Withers Street

Withers Street was a quiet residential area in the Quakertown neighborhood of Denton, Texas, home to several Black families in the early 20th century. By 1922, its residents were displaced due to the city’s decision to convert Quaker into a public park. T

Withers Street was part of the Quakertown neighborhood, a once-thriving African American community in Denton, Texas. In 1921, the street was home to families like Willard and Jessie Dooley, Denard and Adda Pryor, Walter and Julia Beard, Mattie Paul, Gus and Minnie Taylor, and Harriet Hampton. It also housed a boarding home run by M. C. Davis, reflecting the street’s mix of homeowners and renters who contributed to a close-knit, self-sustaining community. But in 1922, the City of Denton voted to convert Quakertown into a public park, forcibly displacing its Black residents. Many, like Mattie Paul, resettled in newly developed areas such as Solomon Hill, while others left Denton entirely. Though no original homes remain, Withers Street stands as a quiet reminder of the families who once lived there and the broader story of resilience, displacement, and community in early 20th-century Black Denton.