In 1858, a year after Denton became a town, it was a tiny settlement of 361 souls. A small wooden county courthouse sat in the middle of what is now the south side of Denton’s Square. The Lacy Hotel was at the northeast corner of the Square, the present-day location of the Texas Building, which houses Barley & Board restaurant and other businesses. The Lacy Hotel is thought to have been Denton’s first.
Denton was still the Wild West then. Paved streets didn’t exist, only buggy paths over dead grass close to buildings.
