Once settled near railways and stockyards, many Mexicans sent their children to schools such as John J. Ingalls in Armourdale and Emerson School in the Argentine neighborhood of Kansas City, Kansas. Although Mexican children were often relegated to the basements of these schools. Racist ideas about immigrants carrying diseases, particularly the Spanish flu, also kept Mexican students separated from white children. In 1924, Clara Barton was established as the first all-Mexican segregated school in Kansas City, Kansas. It did not take long for the school to become overcrowded with students. Additionally, high schools did not make accommodations for Mexican American students since many whites assumed that Mexican children would begin working after 8th grade. Soon Mexican families reached out to the Mexican Consulate and federal government to advocate for their children's right to attend school with white children. The flood played a major role in the end of segregated schools in Kansas City, Kansas, as Clara Barton was destroyed by the waters. Shortly after the school was destroyed, for the first time since 1918, Mexican American children were able to return to Emerson; this time not in the basement.

Photograph of student at Clara Barton dressed for a school play. He appears to be wearing an Uncle Sam costume. 

How the 1951 Flood Ended the Shameful Legacy of Segregation in Kansas City, Kansas

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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 clip, Loretta Chavez describes attending Clara Barton in the 1940s. 

Clara Barton School 

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.  

Latinx History, Art, and Cultural Heritage Trail of Kansas City, Kansas

In 1998, the Latinx artists from varied places including Colombia, Mexico, and Kansas City created the Argentine mural around 1998. Jesus Ortiz and Alisha Gambino conducted the majority of the research at Carnegie Library in Kansas City, Kansas and put sketches together that they later presented to the community and city leaders. Jose then assisted them in the mural making process. The artists wanted to foster a sense of ownership over one's community within the Latinx population in the area. Jose Faus, who is originally from Colombia but has been living in Kansas City since he was 9 years old, describes the Argentine mural as one of his favorites. He describes that painting murals exposes "a lot of things about what it means to paint murals in a community, especially in distressed or marginalized communities." In a 2020 oral interview with Faus, he also explains that even some of the members of the Argentine community did not feel that their story mattered.

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.

Argentine Historical Mural

Spanish Translation/Traducción en EspañolCuando 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. (Fuente: Kansas Preservation, volume 33, Number 3, 2011, pp 8––15).

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.

American Legion Post #213

The Metropolitan Avenue site of St. John the Divine Catholic Church was first used by the Methodist Church of Argentine. The Methodist wooden frame church was constructed in 1887. It was badly damaged during a flood in June 1903. The church was repaired and functioning again by the end of the summer, but funds were raised to reconstruct and expand the building in the years after the flood. Between 1909 to 1913, a brick veneer was added to the frame, a bell tower was constructed, a basement was added, and additions were made to the rear.In 1937, the Methodist congregation moved to a new location and sold the building to the Catholic diocese. The diocese wanted to create a new parish to serve the Mexican-American community that had developed in Argentine from immigrant workers on the railroad. Since the late 1870s, workers with experience laying tracks had been recruited from Mexico and lived with their families in camps near the Augustine railyard. The settlement grew even more rapidly after 1918, when a new law was passed limiting European immigration. By the late 1920s, about 90% of laborers on the railroad in Kansas City, Kansas were Mexican. The Augustinian Recollect had been ministering to the community in the railroad camps since 1923.The church was dedicated as St. John the Divine Catholic Church. Its first mass was held on December 12, 1937, on the Mexican feast day of Our Lady of Guadalupe. Friar Gabriel Perez of the Monastery of St. Augustine (see Clio entry on St. Augustine Hall) was heavily involved in the development and growth of the parish, and he became pastor of the church in 1944. That same year, the church acquired a nearby building to start a parish school. The Flood of 1951 damaged the church once again, and some additions were made to the building during repairs. A rectory and office were added to the west side of the building, and the main sanctuary was expanded.St. John the Divine was a pillar in the local Mexican-American community of Argentine for decades. However, the church closed in 1992 due to dwindling attendance. Since then, the building has been vacant and fallen into disrepair. In 2012, a demolition order was placed on the building, but was put on hold while a Section 106 review is underway. It was placed on the list of the Kansas Preservation Alliance’s Endangered Historic Places in 2012 and has been on Historic Kansas City’s Most Endangered List every year from 2013 to 2019. In 2013, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places, one of less than 100 sites on the list associated with Hispanic heritage. [2] The owner of the building, St. John the Divine Community Art and Education Center, received a $30,000 Heritage Trust Fund grant in 2017 to repair the roof.The church is Gothic Revival in style. The large central nave window has a stained glass image of La Virgen de Guadalupe imported from Mexico. Memorial stained glass windows border the central window, and the east side of the building contains five more. Another arched stained glass window is over the main doorway. Vaulted ceilings with chandeliers imported from Spain adorn the interior. The apse wall is covered in inlaid wood paneling.

