Fred Moore Park

Fred Moore. Fred Moore Narration in the First Person by Sadie Moore.

Frederick Douglas Moore (1875-1953)

Frederick Douglas Moore was born in Denton in 1875 to Mary Jane Goodall and an unknown Native American man who disappeared before his birth. He was delivered by Dr. Louisa Owsley who suggested the name name Frederick Douglas. When Fred was a year old his mother married Henry Lucien Moore who worked for Sam Bass for a time and later became the first janitor of the Texas Normal College and Teacher Training Institute (University of North Texas) when it opened in 1890.

Fred Moore attended the Frederick Douglass School until the 9th grade, but continued his studies on his own while teaching his mother how to read. He was active in the Colored Methodist Episcopal Church which changed its name to the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church in 1954, becoming the superintendent of the Sunday School at the age of 19. He learned how to play several musical instruments and organized many local performances for the Juneteenth celebration as well as other gatherings.

His musical acumen gained him the nickname, "The Professor," and a wife. During a Juneteenth celebration in Lewisville at which he was performing, he met Sarah "Sadie" Brotherton. The two were wed in 1901. Together they had five children, Leila, Alice (Alice Alexander Elementary), Hazel, Daisy and Charles Wilbur.

In 1913, the original Frederick Douglass School building in the Quakertown area of Denton was destroyed in a fire and a new one was constructed in Southeast Denton in 1915. Fred Moore would become principal of the school that same year and remain in that position until 1953. During his tenure as principal he continued his education at Prairie View State Normal and Industrial College (Prairie View A&M), graduating in 1921. He would later attend Fisk Univeristy and Columbia University. He would also briefly administer a satellite campus for the Texas State University for Negroes (Texas Southern University) in Denton.

Moore was an active leader in the community and was recruited by the city to sell the first lots in Southeast Denton to Quakertown residents that were displaced by the city's decision to create a park on that land. The new area would officially be called Moore's Addition, but was commonly referred to as Shack Town. Moore continued to advocate for and help secure facilities and services for the residents of Southeast Denton. Realizing the need for a cemetery and park for Denton's Black residents, Moore helped to raise $70 to purchase land for use as a cemetary. While the amount wasn't enough to purchase the land outright, the city accepted the money and donated a portion of what would later be called Oakwood Cemetery for said purpose.

Moore, along with "civic-minded progressive citizens" would also meet with the city commissioners and school superintendent to help secure land for a park. In 1931, the City of Denton purchased 4.5 acres of land south of Oakwood Cemetery to serve as a park for Denton's Black population. It originally featuerd a swimming pool, baseball field, speaker's stand and a large concrete dance floor. Then, in 1938 he helped to organize the first "colored" Boy Scout troop acting as Troop Chairman with A. Tennyson Miller as Scoutmaster.

In 1947 the citizens of Southeast Denton selected Fred Moore as the namesake for the park and it was susequently dedicated as Fred Moore Park on April 29, 1948. Moore considered this an "unusual honor" which he would "...always cherish as a sentimental monument. For our future achievement, let us have the proper attitude towards our fellow man."

The following year a new schoolbuilding was erected and named in Fred Moore's honor, a distinction which still holds today. During the building's dedication he was also awarded Man of the Year honors by Applause Magazine.

In 1950 the Fred Douglass school building was moved to Fred Moore Park at 725 Wilson St. to serve as a meeting place and memorial to Denton's black World War II veterans. The Pen-Reynolds-Jones American Legion Post No. 840 was originally organized in this building. It would eventually see use as the Fred Moore Day Nursery before being torn down in 1972.