DARLINGTON, Wis. — The Spanish language is frequently heard in the hallways of schools and in the aisles of stores in Darlington.
Along city streets are Spanish business signs. Hispanic cultural events bring energy to the historic Driver Opera House, as well as to the downtown festival grounds along the Pecatonica River.
The Lafayette County community has undergone a demographic transformation since the turn of the millennium.
A Hispanic population that in 2000 consisted of about two dozen people has grown to make up about a quarter of Darlington’s population.
“When me and my family moved here (about 20 years ago), we were one of the only Hispanic families,” said Brenda Mendez, a 2017 Darlington High School graduate who now teaches Spanish in the district. “Our community has grown tremendously. I can see it in school compared to when I was school. I was one of the only Hispanic students in the district, and now Hispanic students make up a significant part of our student population.”
With that growth came new businesses along Main Street, new cultural events to bring the community together and new students in the local school district.
“Beyond the numbers, I’ve seen the growth reflected in a lot of opportunities … and stability for our families, too,” Mendez said.
As rural areas nationwide deal with aging and decreasing populations, local leaders say immigration has helped improve many facets of life in Darlington and keeps the community vibrant, charting a sustainable future for rural America.
“A lot of rural communities are facing a decline and workforce shortage, but having this great influx of Hispanic families has helped strengthen our population base,” said Lafayette County Economic Development and Tourism Director Allison Taylor. “I think, in general, their presence is making our community resilient.”
A fast-growing community
The percentage of Darlington’s population that is Hispanic is higher than any other area community.
The share of Darlington residents identifying as Hispanic or Latino rose from 1.1% in the 2000 U.S. decennial census to 12.1% in the 2010 census and 23.7% in the 2020 census.
Nearby Wisconsin communities such as Shullsburg, Platteville and Mineral Point have also seen growing numbers of Hispanic or Latino residents since 2000. Of these, Shullsburg has seen the most growth, with 7.5% of the population in 2020 identifying as Hispanic or Latino.
In neighboring states, Dubuque is 3.7% Hispanic or Latino, according to the 2020 census, while Galena, Ill., is 10.5% Hispanic or Latino.
Hispanic immigrants were generally attracted to the Darlington area because of the abundance of work in local factories and the dairy industry.
“Many families arrived seeking job opportunities and found stability thanks to the available employment in the region,” Norma Rivera, leader of local Hispanic cultural advocacy group Somos Darlington, said in a written statement translated from Spanish to English. “The presence of factories, farms and local businesses has allowed many people to settle down and build a better future for their children.”
As the community started growing, many Hispanic residents in Darlington brought in family members.
“My brother-in-law lived here, and we came to visit, and we just fell in love with Darlington,” said Karina Alejandra “Ale” Corona, a local business owner. “It’s green and so nice and quiet, and we decided to go back and get ready to move here.”
Corona, a native of Mexico, and her husband, Aurelio Isidro, a native of Guatemala, moved to Darlington from California about eight years ago. Isidro said the high cost of living in California also drove him and his wife to Darlington.
“(My brother) came here for the same reason — for money, a cheaper house,” Isidro said.
There has even been a demographic change within the Hispanic community in recent years.
“When I first moved here, it was predominantly Mexican,” Mendez said. “In the past five years, there’ve been more Guatemalan, Nicaraguan, Honduran, Salvadoran (immigrants) … and a couple from Colombia and Venezuela.”
A strong, vibrant downtown
Darlington is home to a variety of Hispanic-owned storefronts.
“There’s quite a few of us with businesses,” Corona said.
Since moving to Darlington, Corona and Isidro have opened two Main Street businesses.
Mi Casita, the restaurant the couple opened in 2021 at 232 Main St., serves up Mexican dishes such as quesabirrias and street tacos, along with American dishes such as hamburgers. It is a frequent hangout for the Hispanic community.
Prior to this, Corona sold Mexican dishes and beverages, such as atole, out of her home.
“We just needed a place, and we saw an opportunity to buy (the restaurant),” she said. “I think the challenge, just speaking for us, at the beginning was to get our people to come here. This place has always been an American cafe or restaurant, so the only challenge was to get people to know it’s us here.”
Like with any business, Corona said there are good days and bad days. But in general, she is committed to her operations.
“We recently bought a bar — Tequila Barra — so now we own a restaurant and bar in town,” she said. “Our focus is the restaurant and the bar. We’re not going anywhere else.”
Around the corner from Mi Casita, at 125 W. Ann St., is Raspados El Diablito Loco Antojeros, specializing in Mexican shaved ice. On either side of Tequila Barra in the 400 block of Main Street are restaurant La Mexicana and Veracruz II Mexican Market, a small grocery store selling mostly Latin American products.
“I’ve got products from all over, like Honduras, Nicaragua, Mexico,” said grocery store owner Marcelino Lobato.
Lobato, a Mexican immigrant, said most of his customers are Hispanic, but he gets some White Americans in the store, too, looking for beans and rice or their fix of snacks such as chicharrones — fried pork rinds.
“I think (my store) is important for everybody,” Lobato said. “I think the Hispanic community makes the economy stronger for everybody — businesses, employers, farmers.”
‘Somos Darlington’: Cultural events growing
For several years, on a May weekend close to Cinco de Mayo, downtown Darlington has celebrated a full day of Hispanic culture, “Fiesta Latina”. On May 9 this year, hundreds flocked to the downtown festival grounds to participate in children’s activities, take part in song and dance, and shop local vendors. Soccer tournaments also marked the celebration, which lasted practically from sunrise to nightfall.
Last fall, Driver Opera House hosted a Latin American music event, in which local students sang traditional songs.