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.

St. John the Divine Catholic Church

Here we see three seasons represented: summer, spring, and fall. Besides a seasonal theme, others include: harvest, hummingbirds, and the environment. Faus stated that the harvest mural depicts continuous acts. He envisioned the field where everything is developed and shows children at the start of the scene and the joyful children at the end of the scene as they celebrate the seeds sown by their ancestors. This mural took Faus about 2 months to complete. He had the assistance of the neighborhood children to help him pain the mural. The children that lived in the apartment complex in which the mural is painted, wanted to do something to help him create something colorful in their backyard. Unfortunately, Faus and the children were not able to complete the mural with the winter season depicted, due to unforeseen circumstances that resulting from gatekeeping.

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.

Silver Avenue Mural 

The town of Argentine was established in 1880 and was the headquarters of the Kansas City Consolidated Smelting and Refining Company. The connection between the plant and the smelting operation can be seen in the name Argentine, which is derived from the Latin word for silver. The plant was the largest in the world in terms of capacity at the time, and a settlement quickly grew up around the smelter as well as the railroad, which had been completed in the late 1870s. The smelter plant shut down in October 1901 leading to a local economic depression as hundreds left the community to find work elsewhere. Due to these conditions and the growth of the neighboring metropolitan area, city officials and residents welcomed annexation into the city of Kansas City, Kansas. On January 1st, 1910, Argentine officially became the 7th ward of KCK.Argentine High Schools was considered one of the most prestigious schools in the state in the 1930s, as it had a vocational-technical program that started at the high school. The current structure at 22nd and Ruby is also home to a fight for integration in schools 29 years before Brown v. Board. In 1925, four Mexican students- including two brothers and their parents, fought to attend the all-white Argentine High School. Jesus and Luz Alvarado, Marcos De Leon, and Victorina Perez graduated from Clara Barton grade school and subsequently enrolled at Argentine High. After one week of classes, white parents began to threaten the Mexican American community if they did not withdraw their children. Mexican parents began their fight to integrate the school. Kansas City was the only school district that was legally allowed to have segregated high schools. The district had a separate high school for Black students and a segregated Mexican middle school. Due to the low number of Mexican Americans/Mexicans in the Kansas City area prior to 1925, there was not a designated separate high school for Latinx children. Instead, there were separate classrooms designated for Latinx students. The Argentine school district went so far as to offer to pay the tuition and transportation for the four Mexican students if they would agree to attend a segregated high school in Kansas City, Missouri. The parents refused again and filed a complaint with the Mexican Consul. The Consul put pressure on the school board, and ultimately it could not force segregation. White parents continued to threaten the Mexican students and their community. No legal cases were pursued against the white parents that threatened violence and they were never charged. After a year away from school in the fight for integration, the Mexican students were re-enrolled for the 1926-1927 school year. In the years that followed, the community saw a decrease in white families and the growth of Mexican American communities that continue to shape the school and community.

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.

Argentine High School (1908)

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.

El Baile de la Vida (The Dance of Life) Mural - Vaquero Imports Building

This mural showcases the history of the working-class communities of color such as Latinx and Black residents of Kansas City, Kansas throughout the twentieth century to the present day. At the beginning of the mural, there is a turn of the century white woman in a stagecoach looking out. Next, we see filmmakers and their vision of the area. This is followed by various BIPOC residents of the area enjoying 1920s Kansas City, Kansas. This is quickly followed by hardships- from the world wars, racism, and low-socioeconomic circumstances. There are several BIPOC people involved in the war industry- we see two Black women as Rosie the Riveters. The women are placed above Mexican Americans in zoot suits. Below the Zoot suiters, there are people laboring for the railroad and a shirtless man that appears to be impoverished. Next, we see the flood of 1951 that destroyed and displaced these working-class communities represented here. Finally, there is a person that closely resembles the muralist Jose Faus, as he takes a picture of a diverse group of young people in the community.

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.

Latinx History, Art, and Cultural Heritage Trail of Kansas City, Kansas

Clara Barton School

Introduction

Images

Backstory and Context

Sources

Additional Information