North Texas running back Oscar Adaway III, confronted by Rebels player Kyle Beaudry, carries the ball during UNT’s loss to UNLV on Saturday at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas.
North Texas running back Oscar Adaway III, confronted by Rebels player Kyle Beaudry, carries the ball during UNT’s loss to UNLV on Saturday at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas.
Denton’s third courthouse was built in 1877. The Italianate structure was built to be fireproof, but it was struck by lightning and had to be condemned 17 years after it was built. It was surrounded by four cisterns because residents were so worried about fires.
A helicopter performs a flyby during a Veterans Day 2021 ceremony at the Courthouse on the Square. The building is the fourth courthouse Denton County has built on the Square in Denton, and it’s stood since 1897.
Denton’s present Courthouse on the Square may seem like it’s always been there, but it had three predecessors.
Denton County moved the county seat to its present site because it was the center of the county, 30 miles, or a day’s horse ride, from Dallas, Tarrant and Wise counties.
County officials erected a crude, sturdy courthouse in 1857 on the north side of Denton’s Square, present-day 108 and 110 Oak St. According to Clarence Allen Bridges’ History of Denton County, Denton’s first courthouse was a log structure on a 25-foot-wide-by-40-foot-long stone foundation. It had doors and windows on the front and back, no side openings, and an east side exterior staircase. The first floor was the courtroom, which also served as lodge hall, schoolroom, church and public meeting space. District and county clerk offices were on the second floor. The jail sat behind the courthouse.
By 1860, Denton’s Square consisted of buildings with stone foundations and timber walls on the south and west sides. Dry good stores, saloons, the Lacy Hotel and law offices completed the mercantile-government complex. Two newspapers, The Review and The Monitor, started in 1864 and 1868. Denton’s first cotton gin opened in 1869 on the south end of Bernard Street. The Square’s center was a promontory covered with trees and brush teeming with wild turkey and game. The east side of the Square sat vacant until 1870, when the sandstone county jail was built. Denton didn’t have paved or surfaced roads, only dirt trails carved through tall grass close to buildings with access by wagons and horses.
Denton’s first census recorded 329 white and 32 Black residents in 1870.
Fire was a constant threat to wooden buildings with kerosene-sealed plank floors. Denton’s earliest recorded fire incinerated the south side of the Square’s connected buildings.
Denton’s first courthouse burned in a spectacular arson blaze on Dec. 23, 1875. Most Denton residents believed the fire was set by known Sam Bass associate Henry Underwood, who was “mean, ornery and daring enough” to set a fire to destroy indictments against his “cattle-thieving friends.” Other people advanced a conspiracy theory that the fire was set by Yankee carpetbaggers to eliminate evidence of fraud committed during Reconstruction.
The courthouse fire created many years of land sale confusion because it destroyed at least 2,000 title records. Records of settlers buried in Oakwood, Denton’s oldest cemetery, were also destroyed.
After the fire, county commissioners rented temporary courthouse quarters at Cumberland Presbyterian Church on Bolivar Street — Denton’s second courthouse. Later that year, that building was destroyed by a second arson fire.
Denton County commissioned a new “fireproof” Italianate-style brick courthouse in the center of Denton’s Square in 1876. Denton’s third courthouse was the city’s first brick structure. This courthouse was surrounded by four cisterns for water to fight fires. According to a 1957 Denton Record-Chronicle article, the new courthouse “filled Denton citizens with pride. It looked like a courthouse, and it made Denton look like a county seat.” The building, completed in 1877 at a cost of $40,000, proved to be a wise decision because fire ravaged the south side of the Square a year later.
Bricks for the courthouse were handmade at the Bushey Brick Plant in Southeast Denton along the banks of Pecan Creek, site of present-day Bushey Street. The new brick plant made bricks available for other buildings in Denton. Laborers producing the bricks were residents of Freedman Town, near the present-day site of the Martin Luther King Community Center. Black people moved from Dallas’ White Rock Lake area to create Freedman Town in 1875.
