New ‘Heirlooms: Eastside Pride’ mural on Nolan Street spotlights San Antonio’s Black Civil Rights legacy

A public artwork installed under a downtown-adjacent underpass

A newly completed public mural on San Antonio’s East Side is drawing attention to the area’s historic role in the Civil Rights era and to the community identity that emerged in the 1960s and 1970s. The work, titled Heirlooms: Eastside Pride, was installed along the Nolan Street underpass between Cherry and Chestnut streets.

City materials describe the mural as spanning more than 600 feet, while separate reporting has described the painted corridor as extending roughly 300 feet along retaining walls at the site. The artwork is designed as a collage of period imagery and visual motifs tied to Black cultural life and activism, using references that range from fashion and music styles to street names and neighborhood landmarks that carry local historical weight.

Artist and project partners

The mural was created by San Antonio artist Kaldric Dow. For Dow, the installation represents a first large-scale mural project, following a body of portrait-focused work that has explored Black identity, heritage, and contemporary experiences in other formats and venues.

The City’s Department of Arts & Culture partnered with City Council District 2 on the project. Funding support was provided through the Inner City Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone, a tool local governments use to channel a portion of increased property tax revenue from a designated area into improvements within that zone.

What viewers will see: collages, iconography, and local references

Heirlooms: Eastside Pride is composed as a series of scenes and layered images intended to be read both as individual moments and as a continuous panorama. Reported elements include dozens of distinct vignettes that echo the visual language of the late Civil Rights period, including community gatherings, family imagery, and symbolism associated with social organizing and Black pride.

• Collaged images inspired by the 1960s and 1970s, including fashion and cultural cues associated with Black identity and pride.
• Local East Side “pillars” highlighted within the composition, including the Rev. R.A. Callies and Myra Hemmings.
• Design motifs that incorporate historically significant street names and a flowing pattern referencing the San Antonio River as a longstanding geographic divide.

Public art and neighborhood visibility

The Nolan Street underpass sits on a heavily traveled corridor where large-scale public art can function as both a gateway and a shared civic landmark. The mural also joins other public artworks in the immediate area, expanding a cluster of visible installations along the same stretch of roadway.

Project organizers described the mural as a tribute to East Side history and to the resilience and cultural self-expression that shaped the community during the Civil Rights era.

The mural’s completion and early public events around it arrive as San Antonio continues to add new public-facing cultural installations, with District 2 frequently positioning art projects as part of broader efforts to preserve neighborhood history in highly visible spaces.