Honorable John Mendoza, Eight Judicial District Court judge for Las Vegas, Nevada: photographic print

As a result of the Mexican Revolution, many fled north to avoid the chaos. Some were able to find work with the railroad. Moving from job to job with the railroads, they began to settle and form colonias wherever the railroad stopped. Las Vegas is where one former Mexican soldier turned railroad worker named Augustine Mendzoa chose to settle. The Mendozas are one of the earliest Hispanic families to have settled in the Vegas Valley. The Honorable John Mendoza, Judge of the Eighth Judicial District Court, pictured here, is one of a handful of Hispanics who today can truthfully call themselves native Las Vegans.