Denton County is located in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sove ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

. As of the 2020 census, its population was 906,422, making it the 7th-most populous county in Texas. The

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or civil parish. The term is in use in Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, Taiwan, and the United States. The equivalent term shire town is used in the US st ...

is Denton. The county, which was named for John B. Denton, was established in 1846. Denton County constitutes part of the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. In 2007, it was one of the fastest-growing counties in the United States.

History

Before the arrival of settlers, various Native American peoples, including the Kichai and the Lenape, infrequently populated the area. The area was settled by

Peters Colony Peters ColonyHarry E. Wade, "PETERS COLONY," Handbook of Texas Online (http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/uep02), accessed May 15, 2015. Uploaded on June 15, 2010. Published by the Texas State Historical Association. (Peters' Colony ...

landowners in the early 1840s. Until the

annexation of Texas The Texas annexation was the 1845 annexation of the Republic of Texas into the United States. Texas was admitted to the Union as the 28th state on December 29, 1845. The Republic of Texas declared independence from the Republic of Mexico ...

, the area was considered part of Fannin County. On April 11, 1846, the First Texas Legislature established Denton County. The county was named for John B. Denton, who was killed while raiding a Native American village in

Tarrant County Tarrant County is located in the U.S. state of Texas. As of 2020, it had a population of 2,110,640. It is Texas' third-most populous county and the 15th-most populous in the United States. Its county seat is Fort Worth. Tarrant County, one of 2 ...

in 1841. Originally, the county seat was set at Pickneyville. This was later changed to Alton, where the Old Alton Bridge currently stands, and then moved finally to Denton. By 1860, the population of the county had increased to 5,031. On March 4, 1861, residents of the county narrowly voted for secession from the

Union Union commonly refers to: * Trade union, an organization of workers * Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets Union may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * Union (band), an American rock group ** ''Un ...

, with 331 votes cast for and 264 against. The

Missouri–Kansas–Texas Railroad The Missouri–Kansas–Texas Railway was a Class I railroad company in the United States, with its last headquarters in Dallas, Texas. Established in 1865 under the name Union Pacific Railway, Southern Branch, it came to serve an extensive ra ...

reached Lewisville, located in the southern portion of the county, by the early 1880s. The Denton County Courthouse-on-the-Square was built in 1896, and currently houses various government offices, as well as a museum.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of , of which are land and (7.8%) are covered by water. Denton County is located in the northern part of the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, about 35 miles south of the border between

and Oklahoma. It is drained by two forks of the Trinity River. The largest body of water in Denton County is Lewisville Lake, which was formed in 1954 when the Garza–

Little Elm Little Elm is a city in Denton County, Texas, United States, and a part of the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. It is an extended suburb of Denton; its population was 46,453 as of the 2020 census. In 2000, the census population was at 3,646. By the ...

Reservoir was merged with Lake Dallas. The county is on the western edge of the eastern

Cross Timbers The term Cross Timbers, also known as Ecoregion 29, Central Oklahoma/Texas Plains, is used to describe a strip of land in the United States that runs from southeastern Kansas across Central Oklahoma to Central Texas. Made up of a mix of prairie ...

and also encompasses parts of the Grand Prairie portion of the Texas blackland prairies. Portions of Denton County sit atop the Barnett shale, a geological formation believed to contain large quantities of natural shale gas. Between 1995 and 2007, the number of natural gas wells in the county increased from 156 to 1,820, which has led to some controversy over the pollution associated with hydraulic fracturing.

Lakes

* Lewisville Lake * Lake Ray Roberts

Adjacent counties

* Cooke County (north) * Grayson County (northeast) * Collin County (east) * Dallas County (southeast) *

(south) * Wise County (west)

Communities

Cities

Multiple counties

* Carrollton (partly in Dallas County and a small part in Collin County) * Celina (mostly in Collin County) * Coppell (mostly in Dallas County) *

Dallas Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...

