pullmans, box cars, and section houses: mexican-american railroad workers in franklin county, kansas

Mexican Railroad Workers In Franklin County, KansasPhoto courtesy of Jesse

Pacheco

Pullmans,Boxcars &SectionHouses:

OTTAWA - In 1905, Ottawa Kansas was the county seat of Franklin County and a railroad town intersected by the Santa Fe and Missouri Pacific lines. These young ladies are posed during the Chautauqua Assembly in Forest Park, one of Ottawa’s cultural amenities.

MEXICAN CAMPS IN FRANKLIN COUNTY, KSBy 1907, the railroads had begun to bring Mexican men up into the US to do the hard work on the railroads that the Irish workers had done before them.

The map shows the sites of Mexican camps where Latino section workers were housed. These were sometimes shacks built of cast-off wood belonging to the railroad companies, and sometimes they were old box cars, or in the case of LeLoup, Pullman cars.

Later on, the ATSF built section houses (multifamily apartment houses) along their right-of-way north of Ottawa.

Ottawa

Latina

“The Triangle”

The ATSFCar

Shops

TheATSFHospi

tal

“TheBottoms”

Sacred Heart

Catholic Church

ATSFPassengerDepotMissouriPacificPassengerDepot

Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church

RAILROAD FACILITIES

SANTA FE PASSENGER DEPOT

Built in 1888, the passenger depot for the Santa Fe sat at the end of the large railroad property which included car shops, a roundhouse, a hospital, a freight depot and other structures.

THE SANTA FE CAR SHOPS --Although almost every trace of this complex of railroad shops is gone now, the area west of Main Street north of the Marais des Cygnes river was taken up by a large industrial area where railroad cars were made and engines serviced in a 13-stall roundhouse.

THE SANTA FE HOSPITAL

Although originally built to provide health care for all ATSF workers, by 1907 most of the patients were Mexicans.

EDNA GOSSETT, R.N.Dr. Edward B. Gossett and his wife Edna were among the staff who served the Mexican population on the north side during the 1930s at the Santa Fe Hospital.

Edna Gossett, an R.N. supervised the care in the hospital and made house calls in the Mexican camp in the Triangle.

MISSOURI PACIFIC PASSENGER/FREIGHT DEPOT

The Missouri Pacific railroad crossed Ottawa going east and west, and a small number of Mexican workers also worked for it.

PLACES OF

WORSHIP

CATHOLIC CHURCH

Holy Guardian Angels

The local Catholic church, first known as Holy Guardian Angels and later as Sacred Heart, was quite a distance from the Mexican workers’ homes. (See previous map.)

Sacred Heart

NUESTRA SEÑORA DE GUADALUPE CHURCH

This is a photo of the Boys’ Club building in Forest Park, built for the Chautauqua Assemblies held annually. The man standing on the right is James Naismith, inventor of basketball. Naismith conducted the Boys Club and taught many of the boys the game.

1916-1936After the Chautauquas

had ceased to be held in Ottawa, the buildings were sold off. The Boys Club was acquired by the Catholic Church to be used as a mission church for the Mexicans on the southwest corner ofN. Locust andW. Wilson.

“Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe” translates to “Our Lady of Guadalupe,” the patron saint of Mexico.

DEDICATION DAY, 1916

This was the procession which came from the Triangle neighborhood on the north side of Wilson St. to the site of the new church, Our Lady of Guadalupe.

With banners and pennants flying, the church was dedicated in 1916. Many local non-Mexicans came to observe the event.

The interior of Our Lady of Gaudalupe, decorated with American and Mexican flags. The altar was donated by another Catholic church.

THE MEXICAN BAPTIST MISSION

Besides the Catholics, the Baptists sought to convert some of the Mexicans. They established a mission for them in 1918 which survived until 1936 changing sites three times. The Santa Fe superintendant’s wife, Kate Williamson, (pictured at the right end of the third row) was credited with the success of the mission.

THE LAST MEXICAN BAPTIST MISSION

Although we don’t have a good photo of it, the third Baptist mission, built of concrete blocks, was built on land donated by Manuel Pacheco, a lay preacher to the congregation who built it with his sons.

