Walking through College Park’s historic Lakeland community, residents may soon be greeted with new visual reminders of its legacy with the proposed construction of up to 10 murals dotted across the neighborhood.
The College Park City Council unanimously approved on Tuesday a plan to repurpose a grant initially slated for a now-delayed augmented reality tour project to fund a public art initiative honoring the cultural legacy of Lakeland, a historically Black community in College Park.
Using the new funds, the Lakeland Heritage Arts Project will install up to 10 site-specific murals throughout the neighborhood to bring attention to an existing walking tour, which was developed in 2014 to highlight the community’s history before the devastating effects of local urban renewal projects in the 1970s.
The proposed Lakeland Heritage Arts Project plans to create murals across the neighborhood on sidewalks and surfaces such as storm drains, retaining walls, fences, poles and concrete paths.
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The project intends to “beautify the neighborhood, increase awareness of pollutants that enter our watershed, elevate the visibility of Lakeland’s rich cultural heritage, and bring more attention to the existing Lakeland Walking Tour,” according to a city proposal.
The city received a $12,650 grant in 2022 from the Maryland Heritage Areas Authority to fund the second phase of the Lakeland Community Heritage Augmented Reality Tour, which would have added up to 25 QR codes linking to historical content and an augmented reality experience with audio clips, according to city documents.
But that project experienced delays due to problems, including legal and procurement issues, unclear scope and staff turnover, according to city documents.
In addition to the community’s history before urban renewal, the planned murals will also highlight Lakeland’s legacy of transportation infrastructure, such as the trolley lines that once connected the neighborhood to the wider Washington, D.C. region.
Maxine Gross, a fifth-generation Lakeland resident and member of the Lakeland Community Heritage Project, said she believes that public art can positively impact communities.
“It’s my hope that any art that is placed here will be very sensitive of the history of the place and the hopes that the people have for the future,” she said.
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The project’s total budget is $28,382.57, combining the original $12,650 grant with $15,732.57 in labor costs for city staff members for project management, site oversight and community engagement, according to city documents.
The final locations and designs of the murals have not yet been selected, but the city will reach out to local artists once the project is formally approved, College Park communications manager Ryna Luckert Quiñones wrote in a statement.
Final implementation of the project depends on the Maryland Heritage Areas Authority’s board approval, which is scheduled for Oct. 22.
District 2 council member Llatetra Brown Esters, who represents Lakeland, said the neighborhood holds a prominent place in the city, and that acknowledging the history of urban renewal is a significant step forward.
“The idea that [the project] may actually be an opportunity for members of the community, others who come to the area, to actually see art in this place and connect with the story in a different way, is huge,” she said.
