Up North in Denton: “Famous School and College County”
by Paula Bosse
Denton County Courthouse, 1928 (click for larger image)
by Paula Bosse
Okay, so it’s not Dallas, but who in Big D doesn’t love Little D? Besides, this is just too great a photo to keep to myself.
And in case you need to bone up on your 1928 Denton County stats for “Jeopardy” or something, look no further (click for larger image):
“Kindergarten to College Degree —
Board at home and be educated free.”
Free!
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Might as well see where the photo of the courthouse was taken from: the Wright Opera House (now Recycled Books). Here it is, about 1900:
The Wright Opera House, built in 1899, shown here in 1900 (click for much larger image)
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The photo of the courthouse and the ad are both from, where else, the program for the 52nd Annual Convention of the State Firemen’s Association of Texas, held in Denton in June of 1928. If you’re into firefighting ephemera or old Denton photos, you might want to peruse it yourself: click here. (From the collection of the Denton Public Library.)
Photo of the Opera House from the article “Faded Echoes: A History of the Wright Opera House in Denton” by Clare Adkins, featured in the September, 1982 issue of Texas Historian, accessible through the Portal to Texas History, here.
Click pictures for larger images.
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Copyright © 2014 Paula Bosse. All Rights Reserved.
Flashback : Dallas 
There’s very nearly a Big D connection to this image of the Denton County courthouse in that about eighteen months after this picture was taken Clyde and Buck Barrow burgled an auto repair shop just out of the frame to the left, at 311 West Oak Street. It was on the night of November 29, 1929 and the job went badly: Buck was wounded by the cops, and, with an accomplice, taken to the Denton County jail, also out of the scene to the left. Clyde wrecked the getaway car trying to outrun the law and escaped, evidently on foot.
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Ha! Thanks, Bob — that’s really interesting!
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Great photo. Having grown up in the Denton area I’m glad the Square still retains much of its original charm.
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I am, too! This view looks almost Red Square-like….
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