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Denton Information
Denton is the county seat of Denton County, Texas, in the United States.
Located at the northern edge of the Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area,
According to the 2000 U.S. Census, the population was 80,537, while in 2004-05
the population was estimated to have grown to just over 100,000 people, making
it one of the fastest growing cities in the United States.
Denton was founded in 1856 because of the need for a county seat. Denton, as
well as Denton County, was named after John B. Denton, a prominent Methodist
lawyer and Native-American fighter. The city was ultimately incorporated in
1866, when J.B. Sawyer was elected the first mayor. The current mayor of Denton,
as of 2006, is Perry McNeill.
Denton is part of the Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area and is at the tip of
the "Golden Triangle," which includes the cities of Dallas, Fort Worth and
Denton, approximately 40 miles apart from each other. Denton is located on
Interstate 35 at the fork between I-35E, which runs south to Dallas, and I-35W,
which runs south to Fort Worth.
Denton's population increased in its first century primarily due to its role as
a local agricultural trade center and subsequently when it became host to two
universities. In the mid 1900s and through today, Denton grew as a result of its
proximity to Dallas and Fort Worth.
There were 30,895 households out of which 26.1% had children under the age of 18
living with them, 39.8% were married couples living together, 9.5% had a female
householder with no husband present, and 46.9% were non-families. 31.5% of all
households were made up of individuals and 6.0% had someone living alone who was
65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.35 and the average
family size was 3.06.
In the city the population consists of 20.7% under the age of 18, 25.0% from 18
to 24, 30.8% from 25 to 44, 15.7% from 45 to 64, and 7.9% who were 65 years of
age or older. The median age was 27 years. For every 100 females there were 96.7
males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 94.4 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $35,422, and the median income
for a family was $51,419. Males had a median income of $33,698 versus $26,037
for females. The per capita income for the city was $19,365. About 8.7% of
families and 16.2% of the population were below the poverty line, including
14.1% of those under age 18 and 7.0% of those age 65 or over.
Dentonites take pride in being part of a unique and diverse creative community,
and many consider that aspect to be the primary value of Denton life that
separates the town from other Texas cities. Despite the lack of some
metropolitan advantages larger cultural centers afford, such as a well-developed
public transportation system, or a job market better tailored to the creative
class, many in Denton's creative community see Denton as the antidote lifestyle
choice to the ballooning traffic and population concerns of the larger cultural
center of Austin, Texas. The combination of Denton's respected music and art
cultures, and the large intellectual population sustained by Denton's two
universities, makes the smaller town Texas' only other city, outside of Austin,
that could claim such a creative and progressive dominant cultural base.
The pervasive music culture that exists in Denton was seeded initially by the
existence of The University of North Texas' College of Music, a top-rated
institution that draws musicians from all over the world to its advanced studies
divisions. The college's Jazz studies program, established in 1947, was the
first of its kind in the country, and in more recent years the college's Center
for Experimental Music and Intermedia (CEMI) has developed its own distinct
reputation as an internationally-renowned center for teaching, research, and
groundbreaking music creation, but Denton's vibrant and diverse music culture
extends well beyond the rigorous and disciplined world of UNT's College of
Music.
In the last few years the town's music culture has grown beyond its academically
anchored beginnings. A thriving independent music scene has emerged and gained
outside notoriety separate of Denton's more civically embraced academic music
establishments.
The latest development of Denton's evolving status as "Music Town", has been the
arrival of musicians creating work outside the University of North Texas College
of Music. These Denton transplants move there simply because they are aware of
Denton's reputation as a music town, but they are most familiar with the
independent music, not the studied musicianship, the town has produced. They
relocate to Denton with the purpose of developing their music in the town, and
hope that their own musical contributions will be identified in the popular
press of the outside world as originating from Denton, Texas.
