This is America in Pursuit, a limited run series from ThruLine and NPR.

I'm Randad de Fet d'A.

Each week, we bring you stories about life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness in the U.S.

that began 250 years ago.

Last week, we talked about the expansion of the United States into a newfound

global power. But even as the country was expanding its borders around the world to include

places as far away as the Philippines in the late 19th century, it was also limiting what was and

wasn't part of the United States by creating boundaries and borders,

especially along the border between the U.S. and Mexico.

We need to be really clear about marking this space.

And that leads a lot of government officials along the border to say, we need a fence.

Today on the show, through line producers Anya Seinberg and Christina Kim

take us to the border city of Amos Nogales

to tell us the story of one of the first walls on the U.S. southern border.

That story, after a quick break.

Thank you. We're at a saloon in southern Arizona, known as the exchange.

There's men sitting around, drinking and gabbing, just like any old-timey Western saloon.

The saloon is in a town called Amos Nogales.

Well, actually, it's two towns.

Nogales, Arizona, and Nogales Mexico.

That's why it's called Amos Nogales.

It means both Nogales. And That's why it's called Ambos Nogales. It means both Nogales.

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