Walk With History: The Jacob Fontaine AR Tour
Our Stories, Our Streets
Imagine walking down a familiar Austin street and hearing the voice of someone whose footsteps helped shape it more than a century ago. With the Jacob Fontaine AR Tour, history steps out of the archives and into the present, inviting us to experience the rich history of Black Austin through storytelling, technology, and place.
The tour introduces us to Jacob Fontaine, a preacher, publisher, and civic leader whose life opens a window into Austin’s African American heritage. Through his voice and the neighborhoods he helped shape, the experience brings the rich history of Black Austin to life, reminding us that history is not distant. It lives in our streets, our institutions, and our collective memory.
This is not just a tour you watch. It is one you walk, listen to, and share.
How the Tour Works
The Jacob Fontaine AR Tour uses augmented reality to unlock narrated stories at historic sites across Austin. When visiting in person, participants simply scan QR codes installed at each location using a phone or tablet. For those exploring remotely, each stop can also be accessed online, making the tour just as powerful at home or in the classroom.
Each stop features a short immersive experience led by a 3D avatar of Jacob Fontaine. His voice serves as a guide through stories shaped by families, faith leaders, educators, musicians, and neighborhood builders whose lives formed the backbone of Black Austin.
Places That Hold Our Stories
Each stop on the tour highlights spaces where Black Austinites built institutions, nurtured culture, and passed down knowledge across generations.
You’ll visit sites such as the Gold Dollar Building, where Black-owned media helped inform and empower the community, and historic neighborhoods like Blackland and Rogers Washington Holy Cross, where faith, family, and mutual support took root. The tour also includes Rosewood Courts, a symbol of resilience and community care; Huston-Tillotson University, a long-standing beacon of education and leadership; and the legendary Victory Grill, where music, culture, and connection filled the room.
Together, these places tell a shared story of perseverance, creativity, and belonging.
Why This Tour Matters
History does not live only in textbooks. It lives in the places we pass every day and in the stories that too often go unheard.
The Jacob Fontaine AR Tour is part of What Once Was, a storytelling initiative powered by E4 Youth that preserves Austin’s cultural legacy while equipping young people with digital creative skills. Youth creators work alongside elders and community historians to ensure these stories are told with care, accuracy, and heart.
These stories connect elders who lived this history with young people who are learning how to carry it forward. The result is an intergenerational dialogue that honors the past while inspiring future storytellers, technologists, and community leaders.
🎓 Educators: Bring This Into Your Classroom
Looking for a meaningful, local learning experience?
The Jacob Fontaine AR Tour is an accessible teaching tool for:
Texas and African American history
Civics and community studies
Digital storytelling and media literacy
Project-based and experiential learning
Students can explore the tour virtually, reflect on place-based history, and even create their own storytelling projects inspired by what they learn.
👉 Perfect for classrooms, after-school programs, and youth groups.
🌱 Youth Creator Spotlight
This tour was shaped with and by young people.
Through E4 Youth programs, students helped research sites, shape narratives, and think critically about how history is told and shared. For many, this was their first time seeing their own neighborhoods treated as places of historical significance.
As one youth participant shared:
“I walk past these places all the time, but now I know what they mean. It makes me feel like I belong here.”
That sense of belonging is at the heart of this work.
Experience the Tour Your Way
There are multiple ways to take part, and all are equally meaningful:
🚶🏾♀️ Walk the Tour
Visit the sites in person, scan the QR codes, and experience the stories where they happened. Go solo or bring family, friends, or community groups.
🏠 Learn From Home
Explore every stop virtually from anywhere. All you need is a phone, tablet, or computer.
🏫 Teach With It
Use the tour as a living curriculum that connects students to place, history, and voice.
Join the Journey
Whether you’re rediscovering familiar streets through new eyes or introducing young people to stories that have too often gone untold, the Jacob Fontaine AR Tour invites all of us to honor the people, places, and collective memory that shaped Black Austin.
👉 Start the tour today:
https://whatoncewas.org/jacob-fontaine-ar-tour-our-stories-our-streets/
*This tour presents a creative, educational interpretation of public historical events and figures based on available historical records. No affiliation with or endorsement by any private estate or foundation is implied.
