Topeka Changes Name to Google

For a month, anyway; city wants to be test site for speedy Internet
By Kevin Spak,  Newser Staff
Posted Mar 2, 2010 1:52 PM CST
Topeka Changes Name to Google
The sun sets behind the Kansas Statehouse in downtown Topeka, Kan. Monday, Dec, 29, 2009. Or, as it'll be known this month, "Google, Kansas."   (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

There’s no such place as Topeka, Kansas—at least, not this month. Mayor Bill Bunten issued a proclamation temporarily changing the town’s name to “Google, Kansas—the capital city of fiber optics.” The town’s been trying to convince Google (the company) to make it a test site for its super-fast fiber optic Internet system, the Topeka Capital-Journal reports.

Bunten says the move was “more ‘fun’ than anything else.” He consulted with several city councilmembers before making the decision, and none objected. The suggestion came from the general manager of a local TV station, who informed the mayor that in 1998, Topeka had temporarily changed its name to “ToPikachu” in honor of Pokemon. (More Topeka, Kansas stories.)

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