Denton County history

In 1851, the husband and wife moved to Alton in Denton County and bought hundreds of acres around Hickory Creek.

By 1856, the little settlement of Alton was thriving.

A commission composed of Otis G. Welch and others laid out the city and named the first streets in 1857.

Denton was not incorporated until 1866; its first mayor was J.B. Sawyer.

Sam Bass moved from Indiana to Denton in 1871.

In 1874, Joseph Warren Jagoe Sr. moved to Denton and became law partners with Judge Joseph A. Carroll, who later served as a district judge.

In the town of Round Rock, Texas on July 19, 1878, it seemed like yet another typical Friday.

Jones retired in the mid-1880’s to pursue a photography business, and Moffitt and Jones’ partnership dissolved.

He had one younger brother, Robert Edwards who was born in 1884.

From there, Moffitt partnered with H.D. Caldwell, publisher of the Pilot Point Mirror, to establish the Pilot Point Post-Mirror in February of 1888.

The partnership between Moffitt and Caldwell only lasted a short time, and Moffitt became the paper’s sole owner in 1890.

The idea of an industrial school for women was first introduced in 1891 to the Texas Legislature.

Following the Civil War, many farmers faced hardship due to rising transportation prices, falling crop prices, and an economic depression in 1893.

Construction of the present Courthouse-on-the-Square began in 1895.

The Denton County Courthouse-on-the-Square was built in 1896, and today the building currently houses various government offices as well as a museum.

A 1900 edition of the Pilot Point Post-Signal.

In 1901, he purchased and merged the Denton Chronicle and the Denton County Record to establish the Denton Record and Chronicle.

The first daily edition of the newspaper was released on August 3, 1903.

The family purchased property in Corinth, Texas in 1905 that included a 16×16 log home with two shed rooms, one serving as a kitchen and the other a bedroom.

In 1906, Robert Edwards was brought on as a part owner and then editor.

A 1908 history of the county describes a log courthouse built there, while another history says there were "no improvements" and court was held under a large oak tree.

Besides distributing the local news, the paper used their printing press to print the Pilot Point School District’s first yearbook in 1909.

The river was dammed in 1920 to form Lake Dallas, which has been expanded and is now known as Lewisville Lake.

In 1927, William Edwards left Denton and the Denton Record-Chronicle.

The outside of the 1930 Pilot Point Post-Signal office.

Pat Boone was born June 1, 1934 in Jacksonville, Florida.

In 1945, Robert Edwards sold the publication to Riley Cross.

Lillian and her husband, Lee, moved to Denton in 1951, where Lillian became heavily involved in the local community.

In 1954, Pat and Shirley Boone moved to Denton so that he could study music at North Texas State College.

When the Pat Boone Country Inn opened in 1958, he performed and signed autographs.

Established in 1960, the Denton State School, now Denton State Supported Living Center, houses and assists Denton area residents with intellectual disabilities.

The paper was first published in Pilot Point, but was moved to Sanger in 1964.

Despite her illness, Lillian continued her work as a civil servant until her death in June 1974.

Alliance Airport, which straddles the Denton County-Tarrant County boundary in the southwest corner of the county, opened in December 1989 to trigger growth along Interstate 35 West.

The community and the Post-Signal continued to grow, and by 1991, the newspaper was published weekly, with a circulation of 2,000.

Texas Motor Speedway, one of the largest sports and entertainment facilities in the world, opened in 1997 along Interstate 35 West.

In 1999, Bill Patterson, grandson of Riley Cross, became publisher and chief executive officer of the paper.

Shelton, Keith. “History of the Denton Record-Chronicle.” 2003.

In an act of rebellion, the gutted buildings on Fry Street were set on fire June 27, 2006.

The city called the new public space "Civic Center Park" until 2007, when it was renamed "Quakertown Park" in honor of the former community.

In 2008, the Denton campus began offering ceramics classes to their residents, allowing them to learn valuable work skills.

“The Overshadowed Ones: Henderson and Ruth Murphy.” Retrospect, Summer 2013.