Guadalupe Center
Guadalupe Center Photographs: Collection Refresh
The Guadalupe Centers might be over 100 years old, but the images you see on KCHistory.org from its historical collection are brand new – sort of. In conjunction with the 2019 centennial celebration of the Guadalupe Centers’ work serving Kansas City’s Latino community, Missouri Valley Special Collections staff rescanned 556 photographs from a collection donated to the department in the 1977. These photos were originally compiled into albums by long-time Guadalupe Center director, Dorothy Gallagher, and depict many of the services and activities that took place at the center from the mid-1920s through the early 1940s.
The Guadalupe Center
During the Mexican Revolution of 1910, thousands of Mexicans left their homeland in pursuit of a better life in the United States. Many who traveled north to Kansas City found work in packing houses and factories and settled in the Westside neighborhood.
However, Mexican immigrants experienced discrimination, poverty, and lack of social services. In response, a settlement house was established in 1919 by a Catholic women's club, the Agnes Ward Amberg Club, to serve the Westside's predominately Hispanic population.