Eugene and Alma Chavarria have heard the claims more than once. 

While outside mowing the lawn or doing upkeep on his house in Denver Heights, passersby told Eugene they remember when civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr. visited the home at 230 Cactus St. and sat on his front porch. 

Believing those stories to be true, the couple, who have owned the house for 27 years, now want to turn the small home into a history museum and performing arts studio serving the neighborhood. 

“I want people to come and see Black history,” Alma Chavarria said. “I want them to see we not only have the Alamo, we’ve got MLK here. I believe this structure will be an enormous contribution to our community, not only for our children, for the parents [on the East Side].”

But in order to open a studio on the property, the Chavarrias need approval from the City of San Antonio to add “conditional use for performing arts studio” to their current “residential mixed historic landmark” zoning designation.

Their request is set to be heard by the Zoning Commission on Dec. 6. City staff have not yet determined whether to recommend approval or denial, said a spokeswoman.

“This is a remarkable gem in our city’s history and we are excited for the community to have an opportunity to weigh in on its future,” said District 2 Councilman Jalen McKee-Rodriguez.

Alma Chavarria and some other locals believe that Martin Luther King, Jr. once visited and perhaps sat in the front room of the house on 230 Cactus Street.
Alma Chavarria and some other locals believe that Martin Luther King, Jr. once visited and perhaps sat in the front room of the house on 230 Cactus Street. Credit: Bria Woods / San Antonio Report

The Spanish eclectic house built in 1917, and a second structure behind the home built in 1910, are situated at the corner of Cactus Street and Martin Luther King Drive in a neighborhood where many such homes have long since been demolished. 

Memories aside, no hard evidence has surfaced yet that the prominent civil rights leader ever visited the home or San Antonio. But it’s possible.

“I’ve come across several accounts of people saying Dr. King did visit San Antonio,” said Cristal Mendez, a historian at the San Antonio African American Community Archive and Museum. “I’m not sure if he ever spoke to a crowd or just came to speak to some of SA’s civic leaders.”

Even without confirmation of King’s presence in the home, it remains significant for its architectural character and its place in Black American history, according to city documents.

The 1912 City Directory lists Willie and Erastus Lee as the home’s first owners and occupants. They lived in the small wood-sided commercial structure on the east side of the property. 

The home was sold to Frank Abernathy in 1917. He and his wife, Josephine, turned the former Lee residence into a grocery store that became “an important community gathering space,” according to documents. 

The Abernathys’ store, which closed in 1967, also was a polling location in the 1930s and 1940s, according to newspaper articles from the era, stated the documents.

The structure on the right used to be owned by the cousin of Rev. Ralph Abernathy, a close companion to Martin Luther King, Jr.
The structure on the right used to be owned by the cousin of Rev. Ralph Abernathy, a close companion to Martin Luther King, Jr. Credit: Bria Woods / San Antonio Report

At the sidewalk curb in front of the house, Abernathy’s initials, F-M-A, are embedded into what was once a concrete carriage step, the only such step that remains along the block. 

A church deacon involved in local politics, Abernathy was reportedly a cousin to Rev. Ralph Abernathy, a close companion to King. 

Mendez said King was also a close friend of the Rev. Claude Black Jr., a well-known minister at the Mount Zion First Baptist Church from 1949 to 1998. The church was founded in 1871 by freed slaves in San Antonio. 

At the sidewalk curb in front of the house, Abernathy’s initials, F-M-A, are embedded into what was once a concrete carriage step, the only such step that remains along the block.
At the sidewalk curb in front of the house, Abernathy’s initials, F-M-A, are embedded into what was once a concrete carriage step, the only such step that remains along the block. Credit: Bria Woods / San Antonio Report

Black Jr. was active in the civil rights movement before serving two terms on City Council in the 1970s and laying the foundation for the annual MLK March in San Antonio.

Alma Chavarria, who grew up on the West Side, said her daughters are professional dancers who studied in Europe. She wants the children in her neighborhood to have the same opportunities and sees the former Abernathy store becoming the ideal studio space. 

“I’m passionate for the arts [and] for children to have a place to come, to have a place to be safe,” she said.

She said she’s dreamed of owning a historic home ever since, as a child, she watched reports on TV about residents losing their houses to make way for the development of the World’s Fair in 1968. 

Her vision is to turn the home she owns today on Cactus Street into a history museum, though she doesn’t own any artifacts yet and doesn’t have another place to live. 

“God will provide, as he always does,” she said.

Shari covers business and development for the San Antonio Report. A graduate of St. Mary’s University, she has worked in the corporate and nonprofit worlds in San Antonio and as a freelance writer for...