(mostly in Dallas County with small parts in Collin, Kaufman, Rockwall and Denton counties) * Fort Worth (mostly in Tarrant County with small parts in Johnson, Parker, Wise, and Denton counties) * Frisco (mostly in Collin County) *

Grapevine ''Vitis'' (grapevine) is a genus of 79 accepted species of vining plants in the flowering plant family Vitaceae. The genus is made up of species predominantly from the Northern Hemisphere. It is economically important as the source of grapes, ...

(mostly in Tarrant County and a small part in Dallas County) *

Haslet In British English, haslet or acelet is a pork meatloaf with herbs, originally from Lincolnshire. The word is derived from the Old French meaning ''entrails''. In Lincolnshire, haslet (pronounced '/ˈhæslɪt/' locally) is typically made from s ...

(mostly in Tarrant County) * Lewisville (small part in Dallas County) * Plano (mostly in Collin County) * Southlake (mostly in Tarrant County)

Denton County only

* Aubrey *

Corinth Corinth ( ; el, Κόρινθος, Kórinthos, ) is the successor to an ancient city, and is a former municipality in Corinthia, Peloponnese (region), Peloponnese, which is located in south-central Greece. Since the 2011 local government refor ...

* Denton (

) * Highland Village *

Justin Justin may refer to: People * Justin (name), including a list of persons with the given name Justin * Justin (historian), a Latin historian who lived under the Roman Empire * Justin I (c. 450–527), or ''Flavius Iustinius Augustus'', Eastern Rom ...

* Krugerville *

Krum Krum ( bg, Крум, el, Κροῦμος/Kroumos), often referred to as Krum the Fearsome ( bg, Крум Страшни) was the Khan of Bulgaria from sometime between 796 and 803 until his death in 814. During his reign the Bulgarian territory ...

* Lake Dallas * Lakewood Village *

* Oak Point * Pilot Point * Roanoke * Sanger * The Colony

Towns

Multiple counties

* Flower Mound (small part in Tarrant County) *

Hebron Hebron ( ar, الخليل or ; he, חֶבְרוֹן ) is a Palestinian. city in the southern West Bank, south of Jerusalem. Nestled in the Judaean Mountains, it lies above sea level. The second-largest city in the West Bank (after Eas ...

(small part in Collin County) * Prosper (mostly in Collin County) * Trophy Club (small part in Tarrant County) * Westlake (mostly in Tarrant County)

Denton County only

* Argyle * Bartonville *

Copper Canyon Copper Canyon (Spanish: Barrancas del Cobre) is a group of six distinct canyons in the Sierra Madre Occidental in the southwestern part of the state of Chihuahua in northwestern Mexico that is in size. The canyons were formed by six rivers tha ...

* Cross Roads * DISH * Double Oak *

Draper Draper was originally a term for a retailer or wholesaler of cloth that was mainly for clothing. A draper may additionally operate as a cloth merchant or a haberdasher. History Drapers were an important trade guild during the medieval period, ...

* Hackberry * Hickory Creek * Lincoln Park * Northlake * Ponder * Providence Village * Shady Shores

Census-designated places

Lantana ''Lantana'' () is a genus of about 150 species of perennial flowering plants in the verbena family, Verbenaceae. They are native to tropical regions of the Americas and Africa but exist as an introduced species in numerous areas, especially in ...

* Paloma Creek * Paloma Creek South * Savannah

Unincorporated communities

Alliance An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...

(partly in Tarrant County) * Bolivar * Navo

Ghost town

* Elizabethtown

Demographics

''Note: the US Census treats Hispanic/Latino as an ethnic category. This table excludes Latinos from the racial categories and assigns them to a separate category. Hispanics/Latinos can be of any race.'' According to the

2010 United States census The United States census of 2010 was the twenty-third United States national census. National Census Day, the reference day used for the census, was April 1, 2010. The census was taken via mail-in citizen self-reporting, with enumerators servi ...

