'Removing the Danger in a Business Way: The Relocation of a North Texas Black Community in the 1920s'

Presented by: Chelsea Stallings

In 1920, the thriving black community of Quakertown in Denton, Texas was home to nearly seventy families as well as the town’s black business district. Influenced by the National City Park Movement, in early 1921, the city voted to relocate the Quakertown community to the east and southeast sides of Denton and build a public park in its place.

The removal of the middle-class Quakertown community to the new Solomon Hill location was, for the most part, smooth, but enough instances of violence still occurred that marked the relocation as a racial maneuver first and a necessary action for a city park second. The community had no choice but to move on and reestablish their community on the other side of the railroad depot. But with only two-thirds of the original Quakertown community still residing in Denton, the neighborhood in the newly-created Solomon Hill never quite matched its predecessor.

On Thursday, February 13, 2014 at 12:00 in the Commissioners’ Courtroom, the Denton County Office of History & Culture will host a lecture by Chelsea Stallings on the Quakertown relocation. She is a graduate student in the History Department at the UNT and is writing her Master’s thesis on the subject.She is expected to graduate with her M.A. in May 2014.  

All exhibits and lectures are free and open to the public.  The courthouse has handicapped parking and accessibility through the north entrance.  The Denton County Office of History & Culture is located in the historic Denton County Courthouse at 110 W. Hickory in Denton, Texas.