This & That About Denton

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  • Little more than 150 year ago, this land was virtually unknown to white men.
  • Within the Dallas/Ft. Worth metroplex live over 6 million people; the 5th largest metropolitan area in the U.S.
  • The City of Denton is exactly in the center of Denton County.
  • The elevation of Denton reaches nearly 750 feet above sea level in the northwestern part of the city, with an elevation near the center of 650 feet. The latitude is 33 degrees, 12 minutes north and the longitude is 97 degrees, 5 minutes, 30 seconds west.
  • There are 73 different soil types, in 14 series, in Denton County, which is a greater number than found in any other Texas county.
  • Texas is a community property state.
  • Denton is the hometown of two former Miss Americas, Phyllis George and Shirley Cothran.
  • Denton operates under the Council-Manager form of government. The city Manager is the Chief Administrator and is accountable to the City council.
  • Denton has a leash law that requires all dogs to be on a lease or in fenced yards at all times.
  • In 1893, Miss Maynie Thorton displayed a couple of goldfish in her millinery establishment, the first ones ever seen in Denton.
  • Denton’s first free public school was established in 1884. It had 425 students.
  • Highland Park, the wooded hill across I35 south of UNT, was once the site of an Indian campground.
  • In 1894, the city fathers adopted an ordinance prohibiting cows from running-at-large within the city limits.
  • The Alliance Milling Company’s entry of “Peacemaker” flour won the first premium award at the Texas State Fair in Dallas in 1888, and continued to win for 10 consecutive years until it was barred from further competition.
  • Miss America, Phyllis George, the actress, Ann Sheridan, singer, Ray Peterson and Jim Fielder of Blood, Sweat and Tears fame, are native Dentonites, and Pat Boone, the author Larry McMurty, Roy Orbison, the Eagles’ Don Henley, and Dr. Phil are among the many celebrities to attend the universities here. Denton is also the home of the Grammy Award winning band, Brave Combo, and the Grammy winning 1’O’Clock Lab Band.
  • Denton is known as the “Redbud Capitol of Texas.”
  • In 2006, Money Magazine named Denton #58 out of the “Top 100 Best Places to live in America.”
  • In 2007 and 2008, Denton was listed among the 10 fastest-growing cities in the nation with population of 100,000 or more.
  • In 2008, Paste Magazine named Denton “America’s Best Music Scene.”