Denton’s fancy new brick courthouse was struck by lightning and severely damaged a year after it was built. It was reluctantly condemned in 1894. Denton paved part of Elm Street with brick from the old courthouse. County commissioners sought refuge in temporary quarters in three buildings on the northeast corner of Denton’s Square, a site that eventually became the Wright Opera House, which now houses Recycled Books.
County commissioners selected W.C. Dodsen to design Denton’s fourth courthouse, which Denton resident Tom Lovell built between 1895 and 1897. James Riley Gorden replaced Dodsen. The new courthouse featured a central clock tower. Commissioners wanted the Romanesque Revival style, featuring heavily rusticated limestone, rounded arches and turrets. Dodson added Second Empire elements such as corner pavilions with mansard roofs. Lovell used local stone from a quarry six miles northeast of Denton. Red columns came from Burnett County.
Denton’s 1897 courthouse deviated from tradition. The courtroom usually found in the center was on the north side of the second floor to allow a centralized masonry tower.
Denton’s present courthouse cost $147,000 to build, equivalent to $5.4 million in today’s dollars, a large expenditure for a rural county in 1898. The courthouse proclaimed Denton’s support for law and order.
Denton’s courthouse fell out of favor in the 1960s as the county considered demolishing it for a parking lot. It was saved by a group of World War II veterans who appreciated Europe’s architecture. The courthouse that still dominates downtown architecture became a cherished landmark that gained Texas landmark status in 1970, National Landmark status in 1977 and city landmark status in 1982.
Randy Hunt contributed research to this article.
ANNETTA RAMSAY, Ph.D., has lived and worked in Denton for many years.
Jr Boy & Kerri Jones Blues Band was one of many bands that performed at the Denton Blues Festival on Saturday.
Newcomers to Saturday’s festival included Jackie Williams and her son, Jonathon Williams, who moved from Shreveport, Louisiana, to Denton. Jackie Williams danced to the blues while Jonathon would nod his head back and forth.
Quakertown Park was packed with locals who attended the Denton Blues Festival.
With musicians providing tunes for locals, it was common for people to gather in the middle of the stage to dance along to the blues while others cheered and clapped their hands in their seats.
It was part of the annual Denton Blues Festival at Quakertown Park, which showcased music, food and vendors to the community.
John Baines, one of the festival’s founders and treasurer of its host, the Denton Black Chamber of Commerce, said the locals have continued to come and support the festival to enjoy the acts and entertainment.
“The quality of the acts and the fact that it’s free, great entertainment for free,” Baines said. “… And it brings in just a lot of folks for a good time, which is a good taste.”
Over 13 acts were listed to perform between Saturday and Sunday. Some acts included were Lori Dawn, Jr Boy & Kerri Jones Blues Band, Dwayne Dopsie & the Zydeco Hellraisers, among others.
“So, what we do every year, we try to find the entertainment acts that are kind of on the cusp of greatness,” Baines said. “And so, we have some acts that are local because we want to support the local artists. And then in the evenings, we have the big star shining bright.”
Baine said he enjoys seeing locals who have attended the festival since its inauguration and newcomers who can experience it for the first time.
“We have a lot of people that have never missed one,” Baines said. “And then we have a lot of new people. … Just to see people come and support us, and we also enjoy the fact that new people are coming on board as well.”
Newcomers include Jackie Williams and her son, Jonathon Williams, who moved from Shreveport, Louisiana, to Denton. Jackie Williams danced along to the blues while Jonathon would nod his head back and forth.
Jackie Williams said she discovered the festival through an advertisement banner and was curious to check out more details through social media. The musician she wanted to see the most was Dwayne Dopsie & The Zydeco Hellraisers, who were scheduled to perform later in the evening.
Jackie Williams said they usually went to blues festivals every weekend when they resided in Shreveport.
“This is up my alley,” Jackie Williams said. “I love it.”
As for the weather, Baines said he was blessed for the temperatures for locals to enjoy it more and usually sees more people attend at night, when it’s cooler.
“The sun keeps a lot of people back, but once it cools off, it’s wonderful,” Baines said.
The festival continues until Sunday night.
