SAN ANTONIO – A special project is underway at the corner of Guadalupe and South Colorado — a museum that will hold some of the community’s history.

“We are going to focus on the history, on the people who have made San Antonio, San Antonio. The Mexican American of this city who toiled, have worked really hard, have been subjugated to discrimination and redlining, but still with all that, we have survived and we have thrived,” said Graciela Sanchez, executive director of the Esperanza Peace and Justice Center.

The Esperanza Peace and Justice Center, which has been around for almost 37 years, is behind the Museo Del West Side.

The museum will hold photos and items featuring families and individuals who made a big impact in this community.

“That history is going to include the cutlure, the music, the sounds, the smells, what is was 100 years ago. Up to the 1960s where we were also organizing. El movimiento. The chicano movement,” Sanchez said.

Sanchez said this is all possible becuase of community donations, the city and another organization.

“As we got the schematics, the architecural designs, we were able to go to the City of San Antonio, the tax increment refinance zone. We are part of the west side turz. We have gotten money from them and then the Mellon Foundation in New York City,” Sanchez said.

The museum will be open to the public at no cost and is expected to open in May of 2024.

“We are surrounded by an elementary school that’s just across the street by a junior high school that’s three blocks away, by a high school that is four blocks away. They don’t know the history of this neighborhood. If it’s not going to be in the curriculum, then we are going to be part of that curriculum, and they can learn it Monday through Sunday,” Sanchez said.