mar 5, 1921 - Woman’s Home Missionary Society

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In March 1921, the Kansas Conference of the Woman's Home Missionary Society of The Methodist Episcopal Church established an outreach mission in a commercial building located near the railroad "campo" housing hundreds of Mexican section workers from the Santa Fe Railroad. The mission provided Americanization classes and social services to Mexican workers and their families, including medical and dental care, child care and general welfare assistance. The Methodist Mexican Mission also served as a practice center for the Kansas City, Mo.-based National Training School of the Missionary Society, which helped to increase the Mission's staff and services. Educational offerings at the Mission included a kindergarten, night school, and church school, and the Mission also hosted children's groups, mother's meetings, and social evenings.

Miriam Cheney, one of the Mission's night school teachers, later went on to become the first principal at the Clara Barton School. In September 1934 a pastor and his wife arrived and established a Mexican Methodist church. Following World War II, Mexican-American veterans were denied membership in the local chapter of the American Legion. In response, a group of veterans led by John Joe Salazar applied for and were granted a charter for a separate American Legion Post. A women's Auxiliary was established in the early 1950s. Post 213 initially met in several different buildings throughout the Mexican barrio in Argentine, and in September 1953, the Post purchased the W. Jones Building from the Methodist City Missionary Society of Kansas City, Kansas. From its earliest beginnings, the Eagles Nest served as an important setting for community gatherings and fiestas, and provided Hispanic veterans a place to call their own. Source: https://khri.kansasgis.org/

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