La Yarda was a housing unit built for Mexican American railroad workers in Lawrence, Kansas from 1920-51. It was located just east of 8th and Delaware Streets near the newest segment of the Lawrence Loop, which runs from the Santa Fe Depot to the intersection of 8th and Delaware. Foundations of the buildings are still visible but the community was lost in the Flood of 1951.

Finding La Yarda, which honors the La Yarda Housing Community​, is a multimedia art experience at the Lawrence Arts Center that combines architecture, ceramics, videography, and photography to create an interactive scene from the La Yarda complex. The exhibit will be open through September 21st.

Visitors to the Arts Center will find a re-creation of the courtyard of La Yarda’s U-shaped brick apartment buildings, complete with sights and sounds of the community — flowers; the clacking of trains; an old well; and a walnut tree, underneath which the community gathered for meals and children played. Some of those children are still alive today and shared their memories with the artists during the creation of the exhibit. From the courtyard, visitors can walk up to the porch and into the apartment building itself. Inside, the artists re-created a room that contains both sleeping quarters and a kitchen space. The exhibit brings oral history to life by taking audiences on a cultural journey through time and place.

While the exhibit is at the Arts Center, several blocks away from the original site, an extension of the exhibit is nearby along the fence line of the recently finished segment of the Lawrence Loop. Large portraits of the still-living former residents of La Yarda are displayed. In 2025 these portraits will be replaced by a permanent art project, being created by local artist Javy Ortiz.

Watch the La Yarda documentary to learn more about the community and it’s descendants.