Kansas's Latino History, One Tour at a Time
April 6, 2020
Looking for a way to get your exercise and your history in all at once? Or just want to get out of your house and into the community while maintaining a safe distance? Or want to take a virtual tour from your home? A Clio walking or driving tour might be just the ticket!
Clio is a free, crowd-sourced, digital tour guide to the history and culture around you. Humanities Kansas created a series of Clio walking and driving tours of Latino cultural sites in Garden City, Kansas City, Topeka, Newton, and Wichita called Walk with Me/Camino Conmigo. The following tours allow you to easily explore the rich Latino history of Kansas at your own pace, by foot or by car, in Spanish or in English.
Take the Tours
- Garden City: In western Kansas, a thriving sugar beet industry attracted workers from south of the border during the first half of the twentieth century. Many of these families settled in Garden City and created a thriving community that exists to this day.
- Kansas City: This tour takes you to key sites of Latino art, religion, education, and commerce in the Kansas City area. To the 220-foot mural at the Argentine Historical Museum to the Guadalupe Shrine, from Paul “Waxie” Hernandez’s baseball fields to the menudo at Los Alamos Market y Cocina, this tour covers all the bases.
- Newton: For many years, the Santa Fe Railroad has been the major source of income for the Mexican-American population in Kansas. Following the Santa Fe Railroad, many Mexican American families settled in Newton though times were tough and work was scarce. Since then, Latinos have called Newton their home and contributed to the development of the City and the State.
- Topeka: Latino history in Topeka began when Topeka was in its infancy. This tour tracks Topeka’s settlement, development, and progress along with the arrival of Latino immigrants. The true story of Topeka can only be understood by telling the story of Latino experience.
- Wichita: This tour is dedicated to the memory of the courageous Latino immigrants who left their homeland in the early years of the 20th century to settle in Wichita, Kansas. Their momentous journeys made it possible for a thriving Latino neighborhood to exist today. In spite of poverty, severe ethnic and racial discrimination, Latinos persevered.
Download the Clio app on your iPhone or Android. And be sure to share your tour stories with us @humanitieskansas #storychasershk #humanitiesathome #movementofideas.
