The Salazar Family

by | Jul 10, 2025 | People

The Salazar Family

The journey from Aguascalientes, Mexico was a long one. 

The journey from Aguascalientes, Mexico was a long one. Fortunately, Ylario, his wife Micaela (1889-1981), and son Manuel boarded a train in 1910 and headed north for a better life. They arrived in Kansas City, Missouri. As a young man, Manuel continued on to Valley Junction, Iowa. He grew to like the small town. It was a land full of job opportunities. Manual work for the railroad paid well and eventually, Manuel bought a house at 124 10th St. So, he sent for his father and stepmother to join him. 

A Family Held Together by Love

Josephine Ramos also lived in Valley Junction. She and Manuel fell in love and started their own family. They had two children Albert Manuel (1935-2004) and Josephine Marie (Mary Jo) (1938-2009) three years later. In addition to Manuel’s children, his brothers and sisters were also born in Valley Junction. The four siblings Ylario Jr., Tomasa, Juanita, and Frances. In 1947 homemaking became a one woman job. Dear Josephine caught ill with TB Tuberculosis and passed away. Manuel was now a widower and supporting a large family. So, his parents raised his children while he worked on the railroad. Albert was about 11 years old at the time. 

In addition to the Salazar sibilings and Manuel’s two children, death brought more children to the loving Salazar home. Micaela’s sister passed away. They lived away in Ft. Dodge. The Salazars welcomed their orphaned nieces and nephews Victor, Teresa, and Richard De La Torre into their homes as their own. They needed a bigger home and soon moved south of the tracks to a house on Washington Street. Although the land was prone to flooding often, the children enjoyed their new home. 

A New Generation of Salazars

Soon Albert graduated from Valley High School and fell in love with a Meskwaki woman from the Sac & Fox Nation, Frances Wanatee (1935-2016). Frances grew up on the settlement owned by the Nation in Tama, Iowa. She attended nursing school in Marshalltown, Iowa. The Salazar family valued caring for one another so she joined a family with kindred spirits. They wed on July 3, 1959. Frances was a successful nurse at Iowa Lutheran Hospital in Des Moines. 

Albert and Frances began to grow their family with six children: Johnny, Anita, Jeanne, Paul, Darrell, and Marlena Albert and Frances moved thier family across the street from the originally family home.

The journey from Aguascalientes, Mexico was a long one.

Multicultural Festival 2025

by | Apr 29, 2025 | Events

Multicultural Festival 2025

Get Ready for on Labor Day Weekend!

The Junction Speaks – Thurs., August 28

This year, the festival begins on Thursday with The Junction Speaks from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m.

The Junction Speaks opens the Multicultural Festival weekend. Since 2013, the event has revealed and preserved the rich multicultural oral histories of the families that created a tight-knit community integrated because of humanity, not desegregation legislation. A rich evening history through storytelling, slideshows, presentations, video and open mic. 

TPK Event Center

1208 Grand Ave,

West Des Moines, IA 50265

Jazzin in theJunction – Fri., August 29

 On Friday, August 29, we celebrate the Spoken Word and Live Jazz. For those of you who have never experienced a Spoken Word event, you should come and see what it’s all about. It’s a casual evening of local poets, music and songs. Those in attendance share stories of ancestors and special historical happenings in Valley Junction. Some are first-hand memories, while others are stories handed down for generations. 6:00pm to 9:00pm

Tallgrass Theatre Company

2019 Grand Ave. Suite 100

West Des Moines, IA 50265

Multicultural Festival – Sat., August 30

On Saturday, August 30, from 2:00pm to 10:00pm is the annual Taste of the Junction Multicultural Festival.

Railroad Park Pavillion

4th & Railroad Place

West Des Moines, IA 50265

LIVE Music, Food & Beverage Tents, Art and Craft Vendors, Kid Zone and more. Fun for the entire family! Bring your lawn chairs and your dancin’ shoes. It’s going down in the Junction!

The Junction Speaks

Thursday, August 28

5:30pm – 9:00pm

Jazzin in the Junction

Friday, August 29

6:00 pm – 8:30 pm

LIVE Music on the Main Stage

Saturday, August 30

LIVE Music! 2pm – 10pm

Welcome our headliner:

The Get Down Band!

