Denton turns By Ashley-Harrington Andrews
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he mayor of Denton in the midst of the Great Depression, Howell E. Harrison, described his town as “too tough to die.” He was right. This year Denton marks its 100th year of incorporation, and judging from how Denton celebrated in 1957, there will be plenty going on. Another Harrison, Branson Ivey Harrison, is generally considered the primemover of Denton. In 1877 he evidently declared that this place in southern Davidson County, then known as Finch’s Cross Roads, needed its own post office instead of relying on occasional mail delivery from Thomasville. He applied to the U.S. and offered several town names that were rejected. One day he was talking to a young man, Samuel Moses Peacock, who had a reputation as a great reader. “Mose” was reading a book that mentioned a Texas town named Denton, which struck them both as a nice name. Harrison tried that, the U.S. accepted it, Denton got a post office in 1878, and “Mose” was named postmaster. B.I. Harrison, a school teacher at the time, then partnered with J.M. Daniel to open the town’s first store in 1882 and later moved the post office into it and became postmaster himself. The general store at the crossroads where the Denton Tire and Appliance Store is today was known for its stock which included sugar, coffee, salt fish, lamp oil, horseshoes, plow points, sheepskins, opossum hides, furs, dried
Centennial Celebration Events On March 11 the town of Denton will be celebrating its 100th birthday. Denton is providing commemorative centennial calendars that can be purchased for $5 at Denton Town Hall located on Salisbury Street. Centennial car tags are also available for $2. For more information, call the centennial coordinator at (336) 859-4269 or town hall at (336) 859-4231 or visit www.denton-nc.us.
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Parade in downtown Denton during its 50th anniversary celebration in 1957. fruits, roots and special herbs. In 1893, Harrison’s partnership dissolved, and he moved the post office into his house, which stood where today’s post office stands. His wife helped behind the counter, because Harrison himself was busy. He was also in the nursery stock business and happened to employ as a salesman in Cleveland County a young man named Clyde R. Hoey, the future governor and U.S. senator. Bert Lanier, a Denton merchant and ardent local researcher, managed to find out that the place known as Finch’s Cross Roads got its name from a Richardson Finch who in 1819 bought some 500 acres on what is known as Red Hill, up the hill from today’s junction of Salisbury St. and Main St. (On the subject of Laniers, Denton was the hometown of two fairly wellknown Major League Baseball players: pitcher Max Lanier who played with the St. Louis Cardinals in the 1940s, and Hal Lanier who was an infielder, coach and manager in the 1960s.) In 1886 Denton saw its first grist mill and school. Three years later the Denton Baptist Church was built replacing the Old Tom’s Creek church. Dr. Abel Anderson was Denton’s first doctor and practiced more than 40 years. It wasn’t until the railroad came to Denton in 1904 that things picked up. The region’s hardwood forests supplied
the raw materials for railroad ties, which Denton produced in profusion. So it seemed like a good time to incorporate as a town. The state legislature accepted Denton’s appeal for incorporation in March 1907. Branson Ivey Harrison, of course, was named to the town’s first governing board. In 1912 the Denton Chair Company opened, followed by other woodrelated industries. Evidently just about everything shut down after World War I. Even the railroad went bankrupt. But soon business reappeared. In the 1930s, Rodgers Hosiery Mill opened up, then Thornton Knitting Company, two roller mills, broom manufacturers, a lumber plant, ice and bottling plant, marble cutting business, cotton gin, and in 1966 Burlington Industries built a textile mill known as Klopman Mills. Klopman Mills became today’s Burlington Fabrics, the largest employer in the area. Denton claims some 1,400 residents today and a busy downtown commercial district. Denton is near the popular High Rock Lake with more than 300 miles of shoreline. Denton Farm Park is a unique 100-acre park that hosts the Southeast Old Threshers’ Reunion the first week in July, an antique railroad and restored village buildings, bluegrass festivals, the Tour de Kale fundraiser and other events.
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