Demolition of Fort Worth’s Southside Community Center began Oct. 7, clearing space for the planned 50,000-square-foot National Juneteenth Museum. The ceremony in the Historic Southside coincided with advocate Opal Lee’s 100th birthday.
Fort Worth officials joined state representatives and community leaders at the event. Programs previously held at the Southside center have moved to the Hazel Harvey Peace Center for Neighborhoods, located nearby at 818 Missouri Ave.
Lee has long worked to educate Americans about Juneteenth, which marks June 19, 1865, when freedom reached the remaining enslaved people in Texas. Before Juneteenth became a federal holiday in 2021, she operated a Fort Worth museum devoted to the occasion in a house she inherited. That museum closed in 2020.
Plans for the national museum were formally announced in December 2021, with an initial goal of opening in 2026. The available account cites fundraising and land hurdles but gives no revised opening date.
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