THEIR HOMES

EARLIEST RAILROAD WORKERS –“LOS SOLOS”

Santa Fe and other railroads start hiring Mexicans c. 1905.

Ottawa Catholic Church, Holy Guardian Angels, discriminates against Mexicans

This group of unidentified Mexican section hands was taken near the Richter depot.

Photo courtesy of Bruce Fleming

An unidentified section gang of mixed ethnicity with their white foreman on the left.

Photo courtesy of Sam Pacheco

“THE TRIANGLE”

Two Santa Fe railroad lines crossed just north of Ottawa, forming a triangle of land where a Mexican camp was built. The Triangle consisted of small houses built of railroad scrap lumber.

THE MEXICAN CAMP IN RICHMOND

LAS FAMILIAS

THE RODRIGUEZ FAMILY – SOLEDAD AND LEOCADIO

Soledad Morales Rodriguez with Eloise

Leocadio Rodriguez, railroad worker

Leocadio, family and friends.

SISTER ELOISE RODRIGUEZ

Eloise Rodriguez after graduation from St. Mary College in Atchison, Kansas, age 21.

Sister Eloise’ final vows, May 2, 1958.

THE MARTINEZ FAMILY – MANUELA AND JUAN

Because Juan Martinez could speak English well, he served as a spokesperson for the Mexican community.

THE GARCIA FAMILY – JUAN & PAULA

Back row, left to right: Juanita Garcia Blanco, Esther Garcia Flores, Lupe Garcia Rios, Paula A. Garcia holding Encarnacion Garcia. Front row: Enriqueta Garcia Soriano and Natalia Garcia Martinez, standing in front of their house in LeLoup around 1930.

An unidentified LeLoup boy, Encarnacion (“Chon”) Garcia, Albert Hopkins and Carlos Garcia.

Paula and Juan Garcia with five of their eleven children next to a water pump in the Triangle where they moved from LeLoup.

The Garcia family around 1951. Lupe Garcia Rios, Aurora Garcia Ottinger, Natalia Garcia Martinez, Amelia Garcia, Enriqueta Garcia Soriano, Juanita Garcia Blanco, and Esther Garcia Flores. Seated are Encarnacion, Paula, Juan and Carlos. Front row, Alberto and Fernando.

MANUEL AND SARA PACHECO

Manuel and Sarah Pacheco in their garden.

Manuel Pacheco and his sons, Leonard, John, Jesse and Samuel.

Sarah, Ruth and Samuel Pacheco in front of their home in the Triangle.

Shirlee Ann Garcia and Jerrie Lee Pacheco.

The Pacheco home at 815 King St.

Leonard Pacheco at work on the railroad.

THE CORTEZ FAMILY – JOSE & JULIANA

Juliana and Jose with their grandson Delfino“Sonny” Larios.

Francisca Cortez Larios and her daughter.

WORKIN’ ON THE

RAILROAD

Unidentified Mexican railroad workers near Ottawa.

LIFE IN FRANKLIN

COUNTY

DISCRIMINATION IN OTTAWA

Mexicans weren’t allowed to swim in the public pool in Ottawa. Several reminisce about watching the other kids swimming and envying them the cool water. Kate Williamson of the Baptist Mission arranged for her Mexican wards to swim in the (Baptist) Ottawa University pool.

While Mexicans could attend movies, they were required to sit in designated areas, usually in the balcony.

Mexicans couldn’t eat at the tables in Ottawa restaurants. Juan Martinez turned the building that had been Our Lady of Guadalupe church into a restaurant called the Victory Café.

FURTHER READING “Short History of Latinos in Franklin County,

KS” by Deborah Barker. Produced for “Kansas Collects” grant-funded project of the Kansas Historical Society. 2009, FCHS archives.

“History of Sacred Heart Catholic Church” 1917.

“Register of Injuries” book of the Ottawa Santa Fe Hospital in the Franklin Co. Historical Society archives.

Videotaped interviews with John and Jesse Pacheco conducted in 2009, FCHS archives.

All photos are courtesy of the Franklin County Historical Society unless labeled otherwise.