, there were 662,614 people, 224,840 households and 256,139 housing units in the county. The

population density Population density (in agriculture: Stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geographical ...

was 754.3 people per square mile. By the 2020 census, its population increased to 906,422, representing continued population growth among suburban communities outside of the principal metropolitan cities of

and Fort Worth. Denton County ranked 29th on the U.S. Census Bureau's list of fastest-growing counties between 2000 and 2007, with a 41.4% increase in population. In 2010, the racial makeup of the county was 75% White, 8.4% African American, 0.7% Native American, 6.6% Asian, and 3.0% from two or more races. About 18.2% of the population was Hispanic or Latino of any race. The 2020 census determined the racial and ethnic makeup was 53.58% non-Hispanic white, 10.52% Black or African American, 0.40% Native American, 10.23% Asian, 0.07% Pacific Islander, 0.43% some other race, 4.60% multiracial, and 20.16% Hispanic or Latino American of any race, reflecting state and nationwide demographic trends of greater diversification. A

Williams Institute The Williams Institute on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Law and Public Policy, usually shortened to Williams Institute, is a public policy research institute based at the UCLA School of Law focused on sexual orientation and gender ident ...

analysis of 2010 census data found about 5.2

same-sex couples A same-sex relationship is a romantic or sexual relationship between people of the same sex. ''Same-sex marriage'' refers to the institutionalized recognition of such relationships in the form of a marriage; civil unions may exist in countries ...

per 1,000 households in the county.

Government and politics

Government

Denton County, like all counties in Texas, is governed by a commissioners court, which consists of the

county judge The term county judge is applied as a descriptor, sometimes as a title, for a person who presides over a county court. In most cases, such as in Northern Ireland and the Victorian County Courts, a county judge is a judicial officer with civil ...

(the chairperson of the court), who is elected county-wide, and four commissioners who are elected by the voters in each of four districts. Justices of the peace are county officials with jurisdiction over landlord/tenant issues, small civil claims, certain misdemeanors, and other matters.

County commissioners

County officials

Justices of the peace

Law enforcement

The Denton Sheriff's Office employs more than 600 people, for the Denton County Sheriff's Office, most in the Detention Bureau. The office operates a county jail that houses up to 1,400 prisoners. The office is co-located with the jail at 127 North Woodrow Lane in the county seat of Denton. the current sheriff is Tracy Murphree, who was first elected in 2016. That election was particularly contentious, with previous sheriff William B. Travis dogged by scandal, and new candidate Murphree making headlines for threatening violence against

transgender A transgender (often abbreviated as trans) person is someone whose gender identity or gender expression does not correspond with their sex assigned at birth. Many transgender people experience dysphoria, which they seek to alleviate through ...

people.

Politics

Denton County, like most suburban counties in Texas, is reliably Republican in statewide and national elections, although becoming less so since the 2018 election, when

Beto O'Rourke Robert Francis "Beto" O'Rourke ( , ; ; born September 26, 1972) is an American politician who served as the U.S. representative for from 2013 to 2019. A member of the Democratic Party, O'Rourke was the party's nominee for the U.S. Senat ...

earned 45.52% of the county's votes and two Democrats were elected. The last Democratic presidential candidate to win the county was native Texan

Lyndon B. Johnson Lyndon Baines Johnson (; August 27, 1908January 22, 1973), often referred to by his initials LBJ, was an American politician who served as the 36th president of the United States from 1963 to 1969. He had previously served as the 37th vice ...

1964 Events January * January 1 – The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is dissolved. * January 5 - In the first meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches since the fifteenth century, Pope Paul VI and Patriarc ...

