A story told in photos of the life of several Mexican-American families who worked on the railroads in 20th century Franklin County, Kansas

1. Pullmans,
Boxcars &
Section
Houses:
Mexican Railroad
Workers In
Franklin County,
Photo courtesy of Jesse Pacheco
Kansas

2. 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.

3. By 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.

4. Our Lady of “The
Guadalupe
Catholic Church
Triangle”
The
Ottaw ATSF
Hospi
The
ATSF
a tal Car
Shop
s
Latina ATSF
Passen
ger
“The
Depot
Bottom
s” Missou
ri
Pacific
Passen
ger
Depot
Sacred
Heart
Catholic
Church

6. 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.

7. 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.

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

9. 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.

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

12. 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
Holy Guardian Angels

13. 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.

14. 1916-1936 “Nuestra Señora de
After the Chautauquas Guadalupe” translates
had ceased to be held in to “Our Lady of
Ottawa, the buildings Guadalupe,” the
were sold off. The Boys patron saint of Mexico.
Club was acquired by the
Catholic Church to be
used as a mission church
for the Mexicans on the
southwest corner of
N. Locust and
W. Wilson.

15. 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.

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

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

18. 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.

19. 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.

21. Photo courtesy of Bruce Fleming
 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.

22. An unidentified section gang of mixed ethnicity with
their white foreman on the left.
Photo courtesy of Sam Pacheco

23. 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.

26. Soledad Morales Leocadio Rodriguez,
Rodriguez with Eloise railroad worker

27. Leocadio,
family and
friends.

28. Sister Eloise’ final vows, May 2, 1958.
Eloise Rodriguez after graduation from St. Mary
College in Atchison, Kansas, age 21.

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

30. 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.

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

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

33. 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.

34. Manuel and Sarah
Pacheco in their
garden.

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

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

37. Shirlee Ann Garcia
and Jerrie Lee
Pacheco.

38. The Pacheco home at 815 King St.

39. Leonard
Pacheco at
work on the
railroad.

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

41. Francisca Cortez Larios
and her daughter.

44. Unidentified Mexican railroad workers near Ottawa.

56. 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.

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

58. 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.

59.  “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.