Migration Stories: Utah's Mexican and Mexican-American History

Mexicans were part of Utah's cultural fabric long before it became a U.S. state in 1896. The area was briefly part of Mexico until the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. Even afterward, Mexicans continued to migrate to Utah, seeking new opportunities in labor, education, or better living conditions for their families.

Today, the Latino population (which includes all ethnicities under that umbrella term) is Utah’s largest minority group, comprising roughly 17% of the state's total population. The largest group within this demographic is Mexican-Americans, with approximately 326,430 people, meaning about 1 in 10 Utah Latinos identify as Mexican-American.^[1]

Mexicans have traveled through and migrated to Utah for various reasons, but the majority came—or were actively recruited—to find jobs.

• Monticello received an early wave of migrants from New Mexico and Colorado in the early 1900s seeking new places to settle, many working in the cattle and sheep industry. From the mid to late 1900s, Mexican families traveled to Northern Utah seeking better labor opportunities.
• Starting in the 1910s, many Mexican men found employment in the Bingham Canyon mines, with their families often joining them. When mining jobs declined after World War II, many of these families settled in the Salt Lake Valley.^[2]
• In Garland, and other agricultural areas, Mexican families migrated to work in the sugar-beet fields, eventually settling throughout Northern Utah.
• Fillmore also saw an influx of Mexican laborers recruited to work on mushroom farms during the 1970s.

Albert Garcia was born in Vallecitos, New Mexico in 1950. Shortly after his birth, Albert’s father–born in Mexico–got a job at the Bingham Canyon mines and the family relocated to Lark, Utah. Located on the West end of Salt Lake Valley, Lark was a company town built by the United States Smelting and Refining Company. Many Latino families lived in an area known as the Heights, which was built on a terraced hillside and housed basic multi-family units.^[3] The Garcia family lived in a small duplex in the Heights–the four children in one bedroom. The lack of amenities and poor housing conditions were the primary reasons many residents, including the Garcia family, chose to leave Lark, often settling in nearby communities like Midvale, West Jordan, and Kearns. The Garcia family moved to Midvale Utah in 1955.

The family's move to Midvale offered them a much-needed upgrade to a larger home. The family maintained ties with Lark, continuing to attend community events until the mining operations—where Albert’s father worked until the mine closed in 1971—led to the town's eventual closure by Kennecott Copper in 1977. Despite having many good memories of their time there, the move to Midvale was a significant improvement for the family. Albert Garcia was five years old when him and his family moved to Midvale. Along with his sisters, Albert spent most of his youth in Midvale, attending school and being an altar boy at St. Ambrose Church. He met his wife Edith at the University of Utah and they raised their family throughout Salt Lake Valley, and have lived in Murray for over 20 years. ^[3]

“I came here to United States not knowing English at all. I remember, when I was learning English, how difficult it was to communicate...I had to learn and once I learned, I thought, ‘Okay, now what am I gonna do with this? I will try to do my best to give back to the community.’ …I know where I come from, and we live in a very blessed country…My kids have a lot of opportunities that I didn’t have when I was growing up.”

Alfonso Flores was born in Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico but was raised in Chihuahua with his parents and sisters. Due to better jobs and schooling opportunities, his family moved to Utah. Alfonso stayed in Mexico to finish his studies and officially moved and settled in Utah in 1998 at 25 years old. 

Alfonso has worked in Salt Lake Valley, Park City, and Heber Valley, where he now resides with his family. He supports the Latino community through his business, Flores Agency LLC - Alfonso Flores Insurance.

In 1926, Mercedes Castrellon sent a picture postcard to her family in Juarez, Mexico, from Brigham City, Utah. Writing in Spanish on the back of the card, she included a heartfelt message: “Dear daughter, here is a postcard and photograph of your mom and your sisters and your brother…Remember your mother. I love you very much.”

