-Journal "A spar from the USS Constitution, 'Old Ironsides,' is flagpole at Topeka High School" by Tim Hrenchir.
A school in the capital of landlocked Kansas proudly displays a spar from what is probably the best-known ever U.S. warship, the USS Constitution, also known as the "Old Ironsides."
That spar rises high in the air while serving as the flagpole in Constitution Plaza on the east side of Topeka High School, 800 S.W. 10th Avenue, which recently kicked off a year-long celebration of its 150th anniversary.
Topeka High acquired the spar (a piece of wood used to support the sail) on 1930. Barton Phelps, a Topeka High graduate and Santa Fe Railway official was inspecting the Boston Navy Yard for the Department of the Navy, found the spar in storage as the USS Constitution was being refitted.
With the help of then-U.S. Vice President Charles Curtis, a fellow Topeka High graduate, Phelps arranged for the school to acquire the spar, which was dedicated as a flagpole there in October 1931.
By 2004, time and woodpeckers had caused the spar to deteriorate to the point where the school retired it and it was replaced with another spar from the Constitution. Sadly, the second spar was destroyed by lightning three years later and then replaced with the current spar. (The article did not say whether this one is also from the USS Constitution, however.)
Topeka High's Constitution Plaza also is home to the ship's bell of the light cruiser USS Topeka (1944-1969.
--Brock-Perry
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