Quakertown and Downtown Planning

Recently, the City of Denton Planning Department along with its consultant partners from Mend Collaborative, initiated a planning process to imagine and plan the future of Downtown Denton (Design Downtown Denton | Discuss Denton). This overall envisioning process also contemplated the future of Quakertown Park as a park space more deeply connected to the rest of Downtown Denton.

City Staff understands that it is critically important that the re-envisioned Quakertown Park space appropriately reflects the removal of the historic Quakertown community. Parks and Recreation staff convened two focus group meetings of Quakertown descendants to discuss the future of Quakertown and what the park space needs to include in order to properly and respectfully reflect its difficult history. Focus group members were asked what they want a monument to convey, what the monument might look like, and what emotions they hope such a monument might evoke.

At both meetings, attendees emphasized that they preferred the term monument to memorial, because the term monument better conveys the fact that the Quakertown community was a vibrant, economically self-sufficient community whose descendants continue to actively shape Denton in powerful and significant ways. Furthermore, Focus Group members emphasized the need for three major elements within any monument design: 1) a quarterly docent-led park tour emphasizing Quakertown History (and perhaps a self-guided counterpart); 2) a physical monument within the park space that lists the names of Quakertown families, and allows for thoughtful contemplation while conveying a feeling of hopefulness; and 3) an exhibition space that one could visit after the park tour and seeing the monument, to read more about Quakertown and see images from its history.

These three elements were conveyed to Mend Collaborative staff at the Quakertown Focus Group meeting held as part of the Design Day on April 17. Mend staff described some of their concepts for the reshaping of Quakertown Park, and how they want to better integrate the park space with the rest of Downtown Denton. Focus Group members conveyed their wish for a significant monument or monuments within the park space that are designed in such a way that they are visible from adjacent streets so that they draw in curious visitors who would then leave with a clear understanding of the park’s history.

Finally, Parks and Recreation staff attended the April 22, 2024 Southeast Denton Neighborhood Association (SEDNA) meeting at MLK, Jr. Recreation Center. Here, staff shared the outcomes of the meetings held with the Quakertown Focus Group. During the meeting, Parks and Recreation staff passed out a survey flyer asking SEDNA meeting attendees many of the same questions that arose during the Focus Group discussions. The consolidated results of this survey were supplied to Mend Collaborative so that the information could further inform the final concepts that Mend will provide to the City at the end of the Design Downtown Denton effort.