Quakertown Park

Sanborn Fire Insurance Map of the Quakertown Area of Denton, 1921. Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, Courtesy The Portal to Texas History.

The area now known as Quakertown Park was once the home of the Quakertown Community. According to the 1920 Denton City Directory, there were 64 households, mostly African American, within an area that encompasses roughly 32 acres. The neighborhood, bounded by Oakland, Withers, Bell, and McKinney and bisected by Terry, Commercial (Sanders), and Holt Streets, was a hub of business for the African American residents of Denton. Commercial enterprises included Crawford’s grocery store, a drug store, the Allen Restaurant and the Smith Café, Henry Maddox’s boarding house, a tailor shop, the Citizens Undertaking parlor, the office of Dr. E. D. Moten, the community’s physician, and the Skinner Shoe Shop. Its centralized location provided economic opportunities for its residents and the Fred Douglass School drew many people to the community.

Quakertown became a target for removal when Denton was selected as the location for the Girls Industrial College, (then College of Industrial Arts (CIA), now Texas Woman’s University) in 1902. As the college grew, accreditation sought, and racial tensions exploded across the US, the proximity of Quakertown to the all-white women’s college became objectionable to the white community and presented a barrier to the college obtaining recognition as a full-fledged liberal arts college.

The desire to remove Quakertown took the form of a campaign to establish a park system in Denton. By December 1920 with the support of the Chamber of Commerce, City of Denton, and various service clubs, the campaign had grown into a full-fledged movement. A Denton Record-Chronicle (DRC) article on December 29, 1920 announced the intent of the Chamber of Commerce to petition the City Commission to add a $75,000 bond election, to the April 5, 1921, ballot for purchase and improvement of a city park and a coliseum for a fair and livestock show.  On April 5, 1921, the vote was put to the citizens of Denton. When the results were counted, it ran 367 to 240 in favor of establishment of a park system.

Map of City Park for the Park Board, 1926. Denton Municipal Archives.

By September 1921 the City was ready to move ahead with the purchase of the Quakertown resident’s homes land. But little else could be done until the City sold the bonds in April 1922 for a total of $75,000. The first plots of land were purchased from the homeowners in May of 1922. Quakertown residents only had the options of selling their property outright at a price determined by the city or have the city move their house to one of the established African American communities southeast of the railroad track or to a new addition, named Solomon Hill. More than 60 families lost their homes. Many of the residents did relocate to southeast Denton, but others left the area entirely.

The area came to be known as City Park. Even before the Quakertown residents had settled their disputes over the loss of their land, events were being hosted in the area. In October 1922, the Denton County Agricultural and Livestock Fair was held on the land. Condemnation proceedings were started in December 1922 to secure the title on the remaining three tracks of land in the park site. The city took full possession and began clearing the land by February 1923.

The name City or Central Park was used until 1964 when the park name was changed to Civic Center Park with the passage of bonds to create the Civic Center Municipal Complex designed by noted Texas Architect O’Neil Ford. During the 1960s the look of the area changed once again as streets were rerouted and buildings removed to accommodate the Municipal Complex construction. In 1965 the bandshell was demolished and the public swimming pool was built. The Civic Center community building was dedicated for public use on November 19, 1967, the new City Hall at 215 E. McKinney Street, opened in September 1968. The expanded and renovated public library building, which had originally been constructed in 1949, was completed in December 1968.

The name change to Quakertown Park was approved by the Denton City Council on February 6, 2007 adopting ordnance No. 2007-003. The change was proposed by Mike Cochran to inspire people to learn about the community’s history and as a public recognition of the fact that the land was taken away from the people of the Quakertown community involuntarily.