"Fiesta, Kansas Style,"

A Moment in Time

Kansas Historical Society

September 2001

A monthly series from the Kansas Historical Society

Sunday, September 16^th is a fiesta day for Hispanics in many Kansas towns. In Mexico this date is the equivalent of the 4^th of July in the United States. Fiestas of food, music and dance commemorate the day in 1810 when Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla of Dolores called for equal rights for Mexicans, redistribution of the land and an end to slavery. This proclamation, the "Grito de Dolores," signaled the beginning of the armed revolution that secured Mexico's independence from Spain in 1821. In the United States, September 15 - October 14 is national Hispanic Heritage Month, commemorating Mexico's day of independence and in addition, September 15th, Independence Day for Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua, and October 12, El Dia de la Raza.

Mexican Americans are by far the largest group of Hispanic peoples in Kansas and one of the most recent ethnic groups to settle here. Though Hispanic traders came to Kansas several centuries ago, the first large influx of Mexicans was from 1900-1910 when the railroads needed inexpensive laborers to build and maintain their tracks. Immigration from China and Japan had been restricted, but there were no limits on Mexican immigrants. They brought with them a culture that is a blend of their Spanish and Native American heritages.

At the same time workers in Mexico were losing their jobs because of the depressed economy there. Representatives from U.S. employment agencies met the Mexican workers in El Paso and transported them to jobs in the middle and southwestern states. The largest employer of these immigrants in Kansas was the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad, although the growing sugar beet industry in Finney County, the meatpacking industry in Kansas City and the salt mines in Hutchinson, Lyons and Kanopolis also hired the transplanted workers.

These early immigrants tended to be rural, uneducated and unskilled men who could perform hard manual labor. Often they left their families in Mexico to work in Kansas from spring to October, returning home during the winter months. In Shawnee County in 1910, men outnumbered women 12 to 1 in the Hispanic population. The Mexican workers were not allowed to live away from the Santa Fe shops in Topeka and they formed a camp by the railroad tracks. In 1909 they were moved to an area in the Santa Fe yards on 6^th Street by Shunganunga Creek that came to be known as "Little Mexico". The housing was a crowded mix of boxcars and flimsy shacks. "Little Mexico" was razed in 1939 but little was done to provide improved housing for the workers.

Additional emigration was spurred by the political instability in Mexico from 1910-1920 and the workers who were already here were less inclined to return home. This, coupled with the labor shortage created by World War I and the restrictions on European immigration that were in effect, swelled the number of Mexicans in Kansas to 13,770 by 1920. By this time, the workers' families were beginning to join them and real communities started to form. Where they were not welcomed in the existing churches, they established their own parishes and organized fiestas and other events that centered around the church. Chanute's Mexican American community began to hold its fiesta in 1917. Topeka's fiesta, which dates back to 1932, was attended by 20,000 people over a two-day period in 1938.

These communities functioned as support networks. Workers already living here opened their homes to newly arriving relatives and friends until they could save enough money to live on their own. In Topeka, in 1920, a large group of young Mexican men formed a support group called the El Diamante Club. They sponsored a baseball team and a football team, and held dances at the Metropolitan Hall. The club offered classes in English, Spanish and Arithmetic.

By 1930, the number of Mexican immigrants in Kansas was second only to the Germans.  The largest communities formed in Kansas City, Topeka, Emporia, Wichita and Garden City.  In response to the Great Depression of the 1930s, the Kansas government encouraged the railroads to fire Mexican workers and deport them, even if they had lived here all their lives.  The Santa Fe Railroad recognized their value to the company and fought to keep its work crews.  Still, during the 1930s in Kansas City, the Hispanic population of 10,000 shrank to 2,500, with most of the unemployed returning to Mexico.

Upward mobility came slowly for the Mexican American population in Kansas.  Their communities remained separated from mainstream society because of the discrimination against them in housing, jobs and education, plus their desire to preserve their own culture.  In 1925, only 6% of Topeka's Hispanics owned their own housing, compared to 95% by the 1960s.  Most of the early workers lacked the training and language skills to advance beyond low paying positions requiring manual labor.  The young men often had to leave school to help support their families.  In a break with tradition, women often found work outside the home to supplement their incomes.

At the end of the Depression, war once again created a labor shortage and Mexican American workers made new gains.  Starting in 1941-1942 the Santa Fe workers were allowed to enter the American Federation of Labor union and more of them advanced into skilled positions.  An increasing number of the immigrants applied for U.S. citizenship and a large proportion of the Hispanic population fought in World War II.  Over three hundred Mexican Americans from Topeka signed up.  Fifty-two men from the Mexican American community in Florence, Kansas, a town of eight hundred people, joined the service.  This raised their status in the communities and gave them access to veteran's benefits like the G.I. Bill, although they still faced discrimination when they returned home.

The flood of 1951 devastated the Mexican American communities in Topeka and Kansas City because of their close proximity to the Kansas River.  The homes, businesses and churches they had worked for years to accumulate had to be rebuilt and repaired.  In spite of this setback, the social and economic conditions of Kansas' Mexican American population have steadily improved since World War II.  With more education and training, they were able to advance to better positions with the railroads and into other occupations as well.

Today, Hispanics are the fastest growing ethnic group in Kansas.  One of the most recent influxes has centered around the meatpacking businesses that starting moving to southwest Kansas in the 1960s.  From 1970-1980 the Hispanic population in the state increased by 35%.  The latest arrivals are employing the same survival strategies that the earlier immigrants used to nurture their new communities.  Our Hispanic neighbors are the latest ethnic group in Kansas whose experience gives meaning to the state motto, "Ad Astra Per Aspera" or "To the stars through difficulties".

The Kansas Historical Society collections include many resources on Hispanic people in Kansas. A bibliography is located on the Society's web site. For more information contact that Library and Archives reference desk at 785-272-8681, ext. 117. The Society is headquartered at the Kansas History Center, 6425 SW Sixth Avenue, Topeka KS 66615-1099; 785-272-8681; TTY 785-272-8683; www.kshs.org.