SAN ANTONIO — San Antonio's Mexican American heritage can be spotted in small structures and casitas that line the near west side, from neighborhood mercados to a visitor center opened last fall by the Mexican American Civil Rights Institute, or MACRI.
On Friday, the five-year-old organization revealed it's one step closer to breaking ground on its dream of a full-fledged museum dedicated to telling the national story of Mexican American civil rights, and the role the Alamo City has played in that story. MACRI first revealed its plans last October, at a ribbon-cutting ceremony for its visitor center.
Five locations are being considered along a roughly two-mile stretch from the historic west side to the downtown area along San Pedro Creek, following the completion of a site feasibility study conducted by the local architectural firm Ford, Powell & Carson over a period of 10 months.
The firm and MACRI are taking things like walkability, visibility and traffic impact into account. But historical context was the biggest factor for the team and the community stakeholders they talked with.
“The biggest element that we found was it needed to be in a place that has roots in Mexican American civil rights history on some level," said Nathan Perez, a principal architect at Ford, Powell & Carson. "I think we all had a consensus that that was very, very important.”
That objective narrowed the team's focus to between the corners of Navidad/Buena Vista and West Commerce/North Laredo. This area in turn was divided into five sections – Village, Gateway, Institutional, Cultural and Creekside – each with their own historical components and advantages.
Based on early site renderings provided by Ford, Powell & Carson, the Institutional location at West Commerce and North Leona could feature the biggest exhibition space at nearly 26,000 square feet. Two of the five possible sites tease a theater component, and all but one would have commercial space.
"We're excited about each of these sites and the potential they each represent," said Sarah Gould, executive director at MACRI, adding she believes the museum could boost tourism as well as educate. "It's a really exciting time in MACRI's history."
Ford, Powell & Carson graded the locations for 10 criteria on a 1-to-4 scale, from walkability and parking availability to land value and proximity to the existing MACRI Visitor Center. Based solely on that, the frontrunner may be the more central Creekside location, which scored 4s on everything but public parking access (1), potential for future growth (2) and proximity to MACRI (1).
PHOTOS: Sites under consideration for Mexican American civil rights museum in San Antonio.
Creekside tallied 98 cumulative points, followed up by the Cultural location with 95. MACRI documents show it would be close to significant locations like the old La Clede Hotel, the Spanish Governor's Palace and a six-block area "containing the largest concentration of Mexican American-operated businesses in the city."
Gould says the next phase involves continued dialogue with residents and stakeholders before selecting a final museum location. Her hope, she adds, is that that's done in the next six months. Then fundraising efforts and a design process would kick off.
She estimates about $10 million to $15 million will be needed to bring the project to fruition, but couldn't say how much has been set aside yet. Since its inception in 2019, MACRI has relied on county and city funding, as well as grants and foundation contributions.
“We’re gonna work as fast as we can," Gould said on Friday.
Sharing unshared history
The impetus behind the museum, local leaders say, is building a "state of the art" facility to educate visitors about the Mexican American history not often taught in schools.
Congressman Joaquin Castro, saying the museum would be a "lighthouse" to shine a light on Mexican American corners of history, recounted honoring a teacher who told him that Latino civil rights figures aren't part of the curriculum. A Texas House bill introduced in the 2023 Texas Legislature sought to require school districts to add Mexican American and African American studies courses as options for students to satisfy a social studies requirement, but it never left committee.
“That importance can’t be understated, can’t be overstated," Castro said on Friday of spotlighting Mexican American history. "If people don’t understand your contributions, then they only see your deficits.”
Meanwhile, County Commissioner Rebeca Clay-Flores, who identifies as Black and Mexican, noted the timeliness of Friday's update to Diez y Seis de Septiembre, or Mexican Independence Day. And San Antonio's first lady, Erika Prosper, who sits on MACRI's National Advisory Council, likened San Antonio's civil rights and political history to that of a risk-taking community.
"What we’re doing here is risky only because we’ve not been allowed to be openly proud of our contributions, just our heritage," she said. "When we look at MACRI and what it’s going to represent, we’re looking at people around the country who know this is a right step in a direction that’s going to set the stage not just for Mexican American children, but children who are starting to identify as multicultural with some Latino aspect.”