Missouri

Missouri chronology

1541 Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto visits the Missouri area in 1541.

1770 The Spanish government takes control of the Territory of Louisiana.

1821 Captain William Becknell develops the Santa Fe Trail.

1825 Former Missouri senator Thomas Benton petitions the U.S. government to survey the Santa Fe Trail.

1846 The beginning of the Mexican-American War. On May 11 Congress passes a resolution, and President James Polk summons 50,000 troops and appropriates $10 million for the war. Missouri sends 2,000 men to the front.

1865 Major General Sterling Price, Missouri’s highest-ranking military officer, leads his army to Mexico, to the colony of Confederate exiles at Carlota, in the state of Veracruz.

1885 After the Alien Labor Act of 1885, Latino migrants replace Chinese migrant workers in the railroad industry and agriculture.

1923 Cuban veteran baseball star Jose Menendez becomes the manager of the Kansas City Monarchs and leads the team to a league championship.

1960 The Cuban Revolution and the rise of communism ignite mass migration of Cubans to the United States, including Kansas City and St. Louis.

1970s Latinos laborers begin to find work in Missouri’s meat processing industry.

1977 The Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of Greater Kansas City is established by 25 Latino business leaders.

1980s Latino workers begin supplying labor on farmlands in the southwest and boot heel of Missouri.

Yolanda Jorge establishes Grupo Latinoamericano, an organization of Latin American migrants in southwest Missouri that celebrates folk tradition from Latin American countries.

On December 15, four senators and four state representatives form the Joint Interim Committee on Immigration to provide social services to immigrants.

The U.S. census reports that Latino numbers in Missouri, estimated at 118,592, are much higher than anticipated.

The University of Missouri at Kansas City creates a research organization, the Alianzas Alliances Project, for the study of the Latino presence in Missouri and across the Midwest.

The Mexican consulate moves to Kansas City from St. Louis.

Governor Matt Blunt creates the Commission on Hispanic Affairs.

A community of scholars, activists, professors, and students creates the Cambio Center de Colors at the University of Missouri at Columbia. Governor Matt Blunt replaces the Missouri Governor’s Commission on Hispanic Affairs with the Hispanic Business, Trade, and Culture Commission.

Alianzas Alliances meets in Guanajuato, Mexico, to establish a partnership with its sister city, San Jose Iturbide.