Topeka Changes Its Name To Google, Kansas (Temporarily)

What would you do to get Google to build a super high-speed broadband network in your hometown? If you’re the city of Topeka, Kansas, you’d change your name. To Google, Kansas.

According to the Topeka Capital-Journal (err … the Google Capital-Journal?), mayor Bill Bunten issued a proclamation today that renames the city to “Google, Kansas — the capital city of fiber optics” for the entire month of March. When presented with the idea, none of the city’s seven councilmembers objected. (After all, who among us would refuse the chance to be a councilmember of Google?)

This is apparently nothing new for Topeka; the newspaper says the city changed its name temporarily in 1998 to honor … get this … Pokemon. Topeka was briefly called “ToPikachu.”

Topeka is one of several cities that is pushing hard to sell Google on building a super-fast, experimental broadband network inside its borders. Google announced its plans last month, saying the networks will “deliver Internet speeds more than 100 times faster than what most Americans have access to today.”

About The Author

Matt McGee

Matt McGee joined Third Door Media as a writer/reporter/editor in September 2008. He served as Editor-In-Chief from January 2013 until his departure in July 2017. He can be found on Twitter at @MattMcGee.