Nine artists including Jose Faus, Virginia Oropeza, Alisha Gambino, and Jesus Ortiz spent 10 months completing this 220-foot mural tracing the history of the Argentine neighborhood in Kansas City, Kansas. This expansive mural, which covers a 20-foot-tall, two-block-long wall, chronicles the histories, hardships and lifestyle of Argentine residents, beginning with depictions of the Osage, Kansa and Wyandot Indigenous groups, the art continues with the rise of industrialization and the middle class and depictions of racism and classism, the influence of the railroad, the impact of the 1951 flood on the region, and the cultural diversity of the people who settled and now live in Argentine including the Mexican community.
En Español tambien. When returning Mexican American veterans were denied membership in the local chapter of the American Legion, they sought and were granted a charter for a new Legion Post. Post 213 initially met in several different buildings throughout the Mexican barrio, until September 1953, when the Post purchased the W. Jones Building from the Methodist City Missionary Society. From its origin, the Argentine Eagle’s Nest served as an important setting for community gatherings and fiestas, and provided Latino veterans a place to call their own. The Eagle’s Nest continues to function as an active American Legion Post, and is comprised both of aging veterans of World War II, Korea and Vietnam, as well as more recent recruits from Argentine who served in the first Gulf War or more recent conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. The property includes a baseball diamond and ball field that were actively used as the site of intramural league play from the foundation of the post through the 1990s. (Source: Kansas Preservation, Volume 33, Number 3, 2011, pp. 8—15).Spanish Translation/Traducción en Español Cuando regresaron de la guerra muchos veteranos méxico-americanas fueron rechazados una membresía a la sucursal local de la Legión Americana. Entonces ellos encontraron y fueron otorgados un permiso para su propia localidad de Legión. Post 213 inicialmente se reunía en varios diferentes edificios a través del barrio mexicano, hasta septiembre del 1953, cuando el Post compró el edificio W. Jones de la Sociedad Misionera Ciudad Metodista. Desde sus inicios, El Nido del Águila continúa funcionando como un Post de la Legión Americana y está compuesta de veteranos ancianos de la segunda guerra mundial, Corea y Vietnam así como de recientes reclutas de Argentine quienes sirvieron en la Guerra del Golfo y más conflictos recientes en Iraq y Afganistán. La propiedad incluye un diamante y campo de béisbol que activamente fueron utilizados como sitio de juegos intramurales desde la fundación del puesto hasta durante la década de los 1990.
St. John the Divine Catholic Church has been a significant feature in the Mexican-American community of Argentine since the 1930s. The building was first constructed in 1887 and went through extensive remodeling between 1909 and 1913. It started as a Methodist church, which was then sold to the Catholic diocese. The church was renamed St. John the Divine in 1937, and its first mass was held that year. The church closed in 1992, and the building suffered from neglect over the years. Some community members were previously working towards its restoration before a fire destroyed the building completely in March of 2020.
This is a mural at 2301 Metropolitan Avenue in the Argentine neighborhood of Kansas City, Kansas. It was completed by Kansas City muralist Jose Faus in 2010. Faus depicts the diverse peoples of the area and their labor to create a community that their descendants would later enjoy. The mural shows the children harvesting, planting seeds with their elders, fishing and living off the land, and finally there is fish and apple pie served at the table.
Founded in 1884, Argentine High School began as a department for older children within Lowell Grade School, which operated at Elmwood near the southeast corner of 2nd street in Argentine. By the fall of 1889, the high school department operated within two rooms upstairs in the Bruce Grade School on Strong Avenue and 4th Street. At that time, the Bruce School's first floor served African American grade school children as racial segregation was common in Kansas schools up to the high school level at that time. The school's enrollment growth mirrored that of the town of Argentine, and soon, a dedicated school was necessary to house the growing student population. The permanent structure of Argentine High School was finished in 1908 and is now currently the site of Argentine Middle School.
Once located around 2500 Cheyenne Avenue in Kansas City, Kansas, the Clara Barton school was in operation from 1924 through the Flood of 1951. Clara Barton belongs to a less remembered chapter of Kansas City history, the segregation of Mexican Americans in educational institutions. Mexican immigrants arrived in the Kansas City area around 1910 following the outbreak of the Mexican Revolution the same year. The immigrants, often single Mexican men, found work in the railyards and meatpacking plants in the West Bottoms. By the early 1920s, there were over 10,000 people of Mexican descent living in Kansas City. Many gravitated towards Kansas City, Kansas, as it held a larger population of Mexican Americans than the Westside neighborhood on the other side of the stateline.
In this 2005 mural by Jose Faus and Alisha Gambino, they explore themes of mortality and religion while displaying colorful folklorico dancers from every region in Mexico. Faus and Gambino tell the regional history of Mexico through the folklorico dancers. The pair of muralists took about two months to complete this work. This mural stands beside the parking lot of a McDonald's in Kansas City, Kansas.
This mural was painted by Jose Faus in 2006 who utilizes the metaphor of camera film to represent the passage of time. The figures show a chronology of world events throughout the mid-twentieth century and their effect on various communities of color. Some themes highlighted in Faus' mural include the consequences of discrimination and the tragic consequences of inequality, but there are also images depicting work, family, and community life throughout the work.
This Tour is a Thematic Tour or Heritage Trail.
Get a QR Code for this tour
This heritage trail showcases murals by local Latinx artists, cultural and religious institutions of importance in the communities of color, particularly Latinx people in the Argentine neighborhood of Kansas City, Kansas, and schools of the area.
