Dunbar Magnet Middle School was built in 1929. The school was originally named Paul Laurence Dunbar High School and Junior College and was completed with support from the Rosenwald Fund. For almost 30 years, the school provided education for Black students in a segregated system and was one of only two industrial arts schools in the South to receive a junior college rating. In 1955, the school became a junior high school after the completion of Horace Mann High School, and in 1990 it was converted to a magnet school with a focus on international studies. The school was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1980 and serves as the heart of community engagement and community pride for the Dunbar Historic Neighborhood.

Much of the Dunbar Middle School today is original to the 1929 design; however, in previous decades, the original wood windows that adorned the facade were replaced with metal windows and acrylic panels. And while the change was done in an effort to reduce long-term maintenance for the school, the replacement windows diminished the prominence of the school’s historic façade and were a detriment to the learning environment inside.

Thanks to a bond passed in 2021, the Little Rock School District was able to begin the process of replacing the school’s windows with new wood windows that replicate the original historic ones that had been previously removed. Through historic photographs, the design team was able to accurately recreate over 100 windows throughout the entire school, matching frame and muntin profiles, as well as the muntin arrangements for the different types of windows, while also making sure the windows are energy efficient.

The new windows have transformed the school inside and out. The exterior reflects the growing excitement in the Historic Dunbar Neighborhood and the interior provides a new learning environment for students, full of light and the ability to see the community that surrounds them.