The history of the Dunbar neighborhood will be visible to all who visit its park.
The San Marcos City Council received a presentation on the creation of a Dunbar Neighborhood History Walk at a work session on Nov. 5.
City Manager Stephanie Reyes said conversations about the walk between residents of the Dunbar area and Destination Services Arts staff began in 2024. The art walk was envisioned as a way to recognize those that contributed to the vitality of the neighborhood, according to city documents.
Deborah E. Giles Webster named many notable people from the Dunbar area that could be honored with the exhibit.
“People like Reverend Alphonso Washington. He was not only a minister but a plumber. He was a great plumber. And Reverend James Houston — he was not only a pastor of Jackson Chapel, but he was also a barber with his own shop. Miss Katherine Hardeman — she was [the owner of ] one of our first daycares,” Webster said. “What about Mr. Sammie Hardeman who owned his own smokehouse, and he sold his own barbeque sauce. He wouldn’t give you the recipe. He would tell you how good it is. There were just so many that I want their names to be recognized.”
Visit San Marcos Creative and Marketing Manager Charlotte Wattigny said the walk would be a multi-year public art project with annual installations. Informational plaques would be installed along the looped sidewalk in Dunbar Park, and the imagery would be made by a Dunbar artist. Each plaque would have the accompanying information published on SMTXarts.com on the Dunbar Neighborhood History and Culture page. The city plans to have photos, and audio stories in addition to the details on that site.
City documents state there will be community outreach by posting on social media, hosting open houses to explain the project and distributing paper applications, hosting an online submission forum, engaging with key stakeholders and doing door-to-door distribution.
According to city documents, installation should occur between July and August of 2026 with a dedication ceremony in the fall.
