Paul Laurence Dunbar School, Historic school building in Tucson, United States.

Paul Laurence Dunbar School is a historic school building in Tucson that features classrooms, an auditorium, and kitchen facilities spread throughout its structure. The building now serves as a venue for community gatherings and cultural programs rather than as a traditional educational institution.

Dunbar School opened on September 22, 1913 as the Colored School, teaching African American pupils in a small building before a new structure was financed by a 1917 bond issue of $150,000. It graduated its last all-black class in 1951, the year Arizona repealed mandatory school segregation, and was renamed for early Tucson educator John Spring. It closed in 1978.

The school was named after poet Paul Laurence Dunbar during its segregated years; after the 1951 repeal of segregation laws, superintendent Robert Morrow renamed it for early Tucson educator John Spring to erase traces of segregation. Since 1995 the Dunbar Coalition has owned the building, which now houses a barber school, a commercial kitchen, a dance studio and a cosmetology school.

The former school stands at 325 West 2nd Street in Tucson. Its 1948 auditorium is rented out as event space, and the building houses a barber school, a commercial kitchen, a dance studio and a cosmetology school. Visitors should check with the Dunbar Coalition, which bought the building in 1995, before planning a look inside.

The 1917 bond issue that paid for the school's new building was $150,000 and also covered Safford Junior High School and repairs to other schools. The segregated school had no cafeteria, auditorium or new textbooks until 1948, when it gained an auditorium, a cafeteria and 23 classrooms.