Murdoch Community Center

Historic Dunbar School
In 1927, Flagstaff opened Dunbar School, the city's first segregated school, named in honor of celebrated African-American poet Paul Laurence Dunbar. Before Dunbar was built, Black students were taught in a single designated room at Emerson School in downtown Flagstaff. For 25 years, Dunbar served as an educational and community anchor for Flagstaff's African-American population, until Flagstaff schools were desegregated in 1952 and Dunbar School was closed.
Today, the legacy of Dunbar lives on right here at Murdoch Community Center, in fact, the foundation stones of the original school still remain on site, and the City's Beautification and Public Art Commission recently approved a new interpretive plaque design to help tell this story to visitors, carefully crafted to preserve sightlines to both the stones and the community mural nearby.
Dunbar's history is deeply tied to Flagstaff's broader story of segregation and resilience including the legacy of alumnus Wilson C. Riles, who became a nationally recognized educator and later California's State Superintendent of Public Instruction.