Will Las Vegas have two African American Museums?

When the city of Las Vegas announced several years ago plans for an African American museum in the Historic Westside, Gwen Walker cried for three weeks.

“When I heard this about the ‘world-class museum,’ I was in a state of shock for almost a month,” she said.

Walker owns and operated the Walker African American Museum and Research Center, the first African American history museum in Nevada, in the Historic Westside. She was forced to shutter the museum in 2017 after a series of structural issues at the house where the museum was housed and after her mother, who helped found the museum, was diagnosed with dementia. She hopes the closure is temporary.

Walker said then-councilmember for Ward 5 Cedric Crear never reached out to her about the city’s plans for a museum, which are still ongoing, despite multiple conversations with him about the city helping her reopen the Walker Museum.

Walker said the city should support her museum instead of building another as there’s no need for two in the same city.

“I’ve been here doing the work. My mother and I, we’ve been in our community,” said Walker. “Why not join with us and help make us world class?”

While her museum has been closed for some time, Walker said she won’t stop until it is back open, despite years of asking for assistance from the city, and its own plans for a museum that don’t include her.

Walker African American Museum and Research Center history

Walker, 68, has been collecting Black history memorabilia since she was 13. She continued that mission for over 50 years, opening the Walker African American Museum to preserve and promote the history of African Americans not just locally but nationally and internationally as well in 1991.

It was located in a 1,000-square-foot home, at 705 W. Van Buren Ave. showcasing artifacts and books, magazines and newspaper articles on notable Black individuals. She currently holds over 50,000 artifacts — which is still growing — dating back to the 1800s; everything from business cards from Black-owned businesses, flyers and newspaper articles to dolls, figurines and clothes.

“I mean, everyone that has held office, everyone who’s made a difference in our history here in Las Vegas, we have something on them,” Walker said.

“I probably have the largest collection of Black history memorabilia for Black people here in Nevada,” she added.

But, it’s all currently being held in her home in the Historic Westside. Walker had to close the museum due to multiple structural issues, including two floods, pipes bursting and the roof caving in, as well as multiple break-ins and her mother being diagnosed with dementia.

Walker has developed plans for a 10,000-square-foot museum at its former location and had KME Architects create blueprints and renderings, but she doesn’t have the money to build it. She said she needs to purchase the surrounding five parcels, two of which are owned by the city, the other three privately.

Walker said she has received assistance, from friends, community members and even students who have helped paint murals, but nothing from the city, despite years of asking for help. The earliest Walker recalls asking for help was the early ‘90s when she was trying to establish the museum, but things came to a head in the 2020s.

The City Council in July 2021 approved a $45,000 grant to go towards the Walker Museum, but the city attorney added a clause last minute that the money had to be repaid if Walker wished to sell the property within “five years of receiving the first installment.”

The clause, which Walker referred to as a lien, deterred her from accepting the grant, and she denied it out of fear of having to pay back the money.

City’s plans for a museum

Las Vegas’ proposed African American museum is part of the HUNDRED Plan, or Historic Urban Neighborhood Design Redevelopment Plan, with the intention of “community-led investment” in the Historic Westside.

According to the city, the original Hundred Plan started in around 2016 as a collaboration from UNLV Downtown Design Center, an architecture studio and extension of the School of Architecture, and Historic Westside community members. Through the conclusion of a stakeholder meeting, three concept plans were developed by the DDC.

The plan included revitalizing Jackson Street, establishing entertainment and restaurant venues, making streets safer for pedestrians, motorists and cyclists, bringing in more mixed-use developments, and of course, the museum.

“If you look at the Historic Westside, it is one of the most historic areas of the city. It helped build this entire city,” Crear told the Review-Journal in June 2022. “You’d be hard pressed outside of downtown, maybe the Strip and some other areas, to find a trade area that has played such a definitive role congruence of (the African American) community.”

The museum hoped to incorporate “standing and rotating collections” from “African American art and artists of all varieties,” according to the Hundred Plan’s website. At the time specific details were slim, but one of them includes connecting the Walker African American Museum and Research Center to a new facility, reported the Review-Journal in 2022.

Additionally, in the original Hundred Plan document published in 2018, Walker’s museum blueprints from KME Architects are on page 43, with plans to “design and construct the Walker African American Museum.”

Important to note, one of the members of the stakeholder group was a representative from KME Architects, the firm who created the 10,000 square-foot museum blueprints for Walker.

On Nov. 16, 2022, City Council approved a request for proposals for a master plan for an African American museum and research center from Gallagher & Associates, the firm behind the International Spy Museum, The National World War II Museum and the National Museum of African American Music.

Nearly a year later on Dec. 6, 2023, City Council received a formal report from them with plans for a $60 million to $90 million museum campus that would require over an acre of space. Still, no determination on the location.

But when the new Hundred Plan in Action was published in September 2024, there was no mention of Walker, her museum or a partnership.

“The first time it aired was like 6 a.m., my phone started ringing off the hook,” said Walker when a news segment aired about the project. “Everybody thought it was us that they were talking about. I said, ‘Well, no, I ain’t heard anything about it.’”

From a series of meetings and workshops, the Hundred Plan in Action was moved forward by the city late last year, Councilman Crear and the community, which identified specific needs and initiatives.

“The city is working with the community and stakeholders as we continue to explore a potential African American Museum,” the city said in a new statement to the Review-Journal. “The city has had multiple conversations with Mrs. Walker and we are hopeful that she will want to be part of these future plans.”

Plans moving forward

Crear left office at the end of 2024, with Shondra Summers-Armstrong now in the Ward 5 seat. According to Walker, Summers-Armstrong reached out to her at the start of her term asking her about her needs to go forward, and they recently connected during the Love on Jackson event on Feb. 22.

With no specific date set, Walker has plans to open her museum within the next four to six months.

“We’re still continuing to do the work that God assigned me to do,” said Walker. “So, we’re going to reopen this year. We can’t pinpoint it because we got to replace the AC, and we’ve got to do some things in there.”

As for the city, plans are still moving forward with its own museum. There is still no location determined, but they are planning a “case study” exhibit which will be curated by Claytee White and Carmen Beals and be held in February 2026 at the new gallery at Civic Plaza across from City Hall.

Contact Emerson Drewes at edrewes@reviewjournal.com. Follow @EmersonDrewes on X.