A St. Louis architecture firm is helping bring the long-planned National Juneteenth Museum closer to reality as the project moves toward a groundbreaking in Texas scheduled for Oct. 7, 2026 — the 100th birthday of activist and educator Opal Lee.
Fort Worth officials’ acquisition of the final parcels needed for the site and approval of plans to relocate a community center occupying part of the property have helped advance the project after years of fundraising, planning and delays.
The $63 million museum is planned for Fort Worth’s Historic Southside neighborhood and will serve as a national center for exhibitions, education and public programming focused on the history and legacy of Juneteenth.
The museum is closely associated with Lee, whose yearslong campaign helped make Juneteenth a federal holiday in 2021 when President Joe Biden signed legislation establishing the observance nationwide. She has long advocated for a national institution dedicated to preserving and teaching the history of Juneteenth.
Before plans for the national museum took shape, Lee operated a smaller Juneteenth museum in Fort Worth for nearly two decades.
“Seeing the national museum moving forward is a dream fulfilled,” Lee told Architect magazine.
Museum CEO Jarred Howard said the institution is intended to help tell the story of Juneteenth to a broader audience.
“The reality is, we think America needs to know what Juneteenth is,” Howard said in a recent interview with Atlanta public radio station WABE.
Juneteenth commemorates June 19, 1865, when Union troops arrived in Galveston, Texas, and informed enslaved people they were free more than two years after President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation.
The museum is intended to provide a permanent home for that history while serving as a community anchor in the neighborhood where it is being built.
Plans call for a 50,000-square-foot facility featuring exhibition galleries, a theater, a food hall, a business incubator that will support entrepreneurs and community gathering spaces. Museum leaders say the facility is intended to be more than a traditional museum, with space designed for educational programs, community events and neighborhood activity.
That mission is closely tied to Fort Worth’s Historic Southside, a historically Black neighborhood that was once a center of Black culture and commerce. Community leaders say the area experienced decades of disinvestment after construction of Interstate 35W divided the neighborhood.
St. Louis-based KAI Enterprises is serving as executive architect for the project alongside the Bjarke Ingels Group, known as BIG. In that role, KAI is overseeing coordination among designers and consultants and helping guide the project through final design work and preparation for construction.
KAI’s involvement predates the museum itself. The firm became involved through broader revitalization efforts in the Historic Southside and participated in some of the initial discussions surrounding formation of the National Juneteenth Museum Foundation before being selected through a competitive process.
Darren James, president of KAI Enterprises, said the firm’s “passion for engaging the local community” and experience working in similar neighborhoods helped position it for the project.
The project is also notable for the role Black-owned firms are playing in its design and construction. According to Shoppe Black, KAI is among several Black-owned companies serving in leadership roles on the project team.
James told Architect magazine he was “honored to contribute to this significant and important part of U.S. history.”
The museum is expected to be KAI’s most internationally recognized museum project to date. The firm previously worked on projects including the Saint Louis Art Museum expansion and the Museum of Westward Expansion at Gateway Arch National Park.
KAI said final construction plans are about 90% complete and are expected to be finished later this summer.
Organizers unveiled plans for the museum in 2022 and initially hoped to begin construction much sooner. Fundraising challenges, site issues and property negotiations contributed to delays.
With land acquisition complete, final construction plans nearing completion and a groundbreaking date now on the calendar, the museum is closer to construction than at any point since it was first announced.