Denison was founded in 1872 in conjunction with the Missouri–Kansas–Texas Railroad (MKT) or "Katy" depot.[4] It was named after wealthy Katy vice president George Denison.[5] Because the town was established close to where the MKT crossed the Red River (both important conduits of transportation in the industrial era), it came to be an important commercial center in the 19th-century American West. In 1875, Doc Holliday had offices in Denison.
In 1901, the first electric "Interurban" railway in Texas, the Denison and Sherman Railway, was completed between Denison and Sherman.[7]
In 1915, Kentucky-based evangelist Mordecai Ham held a revival meeting in Denison, which resulted in 1,100 professions of faith in Jesus Christ.[8]
Denison played host to 20th-century notables such as the Marx Brothers[9] and President Dwight D. Eisenhower, who was born on October 14, 1890, in Denison.[10]
Geography
Denison is located in northeastern Grayson County, with the city limits extending north to the Red River, which forms the Oklahoma state line. It is bordered to the south by the city of Sherman; the city centers are 11 miles (18 km) apart.
According to the United States Census Bureau, Denison has a total area of 23.4 square miles (60.7 km2), of which 0.46 square miles (1.2 km2), or 1.94%, are covered by water.[2]
Denison Dam, which forms Lake Texoma on the Red River, is 5 miles (8 km) north of Denison. The lake is in the center of the Texoma region, encompassing parts of Texas and Oklahoma.
Munson Stadium seats 5,262 people and is used primarily for football. It is the home field of Denison High School's football and soccer teams.[18] The Denison High School football team won the 1984 Texas Class 4A State Championship by beating Tomball 27–13, completing a perfect 16–0 record. They also made appearances in the 1995, 1996, and 1997 Class 4A Division II State Championship games, losing each time to La Marque.[19] They are home to the longest high school football rivalry in Texas: the Battle of the Ax, against Sherman High School.[20]
Education
Administration building at Grayson College in Denison
Denison is served by two U.S. Highways—U.S. 69 and U.S. 75 (Katy Memorial Expressway) and two State Highways—State Highway 91 and Spur 503 (Eisenhower Parkway). State Highway 91, known as Texoma Parkway, is one of the main commercial strips that connects Sherman and Denison. It also extends north to Lake Texoma.
Walter Kinney born 1893 was a major League Pitcher for the Boston Red Sox in 1918 and The Philadelphia Athletics 1919,1920, and 1923. Played for The Denison Railroaders in 1914 and 1915 and The Dallas Submariners in 1916-1918. retired from professional baseball in the early 1930s after a long and prosperous career. This information was gathered from an estate find for the Kinney family of Denison, Texas.
Harold Wertz, 1927–1999, "Bouncy" of Our Gang comedies (1932–1933)
In popular culture
In 2013, Lake Texoma and the Hampton Inn and Suites Denison were featured on a travel show entitled The Official Best of Texas, which aired on CBS and the Discovery Channel.[27]
Denison is referenced in the book Dan Gutman's From Texas with Love (Genius Files #4)[28] as the main characters drove through the town, noting the bust of President Dwight D. Eisenhower[29] on the side of U.S. Route 75.
References
^"2019 U.S. Gazetteer Files". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved August 7, 2020.
^ a b c"Geographic Identifiers: 2010 Demographic Profile Data (G001): Denison city, Texas". American Factfinder. U.S. Census Bureau. Retrieved March 15, 2017.[dead link]
^UIL State Football Champions Archived February 12, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
^"SISD: SHS Battle of the Ax". January 11, 2002. Archived from the original on January 11, 2002.
^"Search every page of every issue published by Texoma Living! Magazine from 2006 to 2010". Texoma Living! Online. Retrieved July 16, 2015.
^"Biography-Anoatubby.com". Archived from the original on April 17, 2015. Retrieved December 21, 2022.
^"Eisenhower State Park — Texas Parks & Wildlife Department". www.tpwd.state.tx.us.
^Anderson, LeRoy M. (May 23, 1947). "The Denison Press (Denison, Tex.), Vol. 18, No. 48, Ed. 1 Friday, May 23, 1947". The Portal to Texas History. Retrieved December 21, 2022.
^Rivera, Ray (January 16, 2009). "In a Split Second, a Pilot Becomes a Hero Years in the Making". The New York Times. Retrieved January 17, 2009.
^Website http://www.theofficialbestof.com
^Gutman, Dan (2014). The Genius Files: From Texas with Love. HarperCollins. pp. 112–116. ISBN 9780062285621.
^"Sign and bust of former U.S. General and President Dwight D. Eisenhower located in Denison, Texas". Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA. Retrieved June 4, 2024.
^Note: the US Census treats Hispanic/Latino as an ethnic category. This table excludes Latinos from the racial categories and assigns them to a separate category. Hispanics/Latinos can be of any race.[14][15]
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Denison, Texas.