Trails, rails, revolution: How 4 Kansas City neighborhoods became hubs of Hispanic culture

The great Scottish-American poet David Byrne once said, “And you may ask yourself, ‘Well, how did I get here?’” Many first- and second-generation Hispanic Americans, like me, have that same question in our heads often.

Of all the places my family could’ve migrated to from Mexico, we ended up in Kansas City. I never knew what drew this community into the middle of the United States, and what kept them here to grow into the vibrant community we see today.

From local taco trails in Kansas City, Kansas to lively fiestas honoring Mexican culture in the heart of downtown, this city is home to a rich Hispanic heritage, which didn’t happen overnight.

So how did it happen?

A high school teacher who wanted his students to learn more local Hispanic history reached out to KCQ — The Star’s collaborative project with the Kansas City Public Library — during Hispanic Heritage Month for answers about how Kansas City’s predominantly Hispanic neighborhoods came to be.

Since I had the same question myself, I dug in, learning from historians at UMKC and longtime residents.

THE WORKING MAN

The Kansas City area has always had a Hispanic presence, even before the city became part of the United States. This is because of the region’s trails, most notably the Santa Fe Trail, which cut right through the city’s heart, hitting places like Crown Center and Westport.

Gene Chavez, an educator and diversity consultant currently with the Kansas City Museum, told The Star in 2021 that Mexican traders who had been using the trails began sending their children to school in Kansas City in the 1800s.

While the presence was there, the Hispanic population didn’t start to grow in Kansas City until the turn of the 20th century. The expansion of the railroads and meatpacking industries drew people — primarily people immigrating from Mexico following the economic and political turmoil of the Mexican Revolution — to Kansas City for jobs.

Theresa Torres, an associate professor for Latinx and Latin American studies and Sociology at UMKC, added that the rivers in Kansas City made this an excellent location for migrating people to settle. It made it easier to work in agriculture with water sitting there.

These jobs on the railroads and in meatpacking plants were hard work with low pay, and often exploitative. But for a migrating group of people looking for work after leaving a tumultuous situation in Mexico, the jobs were a draw to Kansas City.

Sandra Enriquez, an assistant professor of history and the director of public history with UMKC, said that people started to settle in four prime locations because of these industries: the Westside, Armourdale, Argentine and the Northeast.

“You first have single men, then little by little, you’d have more families establishing themselves in those main four areas,” Enriquez said.

The Argentine neighborhood started as a town tied to the railroad industry, so you’d see people living in boxcars in the railyards, and Armourdale was close to the meatpacking industry in the area now known as the West Bottoms.

The Westside used to be a hub for the Swedish, but as they moved out, people of Mexican descent started to move in because of how close it was to the industrial areas, and because they could afford to live there.

Paul Rojas, the first Latino elected to state office in Missouri, has lived in the Westside for all 88 years of his life and has been a lifelong advocate for the community. His dad moved there in 1918 after the Mexican Revolution.

Growing up was rough for Rojas. He lost both of his parents at a young age and recalled bouncing around from multiple houses in the Westside as he worked as a busboy, a meat packer and in the fields to make ends meet.

Once those three neighborhood spots were established, some families moved elsewhere, and that’s how the Northeast became a central location for Hispanic communities. Enriquez said strong Hispanic communities have also evolved in towns like Belton and Olathe.

WHAT KEPT COMMUNITY HERE?

As more people settled in those areas over time, community and business leaders created different amenities and began fighting for the rights of the community, making Kansas City an early multicultural center in the Midwest.

Grocery stores, churches, movie theaters, Spanish newspapers like “El Cosmopolita” and schools fostered a community for the Hispanic population in these neighborhoods after World War II.

Some of Rojas’ favorite memories growing up involved hanging out with his friends at the movies and heading out to dances. One of these nights out on the town is where he met his wife, Mary, after he returned from serving in the Korean War.

At the time, Kansas City was very segregated. People had restrictions on where to move, and Enriquez said that was important to the development of these cultural enclaves because Hispanic communities couldn’t just get up and leave.

Rojas bought his house in 1972 and struggled to make the $50 monthly payments because he had eight kids to support and wages were low, but he persevered and now his family has lived in the house for over 50 years.

He said the area is really what you make it.

CHURCHES AND THE GUADALUPE CENTER

The role churches played in Kansas City’s Hispanic neighborhoods can’t be understated. People identified with their parishes, and religion played a huge role in sustaining these communities.

None is more significant than the Guadalupe Center. Founded in 1919, a group of white, affluent, Catholic women who were originally called the Amberg Club moved from the Northeast to the Westside to provide services to the immigrant community.

Since its inception, the Guadalupe Center has provided social services to the Hispanic community and fostered the community needed for Hispanic Kansas Citians to feel at home.

Rojas now serves on the Guadalupe Center’s board and has been a beneficiary of its services for as long as he can remember.

“People of Mexican descent were denied access to hospitals and they were denied access to schools, so in some cases, these organizations provided those services to the community,” Enriquez said. “Was it a complete, full medical care as it was for others? No, but there was some sort of sense that they could see a doctor if they could. They had some sort of schooling happening.”

The Guadalupe Center started schools for young children in the Westside and later took over Alta Vista High School in hopes of addressing the needs of young Hispanic students who were dropping out of public schools in the city.

Rojas went to a different high school in the Westside, De La Salle Military Academy, before he left to serve in the Korean War.

Nonprofit organizations such as Mattie Rhodes Center and El Centro have also helped shape and grow the Hispanic community in Kansas City by providing resources for families, new and old.

THE FUTURE OF HISPANIC CULTURE IN KANSAS CITY

Today, Kansas City’s Latino community is more spread out than ever. According to the U.S. Census, 10.6% of the city’s population is Hispanic or Latino on the Missouri side and 30.7% on the Kansas side.

You see the iconic murals on Avenida Cesar Chavez or in Argentine on Metropolitan Avenue. Fiesta Hispana grew so much that organizers had to move it from the Westside to Barney Allis Plaza in downtown Kansas City.

In addition to Mexico, people from all over Latin America, like Puerto Rico, Costa Rica, Honduras and Argentina, call Kansas City home.

Once you get that feeling of community, it’s hard to leave.

“It’s reassurance that yes, I’m not alone,” Enriquez said. “It’s important to see yourself reflected in history because it gives a sense of belonging and sense of self when sometimes experiences or people’s histories are erased from historical records.”

Though some longtime homeowners on the Westside are wary of the threat of gentrification, Rojas said the neighborhood will always be his home and an important part of Kansas City history.

“The bulldozer that’s going to run me out ain’t been built yet,” he said.