Denton

Sister cities

• Madaba
• San Nicolás de los Garza

History

Denton's formation is closely tied to that of Denton County. White settlement of the area began in the mid-1800s when William S. Peters of Kentucky obtained a land grant from the Texas Congress and named it Peters Colony. After initial settlement in the southeast part of the county in 1843, the Texas Legislature voted to form Denton County in 1846. Both the county and the town were named for John B. Denton, a preacher and lawyer who was killed in 1841 during a skirmish with the Kichai people in what is now Tarrant County. Pickneyville and Alton were selected as the county seat before Denton was named the seat in 1857. That year, a commission laid out the city and named the first streets. On July 8, 1860, approximately half of the downtown Square burned down in what was later called the "Texas Troubles". Fires occurred in ten Texas communities that day, including Dallas and Pilot Point, and were quickly attributed to a slave insurrection. After the Civil War, "Freedmen Settlements" were started throughout the South. One Freedman Settlement, Quakertown, thrived just south of what is now Texas Woman's University until around 1920, when the city government forcibly removed the residents to make way for a park. Quakertown's Black children were served separately from white children by the Frederick Douglass School. Denton's population grew from 26,844 in 1960 to 48,063 in 1980. Its connection to the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex via I-35E and I-35W played a major role in the growth, and the opening of Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport in 1974 led to a population increase. In the 1980s, heavy manufacturing companies like Victor Equipment Company and Peterbilt joined older manufacturing firms such as Moore Business Forms and Morrison Milling Company in Denton. The…

Geography

Denton is on the northern edge of the Dallas–Fort Worth metropolitan area. These three cities form the area known as the "Golden Triangle of North Texas". According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has an area of , of which is land and is covered by water. Lewisville Lake, a man-made reservoir, is south of the city. With its hot, humid summers and cool winters, Denton's climate is characterized as humid subtropical and is within USDA hardiness zone 8a. The city's all-time high temperature is , recorded in 1954. Dry winds affect the area in the summer and can bring temperatures of over , although the average summer temperature highs range from between June and August. The all-time recorded low is , set on February 16, 2021, and the coolest month is January, with daily low temperatures averaging . Flash floods and severe thunderstorms are frequent in the spring. Average snowfall is similar to the Dallas–Fort Worth average of per year.

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• Northern Cardinal

  Cardinalis cardinalis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  9,913
• Carolina Chickadee

  Poecile carolinensis (Audubon, 1834) · Aves
  6,483
• Blue Jay

  Cyanocitta cristata (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  6,324
• Northern Mockingbird

  Mimus polyglottos (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  6,283
• American Crow

  Corvus brachyrhynchos C.L.Brehm, 1822 · Aves
  6,126
• Mourning Dove

  Zenaida macroura (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  5,961
• House Finch

  Haemorhous mexicanus (P.L.Statius Müller, 1776) · Aves
  5,501
• Red-bellied Woodpecker

  Melanerpes carolinus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  4,947

Largest nearby schools

• GUYER H S
  High · DENTON · 2,554 students · 14.2:1 ratio
• RYAN H S
  High · DENTON · 2,194 students · 13.5:1 ratio
• DENTON H S
  High · DENTON · 2,024 students · 14.5:1 ratio
• LAKE DALLAS H S
  High · CORINTH · 1,293 students · 15.8:1 ratio
• ARGYLE MIDDLE
  Middle · ARGYLE · 1,168 students · 15.4:1 ratio
• RODRIGUEZ MIDDLE
  Middle · OAK POINT · 973 students · 13.5:1 ratio
• STRICKLAND MIDDLE
  Middle · DENTON · 940 students · 13.4:1 ratio
• LAKE DALLAS MIDDLE
  Middle · LAKE DALLAS · 902 students · 13.3:1 ratio

Most recent

• M 3.1 — 2024-05-01
  7 km SSW of Mansfield, Texas
• M 3.2 — 2024-05-01
  7 km S of Mansfield, Texas
• M 2.51 — 2023-09-25
  10 km S of Wilson, Oklahoma
• M 2.9 — 2023-07-11
  10 km S of Wilson, Oklahoma
• M 2.51 — 2022-07-20
  9 km WSW of Lebanon, Oklahoma
• M 2.53 — 2021-12-20
  14 km ENE of Leon, Oklahoma