Grant Elementary & Dunbar Junior High Schools
Mrs. S.E. Davis with her second grade class at Grant Elementary School (date unknown).
San Antonio Express, November 16, 1934, pg. 18.
In 1936, Abraham S. Grant Elementary School was located at the corner of Elmendorf Street and Delgado Street, and served African American students from San Antonio’s Westside neighborhoods. The school had several prior locations beginning in 1890, and was supported by St. James AME Church. In 1931, Grant Elementary (also known as “School Number 50”) was located at 601 North Las Moras Street, while Paul Lawrence Dunbar Junior School was located at 2210 West Poplar Street. Dunbar School was moved to the intersection of Elmendorf and Delgado streets in 1937.
Other “colored” public schools for African American students at this time included the Cuney School (corner of Iowa Street and Piedmont Street), Douglas Junior High (320 Nebraska Street, now Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive), South San Antonio Colored School (400 Hosack Avenue), Booker T. Washington School (corner of Nolan Street and Gevers Street), and Phyllis Wheatley School (corner of Harrison [now Gabriel] and Gevers Street).
A new building was erected in 1944, at Ruiz and Hamilton streets. African American students from these Westside schools had successful careers in government, education, and industry. Dunbar Junior High closed after the spring semester in 1969 under the district’s desegregation plan.
The Grant and Dunbar campuses were paired under an SAISD initiative in 1969, to become Grant-Dunbar Elementary. The school closed in 1972 and was largely demolished, except for a portion of Dunbar that was integrated into the new Washington Irving Junior High School, which opened in 1973.
Grant Elementary School 1960-1961 Yearbook cover.
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Photo Galleries
From the Archives
“History Here” Marker Dedication Ceremony (September 21, 2024)
Photos by Fred Gonzales, City of San Antonio Photographer
Reception at Frank Garrett Multi-Service Center (September 21, 2024)
Oral History Interviews
Coach Hensley Sapenter
Coach Sapenter
Coach Sapenter grew up in the Denver Heights neighborhood in San Antonio and attended Wheatley High School. He played college football at Prairie View A&M University in the late 1950s. Sapenter was a math teacher and track and field coach at Dunbar Junior High School in the 1960s.
Sapenter was hired as the athletic director for the San Antonio Independent School District in 1976. After retiring from that post in 1995, he was hired as interim head football coach and athletic director at Prairie View A&M University. Coach Sapenter was inducted into the Texas Black Sports Hall of Fame in 2003.
Click below to listen to the interview.
Mr. Leroy Gant
Mr. Leroy Gant is a former student at Grant Elementary School and Dunbar Junior High School. After graduation, Mr. Gant married his high school sweetheart and worked for the San Antonio Independent School District (SAISD). He eventually became a Custodian Supervisor for SAISD and then retired after 32 years of service. Interview conducted by Lelia Lockett in August 2024.