, the only time since 1952 that the county has been carried by a Democrat. Denton swung rapidly into the Republican column at the federal level in the 1950s and 1960s as Dallas and Fort Worth's suburbs spilled into the county. In 2018, State Representative Michelle Beckley became the first Democrat elected to the state legislature from Denton County since 1984. Her district, the 65th, is located entirely within Denton County, and includes significant portions of Carrollton, Highland Village and Lewisville. Also in 2018, Christopher Lopez, elected to justice of the peace, Precinct 6, became the first Democrat elected at the county level since 2004. Despite a Republican advantage, Denton continues to trend leftward, as Joe Biden managed 45.2% (to Donald Trump's 53.3%) in the 2020 presidential election, the best result for a Democrat since 1976. Many other suburban Texas counties, including its immediate neighbors in Collin County and Tarrant County as well as those around

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 i ...

and Austin, showed similar swings since 2016.

State board of education members

Texas State Representatives

Texas state senators

United States representatives

Education

K-12 schools

These school districts lie entirely within Denton County: * Argyle Independent School District * Aubrey Independent School District *

Denton Independent School District Denton Independent School District, sometimes shortened to Denton ISD, is a school district based in Denton, Texas. DISD's superintendent is Jamie Wilson. In 2009, the school district was rated " academically acceptable" by the Texas Educatio ...

* Lake Dallas Independent School District *

Lewisville Independent School District Lewisville Independent School District (LISD) is a 127-square mile school district based in Lewisville, Texas ( USA) covering all of Lewisville, The Colony, Highland Village, Copper Canyon, and Double Oak as well as portions of Flower Mound ...

Little Elm Independent School District The Little Elm Independent School District is a public school district in Denton County, Texas. In 2019, the Texas Education Agency rated the District with a "B" rating . History In 1865 a one-room log cabin was first used as one of the first ...

* Ponder Independent School District * Sanger Independent School District These school districts lie partly within Denton County: * Carrollton-Farmers Branch Independent School District * Celina Independent School District * Era Independent School District *

Frisco Independent School District Frisco Independent School District is a public school district based in Frisco, Texas, United States. The district covers portions of Denton and Collin counties, including portions of the cities of Frisco, Little Elm, Plano, and McKinney as ...

* Krum Independent School District * Northwest Independent School District * Pilot Point Independent School District * Prosper Independent School District * Slidell Independent School District These private educational institutions serve Denton County: * Denton Calvary Academy * Coram Deo Academy * Lakeland Christian Academy * Liberty Christian School * Selwyn College Preparatory School From around 1997 to 2015, the number of non-Hispanic white children in K-12 schools in the county increased by 20,000 as part of a trend of white flight and suburbanization by non-Hispanic white families.

Colleges and universities

According to the Texas Education Code, most of Denton County is assigned to

North Central Texas College North Central Texas College (NCTC) is a public community college in Gainesville, Texas. It serves Cooke County, Denton County, and Montague County, Texas. History As with many of the early community colleges, NCTC began as an extension of t ...

for

community college A community college is a type of educational institution. The term can have different meanings in different countries: many community colleges have an "open enrollment" for students who have graduated from high school (also known as senior se ...

. However portions within Celina ISD, Proper ISD, and the municipalities of Frisco and The Colony are instead assigned to

Collin College Collin College is a public community college district in Texas. Founded in 1985, the district has grown as the county has grown from around 5,000 students in 1986 to more than 58,000 credit and noncredit students. Formerly known as the Coll ...

(formerly Collin County Community College), and portions zoned to Carrollton-Farmers Branch ISD are assigned to

Dallas College Dallas College is a public community college with seven campuses in Dallas County, Texas. It serves more than 70,000 students annually in degree-granting, continuing education, and adult education programs. Dallas College offers associate degr ...

(formerly Dallas County Community College District). These four year higher-education institutions serve Denton County: *

University of North Texas The University of North Texas (UNT) is a public research university in Denton, Texas. It was founded as a nonsectarian, coeducational, private teachers college in 1890 and was formally adopted by the state 11 years later."Denton Normal School, ...

(UNT) * Texas Woman's University

Transportation

The

Denton County Transportation Authority The Denton County Transportation Authority (DCTA) is the transit authority that operates in Denton County, Texas. It operates transit service in three cities within Denton County, as well as the A-train, a regional commuter rail line to Carrollto ...

