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. Charles and Sarah Lacy moved from Fort Worth to Old Alton sometime before 1850.
They had 13 children. Charles Lacy was a land surveyor who named the streets in the original town of Denton, including Oak, Elm, Hickory, Locust, Mulberry, Maple, Cedar, Bois d’Arc and Pecan. In 1850, the Lacy family moved to Denton.
Charles, at the age of 42, built the hotel in 1858. He worked as a civil engineer. His wife, Sarah, ran the hotel.
Their great-grandson, Bruce Davis, used family Bibles, letters and oral history to describe the hotel. Although Davis did not name them, he reported that prominent people stayed there. Itinerant Baptist and Methodist preachers also frequented the hotel.
The Lacy Hotel included a stable where horses could be shoed and a blacksmith and buggy repair shop. Sam Bass worked as a livery boy before his outlaw days. Davis described Bass as “gentle, courteous, and industrious.
” A 1967 Denton Record-Chronicle story described the hotel as the “landmark of the town” back then. And it was regarded as the best restaurant within a 30-mile radius. Fine meals were rare; settlers ate anything that didn’t kill them.
The 1850 diet consisted of corn mush, beans, pork and coffee. Beef was too precious to eat, and chickens were vulnerable to predators. Charles Lacy died in 1870.
He’s buried in Denton’s Oakwood Cemetery. Several months after Charles’ death, the Lacy family commissioned an oil painting of the hotel. The man leaning against the front pillar is Walter June Lacy.
The older woman seated in a chair is the recently widowed Sarah Lacy. Fire claimed Denton’s small wooden courthouse on the south side of the Square in 1875. Although they had no proof, townspeople blamed Sam Bass’ associate Henry Underwood for the fire because he was “mean, ornery and daring enough.
” Others blamed carpetbaggers who manipulated Southerners during reconstruction. Settlers didn’t believe in due process. County commissioners built a beautiful “fireproof” Italianate-style courthouse in 1876 in the center of Denton’s Square.
The newspaper claimed the new courthouse “looked like a courthouse, and it made Denton look like a county seat.” The courthouse was struck by lightning a year later, and officials reluctantly condemned it a decade later. The current courthouse on the Square was built in 1896.
A view of the business section on the north side of the Denton Square around 1889. All the buildings were constructed of wood, with board sidewalks. The vacant lot was where the Lacy Hotel had burned down several years before.
Sarah Lacy ran the hotel for at least 12 years after her husband’s death. Davis says the hotel burned in 1882, killing one of the last survivors of the Texas Revolution. Other sources say fire claimed the hotel in 1884.
The building was replaced by the May Building, which burned in 1924. By 1880, 1,194 people lived in the city. Charles and Sarah Lacy made significant contributions to early Denton.
A historical marker on the east side of the Texas Building commemorates the Lacy Hotel. Success! An email has been sent to with a link to confirm list signup. Error! There was an error processing your request.
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