The City of Denton

Denton was founded to be a county seat, not a railroad stop, and the Handbook of Texas says its character came later from its colleges. A commission of Otis G. Welch, Charles C. Lacy and Joseph A. Carroll laid out the town in 1857, but it was not incorporated until 1866, when J. B. Sawyer became the first mayor. The 1870 census counted 361 people, thirty-two of them Black. When two railroads arrived in 1881, the 1880s more than doubled the population. Deep artesian wells supplied the city's water until the 1950s.

What the plaque says

The City of Denton Pioneers settled this locality in the 1840s. In 1846 the Texas Legislature created Denton County -- one of several carved from the Peters Colony grant. After trying other sites, the voters in 1856 accepted for county seat this tract donated by Hiram Cisco, William Loving, and William Woodruff. The city and county were named for John B. Denton (1806-41), a minister killed while defending frontier settlers. Woodruff, fellow surveyor C. C. Lacy, and attorney Otis Welch platted the townsite. In 1857 city lots were auctioned, the post office opened, and a church was founded. J. M. Blount, Joseph A. Carroll, W. F. Egan, and I. D. Ferguson were pioneer leaders. A cotton gin and plants for making bricks, corn meal, flour and ice soon developed. The "Monitor," a newspaper, began its career in 1868. Sam Bass (1851-78), legendary western outlaw, trained and raced "The Denton Mare" while living and working as a local farm hand. North Texas State University originated here as Texas Normal College in 1890, and Texas Woman's University opened in 1903 as the College of Industrial Arts. Agriculture-related businesses, education, and small factories sustain the economy. The city grew from 1,194 in its first census (1880) to 39,874 by 1970. (1977)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Denton County Courthouse-on-the-Square — steps away
  An 1896 courthouse by W. C. Dodson in Denton limestone, pink granite and two sandstones, restored in 2004, now a free county museum on a lawn holding the grave of John B. Denton.
• Wise County Courthouse — 26 mi
  J. Riely Gordon's granite Romanesque courthouse of 1895-96 in Decatur, built after fire destroyed the Second Empire courthouse and set off a fight over the county seat.

More markers nearby

• John B. Denton — steps away
• Edna Westbrook Trigg in Denton County — steps away
• Denton County — steps away
• Texas Normal College — steps away