On Sunday, Oct. 18, Austin Housing Authority joined E4 Youth and community partners to celebrate the grand opening and ribbon-cutting of the WOW Heritage Center at Rosewood Courts.
Located at 1141 Chicon Street in Austin’s African American Cultural Heritage District, the WOW Heritage Center is E4 Youth’s first permanent home and creates a dedicated space for storytelling, learning and opportunity rooted in East Austin history.
The Center is part of What Once Was, an E4 Youth initiative that uses immersive media, oral histories, augmented reality, exhibitions and community programming to reconnect stories with the places where they happened.
Learn more about the WOW Heritage Center and What Once Was at whatoncewas.org.
A Place Rooted in Austin History
The WOW Heritage Center stands on ground with deep significance to Austin’s Black community.
In 1905, Black Austinites purchased the land and established Emancipation Park, creating a place where the community could gather and celebrate Juneteenth on land it owned. Decades later, Rosewood Courts opened on the site in 1939 as public housing for African American families.
That history shaped Austin Housing Authority’s message during the grand opening: preserving Rosewood is about more than preserving buildings. It is about ensuring the community’s stories remain connected to the people who lived them.
“Stewardship means keeping the story in the hands of the people it belongs to.”
Helping the Next Generation Tell the Story
The partnership with E4 Youth brings that commitment to life by giving young people an active role in researching, creating and sharing Rosewood’s history.
Rather than simply presenting history on a wall, the WOW Heritage Center gives young people opportunities to research, test and create digital experiences that connect East Austin’s stories to place. Programming at the Center will also allow students to experiment with immersive tools, develop media skills and help shape how the next generation experiences public history.
As Austin Housing Authority shared during the celebration, E4 Youth is helping put “the tools of storytelling in young people’s hands” so the next generation can research the past, create from it and help determine how those stories are carried forward.
The opening also represents an important milestone for E4 Youth. The WOW Heritage Center is the organization’s first permanent home.
Connecting What Once Was to What Comes Next
The opening comes at a pivotal moment for Rosewood Courts.
On Nov. 13, Austin Housing Authority will celebrate the grand opening of Pathways at Rosewood Courts, where redevelopment has expanded the community from 124 to 184 homes while preserving eight historic buildings.
Together, the redevelopment and the WOW Heritage Center connect Rosewood’s future to the history that shaped it.
As Austin Housing Authority shared during the ribbon cutting, what once was is the foundation for what is being built now.
Austin Housing Authority thanks E4 Youth, the Rogers Washington Holy Cross neighborhood, the City of Austin Economic Development Department and the many community members who helped bring the WOW Heritage Center to life.
The community is encouraged to return to the WOW Heritage Center, bring their stories and introduce future generations to the history of Rosewood Courts.
Learn more about the WOW Heritage Center and explore What Once Was at whatoncewas.org.