The city's live music venues are chiefly supported by Denton's very active music
listening audience, but show attendance is often partly comprised of Dallas/Ft.Worth
music listeners that drive north to attend performances by the touring
independent music acts that bypass the metroplex to perform in Denton instead.
The acknowledged influence of Denton on Dallas and Fort Worth's music scenes is
longstanding and well-developed. Dallas' largest alternative weekly, the Dallas
Observer, once suggested Dallas music listeners drive north to Denton to hear
the best local music Dallas has to offer.
In 2004 and 2005, the roster of Denton's performing and touring music acts
remained between 80 and 90, a high number considering the town's most recent
population figures.
Music acts like twice Grammy award winning Brave Combo, Bowling for Soup, Eric
Keyes, Centro-matic, Brutal Juice, The Riverboat Gamblers, Riddle Me This,
Slobberbone, The Baptist Generals, Lift to Experience, Ten Hands, Beef Jerky,
Midlake, South San Gabriel, and The Marked Men have all drawn national and
international attention to Denton's vibrant music culture. Singer-pianist and
multiple-Grammy Award winner Norah Jones studied jazz piano in Denton.
Denton is home to the University of North Texas, originally known as North Texas
Normal College, which was founded in 1890 and the Girls' Industrial college, now
called Texas Woman's University. Despite its name, Texas Woman's University is
open to both sexes. The University of North Texas, known as UNT, is the largest
university in the North Texas area. Their presence gives Denton a college town
feel and played a pivotal role in distinguishing it from other agricultural
cities in the early 20th century. The two universities currently account for
nearly half of Denton's population, with a combined estimated enrollment of
45,000 students. Denton Independent School District serves the city of Denton.
As of 2006 the DISD has 16 Elementary Schools, 5 Middle Schools, and 3 High
Schools.
Denton County is home to all or parts of three lakes: Lake Grapevine, Lake
Lewisville, and Lake Ray Roberts. The Texas Motor Speedway is located within
Denton County. Denton is also host to the annual Denton Arts & Jazz Festival, a
city-sponsored event that brings over 200,000 people per year for live music,
foods, crafts, and recreation. The festival is usually held the last three days
of April.
Some Things to Consider When Looking for a Place...
When searching for a new apartment make sure to take your time to think
through what are the most important things to you in an apartment and plan your
search based on those priorities. Here are some things to consider when planning
your move:
1. Consider the areas where you would like to live
* What is the crime rate?
* If you have children - what rating does the local school system have?
* Is there area convenient shopping, health and recreation services in the area?
2. Make a list of your housing priorities
* Do you have pets?
* Do you need parking?
* Do you need to be on the ground floor?
* What amenities are important to you - swimming pool, fitness room, in unit
laundry?
3. Evaluate the building
* What is the condition of the unit and building?
* Are the grounds maintained?
* Are windows, steps, and railings in good condition?
* View the property at night. Is it safe and well lit?
4. The security of the property
* Are there security service? When is the guard on duty?
* Does the building have controlled access?
* Does each unit have secure door and window locks?
5. Talk to the neighbors
* Ask other residents whether they are satisfied with the building.
6. Amenities
* Who is allowed to use the amenities?
* When are they open?
* Are the fees charged to use those facilities included in rent?
7. Ask about Utilities
* Does the owner or tenant pay the utility bills?
* Are any utilities included with monthly rent?
* Do units have separate thermostats to control heat and air conditioning?
8. Review the lease
* How much notice must you give before moving out?
* Can the rent be increased? If so, by how much and how often?
* Are pets allowed?
* What is the security deposit and cleaning costs upon move out?
* What is the responsibility of tenants for damage to property?
* Is there a penalty for breaking a lease?
9. Information too bring to a lease signing
* Credit Report
* Pay stubs/tax returns
* Reference
* Application
More Apartment Information
An apartment (or flat in Britain and most other Commonwealth countries) is a
self-contained housing unit that occupies only part of a building. Apartments
may be owned (by an owner-occupier) or rented (by tenants).
