Santa Fe Shops
Introduction
Text-to-speech Audio
The Santa Fe shops employed numerous immigrant workers of Mexican descent and provided railroad box cars for many of these workers. This substandard and temporary housing reflected many of the attitudes of area residents towards laborers of Mexican descent. As has been the case with all movements of newcomers to the United States, this wave of immigrants was fueled by conditions in the home country and many of the more established residents resented the newcomers. Although people of Mexican descent had long lived and worked in this area and were represented in significant numbers in cattle drives (these cowboys were known as vaqueros) or as wagoners on the Santa Fe trail, laborers of Mexican descent had a difficult tie acquiring permanent housing. While most of the laborers left the area, others found homes and created communities that led to the growth of the Mexican American communities of Topeka and other areas of Kansas.
Images
Backstory and Context
Text-to-speech Audio
"We arrived on the first day