Throughout the day will be:

Guitarras ATM Salsa Band

Johnny Mancuso. Country Singer

Capital City Steppers w/ Charles Webster

 

Events are FREE and

Open to the Public. All are welcome.

Watch this space for more details!

There’s still time to be a part of the event. Connect with us at [email protected]

Sorry, no pets allowed at the Multicultural Festival.

New Story for Descendants demo

by | Apr 11, 2025 | Uncategorized

The Diaz Family

By Mary (Diaz) Murillo

The Diaz Family
Submitted by Mary (Diaz) Murillo

The Diaz family is proud to be a part of the history of Valley Junction, having lived in the area for a little over 100 years. Cruz and Gregoria Diaz came to Valley Junction from Aquas Calientes, Mexico. They resided in Hyde Park, located just west of Valley Junction and south of the railroad tracks. Many other families from Mexico also settled there to work on the Rock Island Railroad and raise their families.

The family eventually moved and purchased to a two-story home on the corner of Lincoln Street and South 4th Street. This became their home until the children grew up and moved out on their own.

Rasing a Family in Valley Junction

Cruz and Gregory had nine children, six boys; George, Nacio, Joe, Julie, Jess and Tony; three daughters, Mary, Maggie and Lupe. George (my father) attended Longfellow school, but being the oldest in the family, he left after finishing ninth grade to find a job and help his family financially.
George along with his two brothers; Nacio and Jess followed in their father’s footsteps and took a job working on the railroad. Joe and his brother Tony opened a barbershop on Vine between 4th and 5th Street and called it The Diaz Barber Shop. Julie went work for the Penn Dixie Cement Plant. Mary and Maggie stayed home to take care of their family and Lupe worked various jobs.
The children, who eventually married, continued living in Valley Junction raising their own families. All of their children attended Nellie Phenix grade school and went on to graduate from Valley High School, when it was located on 7th Street & Hillside Streets.

The families all resided in West Des Moines and stayed very close. Many times they would get together at each other’s homes for family fun and good food!
A few of the cousins continue to live in West Des Moines and stay in touch. They all have great memories of growing up in Valley Junction with all their uncles, aunts and cousins. They often share those memories with their children who will pass this history on to many more generations to come.

The Diaz family is proud to be a part of the history of Valley Junction, having lived in the area of a little over 100 years.

Lamar Family

Lamar Family

by | Mar 13, 2025 | People

Minnie Lizzie Slaughter Family History

Minnie Lizzie Slaugther Family History

One of the West Des Moines residents, Thressa, met a navy hero, Omar James. In 1958 they had a daughter Omega, the name signifying the last in the Greek alphabet.

Minnie Lizzie was born to Hanna Slaughter in Opelika, Alabama, two centuries ago. She acquired a 6th-grade education. It is unknown when she moved to Chicago, but she also had two sisters who lived there, Omega and Mary. Omega Gothard eventually moved to Des Moines, caring for her great-niece, Jaquinta, and great-nephew, Tristan Cherry. Mary Charles moved to Los Angeles and became a pastor.

Minnie had three children: Wilbur Cherry, Thressa Cherry, and John Henry Robinson. Thressa graduated from Windell Phillips High School in 1939 along with Reese (Goose) Tatum, the original clown prince of basketball that acquired the name while playing center for the Harlem GlobeTrotters. Other classmates were Nat King Cole and Johnson, the publisher of Ebony and other black magazines. Ting (Wilbur Cherry) was a very successful barber and businessman. He was able to buy himself a house complete with a basement and pool table. It was in a nice area of Chicago, 94th and Union. In 1957 he showed up in West Des Moines in a brand new ’57 black Ford hardtop convertible.

Moving to West Des Moines

Thressa had a child, Wilbur Eugene Cherry ’39, with Eugene Blue. Eugene is the cousin of Vida Blue who pitched for the Iowa Oaks before becoming famous as a star pitcher for the Oakland A’s. A few years later, she married John Lamar and had seven more children: Michael, Larry, Dennis, Carl, Pamela, Wayne, and Diane. Diane died in childbirth.

Doc Slaughter left Minnie’s property in New Jersey and West Des Moines. Then she met and married Robert Love, an employee of Meredith Publishing Company. Minnie Love moved her daughter and six grandchildren to West Des Moines in 1955. Eugene and Michael both suffered from asthma and arrived in Des Moines with puffy runny eyes and sneezing fits.