According to family history, Mercedes and three of her children relocated to Northern Utah to work in the sugar beet industry. This move was part of a broader recruitment effort by the Utah-Idaho Sugar Company—based in Garland, Utah—which began bringing laborers from Juarez, Mexico, in 1920. A Salt Lake Tribune article from 1920 noted that while the men worked in the sugar-beet fields, the women and children often joined them to prepare and cook lunches.^[4]

Dr. Ed A. Munoz was born and raised in Nebraska. His parents, Lupe Sanchez and Frank Munoz, had moved to Nebraska from Texas to work as farmers. Given the scarcity of Mexicans in the state, Dr. Munoz describes his unique identity using the term "Nebrasqueño"—a Mexican American from Nebraska. Dr. Munoz's educational and career path led him through several states before he settled in Utah in 2013, accepting a position in the Ethnic Studies program at the University of Utah. He remains highly active in preserving and sharing Latino history. Whether through his oral history project, Construyendo Latinidad (Constructing Latinidad), hosting a quinceañera for his two daughters, or cooking traditional Mexican food like tamales, Dr. Munoz continues to celebrate and transmit his culture in Utah.

Fanny Guadalupe Blauer–originally from Mexico City–and her husband moved to Salt Lake City nearly 30 years ago for new job opportunities. They first lived in Phoenix, Arizona, and then Hawaii. However, Fanny's husband always hoped to return to Utah, where he was born and raised. In 1998, they purchased a home in Millcreek, where they raised their son and daughter and continue to reside today.

Fanny Guadalupe Blauer continues a tradition started by her father: she reads the newspaper, cuts out articles that resonate with her, and posts them on her refrigerator–her dad used to post them to a wall in their Mexico City home. She discussed this practice in a 2024 oral history: "I like to put [the article] somewhere where I [can see it]. Here in the US, something cultural that I never grew up with [was] a fridge with magnets. And when I came to the US, like, ‘Why do people put things on the fridge?’ I do it now, and I do it all the time!”

Utah has become home to people from all over the world, and Mexican families who migrated here enriched the state by bringing their cultures and traditions. Blending these with American and other cultural influences, Mexican Americans continue to celebrate and embrace their heritage.

Alfonso Flores has lived more than half of his life in Utah but maintains a strong understanding of his cultural roots. In a 2024 oral history, he shared his deep connection to his past: “This is my culture and I have a very big sense of where I come from. My parents [and] the education they gave me—and not just my parents, but [also] my grandparents. That's part of me, and I want to embrace it and I've been trying to somehow transmit that to my children.”

For Olivera Masters, who is of Mexican and Japanese descent and was raised in Salt Lake City, understanding her cultures is about embracing all her backgrounds. In her 2024 oral history, she explained: “I can confidently say I am Mexican Japanese American. Because I grew up eating so much rice [and] I ate verdolagas con puerco. My mom and I would go and hunt in the neighborhood for the weeds—the purslane, which is verdolagas—and we would make it in the summer... I do Japanese things where I can go into the market and I can get the correct ingredients to make the correct food. And I go to festivals and I observe these things and I feel a connection to them, because I am them!”

Festivals such as Living Traditions, Latino Arts Festival, and Dia De Los Muertos celebrations highlight Mexican, Mexican-American, and Latino culture and traditions, allowing all Utahns to celebrate them together.

In 2023 and 2024, the Utah Historical Society partnered with several Latino groups and people. including the Genealogical Society of Hispanic America (GSHA) - Utah Chapter, to host Scan-and-Share events. Community members brought their photos to digitize and told us their stories to preserve and share their history. Some also shared their stories through oral history interviews.

Please visit the online collection to view more digital items and listen to oral history interviews. You can also click any of the images on this page for more information.

[1] Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute at the University of Utah
https://gardner.utah.edu/news/gardner-institute-marks-hispanic-heritage-month/

[2] Armando Solorzano, We Remember, We Celebrate, We Believe / Recuerdo, Celebración, y Esperanza: Latinos in Utah, pg 25-28; Rio Tinto Lark History https://www.kennecott-groundbreakers.com/stories/lark-history

[3] Rio Tinto Lark History https://www.kennecott-groundbreakers.com/stories/lark-history

[4] Frank A. Arnold, “Mexican Laborers Find Utah Paradis & Garland Prides in Modern Community.” Salt Lake Tribune, Utah, June 13, 1920. https://newspapers.lib.utah.edu/ark:/87278/s6bp4n0w