Dunbar Historic District
This locally designated historic district takes its name from the Dunbar School, named after renowned African American author Paul Laurence Dunbar. It was the first public school for African American children in San Marcos, providing segregated education from 1877 until the schools were integrated in the 1960s. The seven-acre area where the school once stood is now a city park (801 Martin Luther King Dr.) located a few blocks west of the district. Community leaders and influential citizens resided in the neighborhood. The restored Cephas House (213 Martin Luther King Dr.) was home to Ulysses Cephas, an African American blacksmith who lived there during the first half of the 20th century. An adjacent lot was recently converted into the small Eddie Durham Park, named after a prominent jazz musician born in San Marcos in 1906.