Family Legacy Lives On

One of the West Des Moines residents, Thressa, met a navy hero, Omar James. In 1958 they had a daughter Omega, the name signifying the last in the Greek alphabet. However, soon after Judy was born Minnie Lizzie Loved died at the age of 81, but her legacy lives on in her grandchildren, great-grandchildren and great-great grandchildren. Among them is a great grandson that graduated from Duke and Columbia Universities and is currently a lawyer. There is also a great granddaughter that is an artist. And a great-great granddaughter who won the 100 yard dash at the Drake Relays 2 years in a row.

Omar James – Thressa Lamar Story

Rodish Family

Rodish Family

by | Mar 5, 2025 | People

The Stories of the Joe Rodish & Ray Rodich Families of Valley Junction

The Stories of the Joe Rodish & Ray Rodich Families of Valley Junction

Life wasn't easy, but they struggled to learn the language and make their way in the hardscrabble railroad town of Valley Junction.

Between 1904-1911, farmers Jovo Radocaj and younger brother Rada Radocaj immigrated to America from the small village of Krcana in Lika, Croatia. Over the journey into America through Ellis Island, New York, in 1904, they shed their Serbian names and became known as Joe Rodish and Ray Rodich immigrating. Joe first settled in Chicago, boarding with other Serbs working in the steel mills. Census records later show them living in an immigrant neighborhood of South Chicago near the rail yards sometime after 1914. Joe and Mary, who came later to Chicago, had seven children: son (child buried in Chicago, Illinois area) Ely (died as a 12 yr old youth buried in Glendale Cemetery, Des Moines, IA); Pete, Andrew, Sam, John, and daughter, Mildred. At a young age, Joe passed away around 1920 and was buried in the Chicago area near the burial site of their young son.

Raising a Family in Valley Junction

After Joe’s death, Mary Rodish married Mike Dicklich and moved to Earlham, IA for work in the limestone rock quarry, the mines and cement plant. It was 1910 when Andrew (Andy) Rodish was born to Mary and Joe Rodish. As he grew up, Andy and other siblings worked to help support the growing family. Teen Andy shared his Earlham cement plant wage with the family. Mother Mary sewed the cloth cement bags at the plant. Mary and Mike Dicklich had three daughters: Helen (died in 1967), Amy, and Anna. Eventually the blended family left Earlham and settled in Valley Junction with other Serbian families doing similar work.

Andy married Mary Frances late 1930 and started a family: Brenda, John, Steve, Sharon, Daniel, Linda, Dennis and Dino. Naturally, Andy found maintenance work at the Des Moines Hawkeye and later at Marquette Cement Plant. They lived in several places in Valley Junction to include 10th and Railroad, 200s block of 7th street and 12th and Maple. Mary Frances was an astute homemaker who loved her community. She was President of Phenix School Mothers Club, and many other organizations.

Rooted in Values

The Rodishes loved spending time with friends and family enjoying dinners and card games. During one gathering, with friends June Ferrari and Bev Turks they discussed girls’ softball in Holiday Park. June’s husband, Frank Ferrari, was the Superintendent of Public Works in WDM, while Jack Kimball was the Superintendent of the Parks Department. In 1963, Mary Frances led efforts to create the Holiday Park Girls Softball Association, resulting in several fields being named in honor of the pioneers: Rodish, Turks, and Kimball.

Andy would often take the children to the airport to watch planes and to Commerce to watch the speeding Rock Island Rocket passenger train zoom in from Chicago. The family enjoyed going to the drive-in movies watching the movie in the back of their dump truck. The Rodishes were a happy family. The family valued hard work, honesty, helping others, and education. Andy volunteered as a little league coach.

The Rodish family values of hard work and community were evident in their adult children. Brenda was a homemaker and waitress. John worked in maintenance at Hawkeye Cement Plant. Sharon and Linda found work in the Meredith Printing plant. Steve joined the Navy, owned his own businesses, and served the community with Dennis as a volunteer firefighter. Steve also joined his brother Dan, Dennis, and Dino to work for the City of West Des Moines.

Dino, a dedicated businessman and proud resident of West Des Moines, embraced the opportunity to serve as Mayor from 1993 to 1998, embodying leadership and commitment to his community.

The Story of the Joe Rodish & Ray Rodich Families of Valley Junction