Public education efforts for African American students in Mexia began in 1883 with a school on Herman Street. After fire destroyed it, trustees selected this site for a two-story brick schoolhouse built in 1915. T.K. Price was principal at the time. The school was named for Paul Lawrence Dunbar (1872-1906), a noted African American author and poet from Ohio. The schoolhouse had ten large classrooms and an auditorium. In 1948, it was razed and replaced with a large one-story school that served until integration in 1968. Later used for other classes, the structure was eventually demolished, but the site remains an important reminder of early education in Mexia. (2005)