What changed it were the schools. In 1890 the Texas Normal College — today the University of North Texas, one of the largest universities in the state — opened its doors, and in 1901 the Girls' Industrial College, now Texas Woman's University, followed. Two universities in a town this size set the tempo: tens of thousands of students, a year-round calendar of concerts and games and festivals, and a downtown that has been a college town's downtown for well over a century. UNT's music school alone grew into one of the largest in the nation.
The music that UNT seeded spilled off campus long ago. By the late 2000s Denton's scene had a national reputation — its own festival on and around the square, a dense club circuit, and a stream of bands that drew comparisons to Austin in its scruffier days; in 2008 Paste magazine named it the best music scene in the United States. The Denton Arts & Jazz Festival fills the park with hundreds of thousands of people each spring, and on an ordinary weekend you can hear a One O'Clock-caliber big band, an experimental act, and a singer-songwriter within a few blocks of the courthouse. For a town this size, the range is the whole point; more than two dozen venues sit within walking distance of the square.
Why People Visit Denton
Denton offers the energy of a music town and the ease of a small Texas city — a beautiful courthouse square, a deep live-music calendar, two universities, and a creative streak that earned it the nickname “Little Austin.” It's walkable, friendly, and unmistakably North Texas.
