Although the drought of 1860 and the ensuing period of the Civil War slowed the growth of Topeka and the state, Topeka kept pace with the revival and period of growth Kansas enjoyed from the close of the war in 1865 until 1870. In the 1870s, many former slaves, known as Exodusters, settled on the east side of Lincoln Street between Munson and 12th Streets. The area was known as Tennessee Town because so many of them were from the Volunteer State. Dr. Charles Sheldon, pastor of the Central Congregational Church, organized the first African American kindergarten west of the Mississippi in 1893.