Don’t be fooled by the boarded up doors of Dunbar School on West Second Street. The walls represent proof of its progress.
The school, established in 1912, has seen many transformations. Buildings fell into disrepair; walls were full of holes and covered in graffiti. But if you walk through the Dunbar School hallways now, only glimpses of the past show through the new.
The school now consists of two buildings, the original school neighbored by a building that now houses a dance studio and barber school.
Over the past few years, the Dunbar Coalition has received funding from Pima County to renovate both buildings.
The first phase of renovating the additional building was completed two months ago. New amenities including restrooms, drinking fountains, an elevator lift and a janitor’s closet have been added.
About $1 million is needed to restore the classrooms that will later be used for a kindergarten through fifth-grade charter school, according to Cressworth Lander, president of the Dunbar Coalition.
“We are waiting for the next bond election for more funding,” said Lander. “But at least we’ve done a lot of renovations, so we are in pretty good shape.”
The historical building is also seeing improvements. Around $1.4 million has been spent on renovations, Lander said.
The exterior was repainted and new windows were installed. Inside, the hallways were redone and doors and bathrooms are being replaced.
The coalition plans to turn the building into an African-American museum, but another $1.2 million is needed for completion, according to Lander.
“It will showcase the Buffalo soldiers and early pioneers of the great Southwest,” Lander said. “It’s a little known part of history that a lot of early black pioneers settled in Tucson and we are trying to make that more known.”
The Dunbar School was Tucson’s first segregated school. It was named after the black poet Paul Lawrence Dunbar and was built in 1918.
In 1951, the Dunbar School was de-segregated and renamed itself the John Spring Junior High School. In 1978, it permanently closed.
Seventeen years later the Dunbar Coalition, Inc. bought the building from Tucson Unified School District in order to turn it into an African- American museum and cultural center.