“(These events) are great for both the economy and the community because they’re bringing people out,” Taylor said. “By bringing people into Darlington for these events, they’re not only spending money at these events, they’re also going to local restaurants and businesses. … It also showcases the diversity and culture that make Darlington so special. It’s great to bring people together.”
Fiesta Latina was made possible this year by Somos Darlington, Spanish for “We Are Darlington,” a group that recently acquired nonprofit status.
“It’s been very rewarding to collaborate on this event, as it allows people to learn more about our traditions, food, music and the pride we take in our heritage,” said Rivera, the group’s president.
Among the group’s members are Mendez and her co-worker Kalee Crist, an English as a second language teacher at Darlington Community School District. Fiesta Latina is not just a day of fun, but a celebration of local diversity, Mendez said.
“No matter what’s going on, the changes going on in the world, it is the one day we all come together — through food, through music,” Mendez said.
The next step for Somos Darlington is to host a festival during Hispanic Heritage Month, which is marked from Sept. 15 to Oct. 15. The details, and whether it can be organized in time for this fall, are still to be determined.
Changes for the school, city
Having such a large Spanish-speaking population has necessitated changes to some services in Darlington. The city website has a Spanish language version, while the Darlington Police Department hired a bilingual Hispanic liaison officer.
This change, perhaps, is most apparent in the school district.
“In 2013, in the Darlington school district, there was just one ESL teacher in the district. Then, they opened another position and I applied for it,” Crist said. “Now, we have five full-time ESL teachers, and then we have an assistant in each (of the four wings), so it’s grown a lot. We also hired a bilingual office assistant. … She is incredible because when she is gone, I sometimes think, ‘How did we do this without her?’ She’s making all our bilingual phone calls and communicating with parents all day long.”
A 2012 graduate of Darlington High School, Crist, like Mendez, has witnessed the demographic shift.
“When I graduated from high school, there were only a couple Spanish-speaking students and they spoke English,” said Crist, an aunt of four children in the district. “Now my nieces and nephews get to hear Spanish every day. They hear their friends speak Spanish with their parents every day. … I think that’s a beautiful change that’s happened in our community — they’re exposed to so much more than I was at their age. If you want to learn a second language and have the motivation, there’s a lot of opportunities in Darlington to learn a second language — specifically Spanish.”
In addition to adding English as a second language teachers to accommodate native Spanish speakers who do not yet speak English fluently, the district has adjusted its Spanish classes.
Darlington Middle School students have long been able to take a class called Exploratory Spanish. Recently, a class called Heritage Spanish was added.
“They kind of pulled our Spanish speaking kiddos out so they can focus on really growing their writing, reading and speaking skills in Spanish,” said Mendez, who teaches both classes.
There is a similar Heritage Spanish class at the high school level, while other Spanish-speaking students often skip Spanish 1 and Spanish 2.
“We have kiddos with a good basis of Spanish but want to improve their grammar, so we push them to Spanish 3 or 4,” Mendez said. “We are so unique to be able to create all these classes to best support our students.”
Immigration a path to sustainability for rural America
Like the British, Scandinavian, German, Irish and Slavic immigrants who came before them, Hispanic immigrants are breathing new life into rural Midwestern communities and helping reverse ongoing issues such as population loss.
“(The Hispanic community’s) hard work and dedication is what helped shape Darlington into the community we have today,” Mendez said.
The hundreds of Hispanic families in Darlington have helped the city maintain a healthy downtown and school district.
Taylor has seen both residents and visitors appreciate the variety of storefronts downtown.
“I think that the Hispanic-owned businesses have kind of brought a new energy … to downtown,” she said. “They’re creating storefronts; they’re creating jobs; they’re expanding our variety of shopping and dining options. … They keep downtown active and making it more of a destination.”
This energy is what inspired Francis Henn to move to Darlington. A fellow with Economic Recovery Corps, a federal initiative designed to accelerate COVID-19 pandemic economic recovery nationwide, Henn came to southwest Wisconsin a few years ago to focus specifically on immigrant community development.
He first landed in Mineral Point but eventually felt Darlington was the place to be.
“Part of the reason I moved to Darlington from Mineral Point is because I felt Darlington had more vibrancy related to the Hispanic community,” Henn said. “There’s just kind of a fun energy.”
While delving into “all aspects of life,” such as by hosting rotating immigration legal clinics in the region, Henn said the bulk of his work is aiding burgeoning entrepreneurs. If someone has a side hustle — like Corona once did — he helps them turn it into a registered business.
Henn said immigrants contribute more than just raw population numbers. Most arrivals are young enough to contribute decades in the local workforce or start new businesses.
“Immigration for a lot of rural Midwest areas is a huge factor in what can keep a town healthy, population-wise,” he said. “For the most part, when people come to a new country, they come at a working age or an age where they want to start a family.”
As families in rural America tend to get smaller, immigrant families can help school districts reverse declining enrollment. Schools in Wisconsin receive funding on a per-pupil basis, meaning enrollment has an impact on the services a school can afford to provide.
“When population declines in small towns, one thing at risk is the schools,” Henn said. “People take pride in their schools and don’t necessarily want to merge with (another district) far away. I think (Darlington) is one of the only schools in my area that’s growing, and I think the immigrant population has a hand in that.”
Darlington Community School District’s fall 2025 enrollment was 915 students, compared to 875 in fall 2020 and 801 in fall 2015, according to state data.
Henn credits Darlington with adapting to its immigrant population, such as by adding several ESL positions in the school district. He said the community’s attitude has allowed it to avoid growing pains and benefit everyone.
“It’d be awesome to see more institutions think like that,” Henn said. “I hope as time goes on, communities like Darlington stay forward-thinking.”
