Fresno County mural featuring Latino leaders is being demolished. Here’s what’s replacing it

A mural that has long been an emblem of the Firebaugh community is being demolished to make way for a first-of-its-kind community college center that promises to bolster the region’s economy and higher education options.

The decades-old mural, called “Los Americanos,” celebrates Latino culture and has long served as a landmark in the western Fresno County city. Now, some residents say it’s being torn down to make way for a new era of growth for the small, farmworker community. The new college center is a major development that is expected to bring much-needed educational opportunities to a community that is predominantly low-income and under-resourced.

It’s “sad” that the mural, which is “very symbolic” of the rural city’s Latino community, is being demolished, said Firebaugh native Alfred Valdez, 18. But, he said, it will “make way for something far greater for the future.”

“I see the new building as a glimmer of innovation,” he said. “And I think it’s going to introduce some more students to apply and go to college.”

The colorful mural adorns a wall of the West Hills Community College’s North District campus in Firebaugh, which opened in 1998 and currently operates out of a 50-year-old remodeled bowling alley. The small building is now being gutted to make way for the $40 million college center, which will be twice the size of the existing facility.

The 40,000-square-foot building has been in the works since 2008, when voters overwhelmingly passed a local $11.8 million bond measure to support its development. Located at 1511 9th St., the new center will be the community’s first two-story building with an elevator. It will hold classrooms, laboratories, offices, a community center and a new Fresno County library.

“This new building is going to be absolutely fabulous,” said Dr. Kristin Clark, who is chancellor of the West Hills Community College District. “It’s going to be a hub for Firebaugh and a great economic boost for the community.”

“The community has been waiting a long time for this,” she added.

Firebaugh mural celebrates Latino icons

While the new college building represents Firebaugh’s future, the “Los Americanos” mural celebrates its past.

In 2001, art teacher José Jesús Elías, artists Martha and Fabiola Reyes and more than a dozen students from Fresno County’s Year Round Youth Program set out to paint the mural. For more than two months, they worked during the stifling summer heat to create artwork that celebrates Latino culture.

“It’s not only my painting, it also belongs to my students,” Elías said. “They were so proud to participate.”

The 9-foot-tall mural stretches 20 feet along the wall of a classroom and depicts the face of civil rights leader Cesar Chavez surrounded by other prominent activists including Dolores Huerta and Martin Luther King Jr. Many Latin American icons like artist Frida Kahlo, actor Edward James Olmos and Mexican revolutionary Pancho Villa are also featured.

Elías is an immigrant from Guanajuato, Mexico, who came to the U.S. as a teenager in 1988. He had been painting since he was 10 years old and had always dreamed of becoming an artist. Those dreams became a reality after “Los Americanos” was completed, which also inspired him to become an art teacher.

He said the mural is especially important to him because it helped launch his career as an artist. Elías has since painted more than two dozen murals across the Valley including in Mendota, Fresno and other areas, he said.

“‘Los Americanos’ was my first,” he said. “It’s really important to me. A mural is not just an image — it’s part of our history, especially when you see leaders that come from our community.”

Elías is disappointed that the mural is being demolished, though he acknowledges there is little that can be done to salvage the artwork.

“I don’t like it, but there isn’t an option to keep the mural as it is,” he said.

College provides education, opportunities in west Fresno County

Though the district considered the idea of preserving the mural, efforts to salvage it would be costly and delay the opening of the new center. That’s because it would require a new set of permits and approval from various agencies, including the Division of the State Architect, which provides design and construction oversight for state-funded schools in California.

Clark, of the West Hills Community College District, said the structure of the existing building also posed challenges. The mural is painted on a brick building, which could fall apart or get damaged in the removal process.

Still, she said it’s important to memorialize the mural and its significance to the community. In response, district officials are instead planning on creating a large-scale art installation of the mural with high-resolution pictures that will be displayed across a series of panels in one of the building’s main corridors. She hopes it will help the community come to terms with the demolition.

“The artwork is absolutely beautiful and we love it and we want to preserve it as best as we possibly can,” she said. “The wall where we’re planning to hang this is in the main area. It will be prominent.”

Valdez, the Firebaugh teenager, is a first year student who is studying business at West Hills’ North District campus. While he said the mural is important to residents because it features farmworker rights activist Cesar Chavez, he said the new college center will be critical in a community that has historically lacked access to higher education.

Firebaugh, which is located about 40 miles west of Fresno, is home to about 8,000 residents. Latinos represent 91.8% of the population. Just 5.3% of its residents have a higher education degree, while nearly 30% live in poverty, according to 2020 U.S. census data.

Valdez is also excited that the building will host Firebaugh’s first community center. He said it’s going to create many new opportunities.

“Firebaugh is definitely coming along when it comes to innovation and bringing the community together,” he said. “We’ve always had a really amazing sense of community. We’re a small town, but there’s a lot of might here.”

The new community college center is expected to open July 2022. The district is now enrolling for summer, fall and spring semesters.

This story was originally published March 13, 2022 at 5:00 AM.