Quakertown Memorial Project

Parks and Recreation staff have placed public input placards at ALH Senior Center and the MLK Recreation Center to receive additional input about the Quakertown Memorial Project from Denton Residents. The placards include background information about the project and include a QR-code linking to the Discuss Denton page for the project.

Residents are asked, specifically, to provide input about interim/temporary memorial options and the kinds of public events they would like to include on the calendar of events commemorating Quakertown. Residents can also provide feedback about the Memorial Project as a whole, if they wish to do so.

The placards are located in the lobby of the ALH Senior Center across from the information desk, and at the MLK Recreation Center toward the left of the information desk as you enter from the main front entrance.

Staff will place additional placards at other recreation facilities shortly.

On November 14, 2022, the Parks and Recreation Department (PARD) held a virtual community input meeting. The meeting had limited attendance, however feedback received was positive. The community meeting was recorded and is available below or at the following link, https://youtu.be/Y9VJZPpXILM

PARD Staff will hold an additional public meeting on December 1, at the Development Services Buidling (401 N. Elm Street) at 6 p.m. This will be a hybrid meeting that is accessible both in person and online. To attend the meeting virtually use the following Zoom link: https://cityofdenton.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_I60PNJYuTBqWvfxeT0qk-w.

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!!

The City of Denton Parks and Recreation Department will be holding two meetings in order to receive public input about two aspects of the Quakertown Centennial Memorial Project: Temporary signage and memorial options to honor Quakertown and its descendants during this centennial moment, and possible Special Events the city could host as part of the Centennial Memorial Project.

How to Join the Meeting:

The first meeting, is schedule to take place virtually on November 14^th, at 6 p.m. To register in advance for this webinar, click the link. https://cityofdenton.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_E4dVUW0tQtuxtpwpRfQYng

The second meeting, will be a hybrid in-person/virtual meeting that will take place on December 1^st beginning at 6 p.m. The in-person meeting will take place at the Development Services Building, 401 N. Elm. Those wanting to join virtually can register for the Zoom meeting using the following link: https://cityofdenton.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_I60PNJYuTBqWvfxeT0qk-w.

Residents are encouraged to sign up for the virtual meeting at least 24 hours before receiving the meeting link. The City will provide special accommodations, such as sign language interpreters for the hearing impaired if requested at least 48 hours in advance of the scheduled meeting. Please email parksnrec@cityofdenton.com so that accommodation requests can be reviewed and processed.

Residents unable to participate are welcome to submit input within the Ideas or comments feature in this platform or email them to Omar Siddiqi, Management Analyst, at omar.siddiqi@cityofdenton.com.

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email about joining the webinar.

If you have any questions, don't hesitate to contact staff.

The City of Denton was officially incorporated in 1866. Shortly after incorporation, around 1875, twenty-seven families of formerly enslaved people moved from the White Rock area of Dallas and eventually bought and settled on land North of the Denton Square. The Frederick Douglass School was completed in this neighborhood in 1878 and named for the famous abolitionist. With a school for African American youth established, the community continued to grow, as parents chose to move to a neighborhood where they knew they could educate their children.

It was sometime during this period that community residents began to refer to the community by the name Quaker. The name is thought to be a reference to Northern abolitionists who were part of the Society of Friends (colloquially known as Quakers) and who helped rescue enslaved people through the Underground Railroad. Quaker, or “Quakertown” as it was known within the wider Denton community, quickly grew into a vibrant “town within a town” housing numerous African American-owned homes, businesses, and churches and growing to a population of almost 500 people by 1900.

Many of Denton’s white residents soon considered this community to be a problem. F.M. Bralley, president of the College of Industrial Arts (CIA), the precursor to Texas Woman’s University, claimed Quakertown needed to be moved so as not to jeopardize the College’s chances at accreditation. Other Denton residents agreed, especially with Bralley’s call to remove the community and replace it with a park. Denton society women were particularly involved in encouraging a passing vote for the park bond measure. The bond passed in April 1921. The Denton Woman’s Club Building was built at Quakertown Park (then known as Civic Center park) in 1928.

Quakertown residents had little recourse to save their community. They were provided the option of either accepting city payment for their property, physically moving their homes just east of the railroad tracks to a flood prone area purchased by the city for the Quakertown community, or leaving the city entirely. Several families chose this latter option moving to Kansas, California, Indiana, and even Liberia on the West African coast. By 1923 all residents had left Quakertown as the City began work on the new park.