Quakertown Memorial Project

The Denton Black Film Festival is working with the filmmakers King Hollis and Lindell Singleton of South Road Pictures to create a four-part docuseries that tells the story of Denton's Quakertown community. The City Council has supported the project with $250,000 in funding from the City's Tourist and Convention Fund. The filmmakers hope that, by raising at least an additional $250,000, they will be able to create a docuseries with the kind of high-quality production value necessary to attract major streaming services.

For more information about the project and to donate please visit this link.

Denton Public Library, as part of their All Together Now Summer reading program have included a challenge badge focusing on the history of Quakertown. The "This is Quaker" badge is available after the completion of certain reading and learning tasks that help to explain the history of Quakertown. Tasks include reading a book about Quakertown, visiting Quakertown Park to learn about its history, exploring historical images of the community available on digital archives, and visiting Emily Fowler Library to read through Quakertown Oral Histories that are included among the library's Special Collections. For more information, or to register for the free summer reading program, please visit the following link: All Together Now.

On May 2, the City Council approved an ordinance providing $250,000 in funding to the Denton Black Film Festival Institute, Inc. in order to help support a Quakertown docuseries. The Denton Black Film Festival Institute (DBFFI) will be working with Southroad Pictures to produce a four-part documentary relating the history of Quakertown, its displacement, and the community's resilient presence in Southeast Denton.

Funds to support the docuseries were applied from the City of Denton's Tourist and Convention Fund. South Road pictures includes as a managing partner King Hollis, a former resident of Southeast Denton. King Hollis and Lindell Singleton have an impressive record of filmmaking - with documentaries about The Hall of Negro Life at the 1936 Texas Centennial at Fair Park in Dallas and "The Hill", African American neighborhood in Arlington among their recent endeavors.

City staff are currently in the process of finalizing temporary signage graphics for Quakertown Park. Working with Public Affairs and external vendors, Parks and Recreation staff are also determining the final locations for the signs in accordance with ADA requirements.

The map below indicates where the signs corresponding to the locations of Quakertown's historical churches will be placed (yellow circles) and where the general informational signs about Quakertown will be placed (red stars). These locations may be subject to slight adjustment in accordance with ADA compliance considerations and parks maintenance needs.

To see a larger version of this image right click and choose "open image in new tab."

City staff met with community members at the MLK Recreation Center's SEDNA meeting on January 23, 2023 and also spoke with residents at a February 7, 2023 meeting at the ALH Senior Center. The input city staff received from each meeting are available by clicking the meeting date on the Quakertown Memorial Project sidebar under the Documents tab, or by using the following links:

January 23, 2023 SEDNA Meeting

February 7, 2023 ALH Senior Center Meeting

City staff have created four temporary sign mockups/proofs for the public's consideration. These include one sign explaining the general history of Quakertown as well as three signs telling the story of each of the three churches that had physical buildings in Quakertown. The general history sign will be placed where people usually enter the park, while the church signs will be placed at those locations where the churches once stood.

City staff are asking the public to consider the signage and to provide any feedback they have. If you have concerns or comments about any aspect of the design, photography, text, etc., please let us know! We want to make sure that the signs we place in the park meet with resident approval.

One note: Staff are already aware (and deeply apologetic) about accidentally, and incorrectly inserting "Baptist" in the name of St. James AME Church. That word will be deleted in the final sign design that we send to our professional printers.

We hope to send the final image files to our printers by the first week of February.

HELPFUL TIP: If you'd like to see larger versions of the images you can move your mouse over an image, right click and choose "open in new tab." You should then be able to zoom into a larger sized version of the image.

Summaries of recent public meetings and short descriptions of meetings with local stakeholders and helpers will now be included in the documents sidebar at the right of this screen underneath the photographs.

Please view these documents if you'd like some more substantive information on our progress. Latest updates include ALH Meeting on 12.6.22 and the meeting at the MLK Rec Center, 12.8.22.

MEETING AT MLK, JR REC CENTER

DEC. 8 AT 6 PM (1300 Wilson St)

At this meeting City Staff will provide updates on City of Denton Street Bond projects. Staff will also be discussing upcoming Parks Projects. A short presentation on Quakertown will be followed by opportunities for the public to submit their input, especially about the interim memorial options (e.g. signage), and the events calendar.

On December 1, 2022, the Parks and Recreation Department (PARD) held a hybrid meeting that was conducted in person and online. The meeting was held at the Development Services Building at 6 p.m. There were 5 community members that attended in person and 12 joined online through Zoom. The community meeting was recorded and is available below or at the following link,

Park staff will be attending two meetings on the following dates. See below and hope to see you there: https://youtu.be/QpwFAWcYVOI

• Community Luncheon, December 6, 2022 at 12 PM at the American Legion Hall Senior Center
• Southeast Denton Street Bond Projects Update & Park Projects, December 8, 2022 at 6 PM at the Martin Luther King Jr. Recreation Center

City staff are eager to hear your thoughts on the Quakertown Memorial Project. If you are registered on Discuss Denton you can ask questions and provide comments on the main Quakertown Project Page using the "Questions" and "Ideas" tabs. We thank you for your help and consideration!