Some apartment-dwellers own their apartments, either as co-ops, in which the
residents own shares of a corporation that owns the building or development; or
in condominiums, whose residents own their apartments and share ownership of the
public spaces. Most apartments are in buildings designed for the purpose, but
large older houses are sometimes divided into apartments. The word apartment
connotes a residential unit or section in a building. Apartment building owners,
lessors, or managers often use the more general word units to refer to
apartments. Units can be used to refer to rental business suites as well as
residential apartments. When there is no tenant occupying an apartment, the
lessor is said to have a vacancy. For apartment lessors, each vacancy represents
a loss of income from rent-paying tenants for the time the apartment is vacant
(i.e., unoccupied). Lessors' objectives are often to minimize the vacancy rate
for their units. The owner of the apartment typically transfers possession to
the occupant by giving him/her the key to the apartment entrance door and any
other keys need to live there, such as a common key to the building or any other
common areas, and an individual unit mailbox key. When the occupant move out,
these keys should typically be returned to the owner.
Apartments can be classified into several types. Studio, efficiency, bed-sit, or
bachelor apartments tend to be the smallest apartments with the cheapest rents
in a given area. These kinds of apartment usually consist mainly of a large room
which is the living, dining, and bedroom combined. There are usually kitchen
facilities as part of this central room, but the bathroom is its own smaller
separate room. Moving up from the efficiencies are one-bedroom apartments where
one bedroom is a separate room from the rest of the apartment. Then there are
two-bedroom, three-bedroom, etc. apartments. Small apartments often have only
one entrance/exit. Large apartments often have two entrances/exits, perhaps a
door in the front and another in the back. Depending on the building design, the
entrance/exit doors may be directly to the outside or to a common area inside,
such as a hallway. Depending on location, apartments may be available for rent
furnished with furniture or unfurnished into which a tenant usually moves in
with his/her own furniture. Permanent carpeting is often included in an
apartment.
Laundry facilities are usually kept in a separate area accessible to all the
tenants in the building. Depending on when the building was built and the design
of the building, utilities such as water, heating, and electric may be common
for all the apartments in the building or separate for each apartment and billed
separately to each tenant (however, many areas in the US have ruled it illegal
to split a water bill among all the tenants, especially if a pool is on the
premises). Outlets for connection to telephones are typically included in
apartments. Telephone service is optional and is practically always billed
separately from the rent payments. Cable television and similar amenities are
extra also. Parking space, air conditioner, and extra storage space may or may
not be included with an apartment. Rental leases often limit the maximum number
of people who can reside in each apartment. On or around the ground floor of the
apartment building, a series of mailboxes are typically kept in a location
accessible to the public and, thus, to the letter-carrier too. Every unit
typically gets its own mailbox with individual keys to it. Some very large
apartment buildings with a full-time staff may take mail from the mailman and
provide mail-sorting service. Near the mailboxes or some other location
accessible by outsiders, there may be a buzzer (equivalent to a doorbell) for
each individual unit. In smaller apartment buildings such as two- or
three-flats, or even four-flats, garbage is often disposed of in trash
containers similar to those used at houses. In larger buildings, garbage is
often collected in a common trash bin or dumpster. For cleanliness or minimizing
noise, many lessors will place restrictions on tenants regarding keeping pets in
an apartment.
In some parts of the world, the word apartment is used generally to refer to a
new purpose-built self-contained residential unit in a building, whereas the
word flat means a converted self-contained unit in an older building. An
industrial, warehouse, or commercial space converted to an apartment is commonly
called a loft.
When part of a house is converted for the ostensible use of a landlord's family
member, the unit may be known as an in-law apartment or granny flat, though
these (sometimes illegally) created units are often occupied by ordinary renters
rather than family members. In Canada these suites are commonly located in the
basements of houses and are therefore normally called basement suites.
Staying in privately owned apartments rather than in a hotel is quickly becoming
popular with travelers.