In 1858, a year after Denton became a town, it was a tiny settlement of 361 souls. A small wooden county courthouse sat in the middle of what is now the south side of Denton’s Square. The Lacy Hotel was at the northeast corner of the Square, the present-day location of the Texas Building, which houses Barley & Board restaurant and other businesses.
The Lacy Hotel is thought to have been Denton’s first. Denton was still the Wild West then. Paved streets didn’t exist, only buggy paths over dead grass close to buildings.
The city sits in the Cross Timbers, a 5- to 30-mile strip of land running from Kansas through Oklahoma and Texas. Coarse, sandy soil and ancient, almost impenetrable, forest meant Denton’s future downtown Square had abundant wildlife: falcon, quail, turkey and deer. It was a rich source of food, firewood and building materials.
Anyone conducting business on the south side of Denton’s Square could hunt for their lunch or dinner where Denton’s courthouse now sits. The forest has been cleared, but Cross Timbers post oak trees still grow in front of several homes on the south side of West Oak Street. Denton was a county in search of a seat when the state Legislature established it in 1846.
Residents voted to move Denton’s County seat from Old Alton to Denton in 1856 because it was more central to the county, and because the stagnant water in Hickory Creek caused illness. County courthouses were supposed to be a day’s horse ride (about 30 miles) apart.