Alumni Envision Blackwell School as Community Center

Old Adobe Could Become Museum and Park

The wonderful old adobe structure at the corner of Waco Street and Abbot Street may have a future beyond the Marfa Independent School District's junkyard. The Blackwell School has been inactive for over 40 years, since the end of segregation in Marfa's public schools. What remains today is a handsome white-stuccoed adobe on a half city block. If you've ever walked from the center of town to Chinati, undoubtedly you've noticed this diamond-in-the-rough. If a dedicated group of Blackwell's alums has its way, this wonderful potential will be realized through the development of a museum, public meeting room, and most notably, a public park.

Link to an aerial photo/ map here.
Sterry Butcher has written a nice article for the Sentinel here.

"A group of Blackwell School alumni wants to re-open their alma mater as a museum, community classroom and park. There’s not much more than cobwebs, ghosts and heaps of dusty junk at Blackwell these days. From 1889 until it closed in 1965, Blackwell was the segregated school for Marfa’s Hispanic children. Hundreds of Marfans went there for their kindergarten through eighth grade years... Some of Blackwell’s buildings were torn down for the construction of the Marfa Housing Authority, and those that remain have become storage buildings for the Marfa ISD. Joe Cabezuela, Blackwell graduate from 1960, would like to revive the spirit of the place. “We want to see if we can have it and refurbish it,” he explained this week... Representatives from the Blackwell exes group made a brief appearance at a recent school board meeting to broach their ideas. They’ll have a more in-depth conversation with district trustees at a September meeting. They’d like to own the property outright, but barring that possibility, the group would like to work out some kind of use arrangement with the district...." full article

There is a discussion thread here.