(DCTA) operates fixed-route bus services, on-demand GoZone service, and ACCESS paratransit service in the county that includes Denton, Lewisville, and Highland Village. SPAN Transit covers areas outside of Denton and Lewisville. DCTA also operates the A-train, a

commuter rail Commuter rail, or suburban rail, is a passenger rail transport service that primarily operates within a metropolitan area, connecting Commuting, commuters to a Downtown, central city from adjacent suburbs or commuter towns. Generally commuter r ...

service that runs from Denton to Carrollton, at which station passengers can switch to the Green Line train owned and operated by Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART). Passengers can transfer to other DART lines (denominated by different colors) at the downtown Dallas DART station. The county is home to the Denton Municipal Airport and the Northwest Regional Airport in Roanoke.

Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport , also known as DFW Airport, is the primary international airport serving the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex and the North Texas Region in the U.S. state of Texas. It is the largest hub for American Ai ...

is located a few miles south of the county.

Major highways

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Notable people

Dick Armey Richard Keith Armey (; born July 7, 1940) is an American economist and politician. He was a U.S. Representative from Texas's (1985–2003) and House Majority Leader (1995–2003). He was one of the engineers of the "Republican Revolution" of t ...

, former U.S. House Majority Leader and a chief architect of the Contract with America. *

Joan Blondell Joan Blondell (born Rose Joan Bluestein; August 30, 1906 – December 25, 1979) was an American actress who performed in film and television for 50 years. Blondell began her career in vaudeville. After winning a beauty pageant, she embarked on ...

, film and television actress, attended UNT (then North Texas State Teacher's College) in 1926–1927. *

Pat Boone Patrick Charles Eugene Boone (born June 1, 1934) is an American singer and actor. He was a successful pop singer in the United States during the 1950s and early 1960s. He sold more than 45 million records, had 38 Top 40 hits, and appeared in mo ...

, American pop singer, briefly attended UNT. *

Bowling for Soup Bowling for Soup (abbreviated as BFS) is an American rock band formed in Wichita Falls, Texas, in 1994. The band consists of Jaret Reddick (lead vocals, guitar), Chris Burney (guitar, backing vocals), Gary Wiseman (drums, percussion, backing vo ...

, American rock band, based in Denton since 1996 and mentioned the county in their song Ohio (Come Back to Texas) *

Terry Bradshaw Terry Paxton Bradshaw (born September 2, 1948) is an American former professional football player who was a quarterback for the Pittsburgh Steelers in the National Football League (NFL). Since 1994, he has been a television sports analyst an ...

, former Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback *

Mason Cox Mason Cox (born March 14, 1991) is an American-Australian professional Australian rules footballer who plays for the Collingwood Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). Playing as a ruckman and key forward, he first played Austr ...

, professional Australian rules footballer, playing for Collingwood in the AFL * Phyllis George, 1971 Miss America, sportscaster and former First Lady of Kentucky *

Joe Greene Charles Edward Greene (born September 24, 1946), better known as "Mean" Joe Greene, is an American former professional football player who was a defensive tackle for the Pittsburgh Steelers of the National Football League (NFL) from 1969 to 1 ...

, defensive tackle for the Pittsburgh Steelers, 1969–1981; 1969 defensive rookie of the year; 1972 and 1974 defensive player of the year; NFL 1970s all-decade team; Hall of Fame * Jim Hightower, former Texas Agriculture Commissioner *

Norah Jones Norah Jones (born Geethali Norah Jones Shankar; March 30, 1979) is an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. She has won several awards for her music and as of 2012, has sold more than 50 million records worldwide. ''Billboard'' named her the ...

, UNT jazz major * Henry Lee Lucas, serial killer, known as the "Confession Killer," committed a 1982 murder in Denton that ultimately led to his arrest *

Meat Loaf Michael Lee Aday (born Marvin Lee Aday; September 27, 1947 – January 20, 2022), known professionally as Meat Loaf, was an American rock singer and actor. He was noted for his powerful, wide-ranging voice and theatrical live shows. He is on t ...

