Quakertown: A Lost Black Community

A few blocks northeast of the Denton square is a quiet, shaded park. For most of a generation it was something else entirely: Quakertown, a self-sufficient African American community that grew up in the 1880s and flourished into the 1920s. Within its bounds were homes, three churches, lodges, restaurants, a doctor's office, and a school — a town within the town, built by people who had made a life close to the square where many of them worked. In December 1920 a petition asked the city to buy Quakertown and turn it into a park. On April 5, 1921, Denton's white voters approved a bond to do exactly that. More than sixty families lost their homes; most were pushed to a raw, unimproved tract in southeast Denton called Solomon Hill, with no paved streets, water, or sewer lines. The park that replaced Quakertown is pleasant and well-kept, and for decades it carried no sign of what had stood here. This short walk restores the names and the story — told plainly, because the people who lived it deserve nothing less. Please walk it with care; the churches are active congregations and the park is a living community space.