Mexican Immigrants
Kansas shares a long history with Mexico and its people. Hispanic traders came to the area centuries ago; but the first large influx of Mexicans was from 1900-1910 when the railroads needed inexpensive laborers to build and maintain their tracks and there was political instability in Mexico. 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 American Indian 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 Railway, 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. The number of Mexicans in Kansas grew to 13,770 by 1920. By this time, the workers' families were beginning to join them and real communities started to form.
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 percent of Topeka's Hispanics owned their own housing, compared to 95 percent 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. An increasing number of the immigrants applied for U.S. citizenship and a large proportion of the Hispanic population fought in World War II. More than 300 Mexican Americans from Topeka enlisted. Fifty-two men from the Mexican American community in Florence, Kansas, a town of 800 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.
Hispanics are the fastest growing ethnic group in Kansas. One of the most recent growth areas has been in the meatpacking businesses that starting moving to southwest Kansas in the 1960s. From 1970-1980 the Hispanic population in the state increased by 35 percent. The latest arrivals are employing the same strategies that the earlier immigrants used to nurture their new communities.
Entry: Mexican Immigrants
Author: Kansas Historical Society
Author information: The Kansas Historical Society is a state agency charged with actively safeguarding and sharing the state's history.
Date Created: April 2009
Date Modified: June 2011
The author of this article is solely responsible for its content.