, American singer and actor, attended UNT *

Gordon McLendon Gordon Barton McLendon (June 8, 1921 – September 14, 1986Texas State Historical AssociationMcClendon, Gordon Barton/ref>) was a radio broadcaster. Nicknamed "the Maverick of Radio", McLendon is widely credited for perfecting, during the 1950s ...

, radio broadcaster and pioneer, B-movie producer, and conservative political financier *

Laina Morris Overly Attached Girlfriend (OAG) is a fictional character and an Internet meme originating in a YouTube video published on June 6, 2012. The character was created by Laina Morris (born June 22, 1991). The video was a submission to a contest hel ...

- the Overly Attached Girlfriend *

Bill Moyers Bill Moyers (born Billy Don Moyers, June 5, 1934) is an American journalist and political commentator. Under the Johnson administration he served from 1965 to 1967 as the eleventh White House Press Secretary. He was a director of the Counci ...

, White House press secretary in the Johnson Administration (1965–67), attended UNT *

Anne Rice Anne Rice (born Howard Allen Frances O'Brien; October 4, 1941 – December 11, 2021) was an American author of gothic fiction, erotic literature, and Christian literature. She was best known for her series of novels '' The Vampire Chronicles''. ...

, author, attended TWU and UNT, married in Denton *

Sly Stone Sylvester Stewart (born March 15, 1943), better known by his stage name Sly Stone, is an American musician, songwriter, and record producer who is most famous for his role as frontman for Sly and the Family Stone, playing a critical role in the ...

, the musician and frontman of Sly and the Family Stone *

Rex Tillerson Rex Wayne Tillerson (born March 23, 1952) is an American engineer and energy executive who served as the 69th U.S. secretary of state from February 1, 2017, to March 31, 2018, under President Donald Trump. Prior to joining the Trump administ ...

, former CEO of ExxonMobil and 69th

United States Secretary of State The United States secretary of state is a member of the executive branch of the federal government of the United States and the head of the U.S. Department of State. The office holder is one of the highest ranking members of the president's Ca ...

, resident of Bartonville *

Von Erich family The Von Erich family is an American professional wrestling family. Originally from Texas, their actual surname is Adkisson, but every member who has been in the wrestling business has used the ring name "Von Erich," after the family patriarch, Fri ...

, multigenerational professional wrestling family, known for a series of premature deaths sometimes referred to as the Von Erich curse *

Tex Watson Charles Denton "Tex" Watson (born December 2, 1945) is an American murderer who was a central member of the " Manson Family" led by Charles Manson. On August 9, 1969, Watson, Patricia Krenwinkel, and Susan Atkins murdered pregnant actress Sharon ...

, central member of the "Manson family" and leader of the Tate-LaBianca murders in August 1969.

References

External links

Denton County government's website

Headlines about Denton County from ''The Dallas Morning News''

Denton County entry
in the '' Handbook of Texas'' Online at the

University of Texas The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

Denton County Texas Almanac Page

Historic Denton County materials
hosted by th
Portal to Texas History.

''Captain John B. Denton, preacher, lawyer and soldier. His life and times in Tennessee, Arkansas and Texas by Wm. Allen.''
published 1905, hosted by th
Portal to Texas History
{{authority control Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex counties 1846 establishments in Texas Populated places established in 1846

History

Geography

Lakes

Adjacent counties

Communities

Cities

Multiple counties

Denton County only

Towns

Multiple counties

Denton County only

Census-designated places

Unincorporated communities

Ghost town

Demographics

Government and politics

Government

County commissioners

County officials

Justices of the peace

Law enforcement

Politics

State board of education members

Texas State Representatives

Texas state senators

United States representatives

Education

K-12 schools

Colleges and universities

Transportation

Major highways

Notable people

See also

References

Further reading

External links