A Century of Community and Service
Guadalupe Center
Kansas City, Missouri
Listen | Hidden in Plain Sight
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Margot and Heather travel to the Guadalupe Center in Kansas City, Missouri, a place deeply intertwined with the history of the city's deep-rooted Latino community. They explore the story of Dorothy Gallagher, the first director of the Guadalupe Center who used her family's wealth to purchase the property and build the beautiful and distinctive building that stands there today. From longtime community member, and first Latino elected to statewide office in Missouri, Paul Rojas, they learn about the persistence and resiliance of Kansas City’s Latin community in the face of discrimination and limited resources. The center became a place for education, community gathering, and cultural support in Kansas City’s Westside neighborhood, and it remains so today.
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https://speakingofkc.org/sites/default/files/transcriptions/MVSC-HISPANIC-Rojas-Paul.pdf
Biographical information about Dorothy Gallagher can be found in the Kansas City Library’s Digital History resource here.
The Kansas City Library’s Missouri Valley Special Collections is a treasure trove of photographs and newspaper articles about Guadalupe Center, the Kansas City Latin community, Dorothy Gallagher, and more. It is accessible here.
"“Speaking of KC” oral history interview with Paul Rojas accessible here.
The Guadalupe Centers can be found online here.
“Nell Donnelly Reed.” McMillen, Margot Ford and Heather Roberson. 2002. Called to Courage: Four Women in Missouri History. University of Missouri Press.
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