An artist depiction of the upcoming Chicano Park Museum and Cultural Center (above), showing how the museum will also serve as a public space for the community to enjoy various activities

Barrio Logan is a bastion of Chicano culture with much of its history preserved by Chicano Park’s murals. But soon stories, photos and artifacts of cultural importance will be available for the public to enjoy at a newly constructed Chicano Park Museum and Cultural Center.

The Chicano Park Museum and Cultural Center will be the first such facility in Barrio Logan, a community hungry to connect with its heritage.

Plans for the center, which is slated to be built next to the park, include educational courses to help Barrio Logan residents develop new skills and interests, and afterschool programming for K-12 students.

“Unless we write our own history, it will not be written or told,” said professor Alberto Pulido, vice chair of the CPMCC.

The center aims to teach Chicano history by providing an in depth look at similarities and differences between the many cultures that helped bring the United States together.

While many museums in the San Diego area provide knowledge of sciences and art, this will be the only multicultural center in Barrio Logan.

Priorities for the center lean more towards educational purposes such as archives, lectures and a multifunctional space to view art and historical education films. It will also have a shared communal workspace and rooms to rent like conference centers.

While it currently occupies a small office space in Via International, the museum hopes to occupy an 11,000 square foot space on National Avenue. The center will help inform visitors and locals alike about the legacy of Chicano Park, which was recently recognized as a national landmark.

“Chicano Park is the corazon of Barrio Logan,” said Chicano muralist Salvador Barajas.

Significant events in Chicano history, like the L.A. Moratorium or the origins of Chicano Park are unknown to many people. Josephine Talamantez, chair for the CPMCC said part of the problem is gentrification.

“The people who helped build Chicano Park had no other recourse,” Talamantez said, “The city had already decided to displace 75% of the population that was living there because it wanted to build Interstate 5.”

In the past, non-white people have been encouraged (sometimes through force) to conform to white culture and forget the history. The Chicano Park Museum and Cultural Center is another example that the face of the United States is rapidly changing.