“Get a man, while you can!” Celebrating Old Maid’s Day

Posted by & filed under 1950's.

Women at one of the Old Maid’s events including two of the oldest ladies, sisters May and Julia Marshall of Strawn on the right.  In 1954 two prizes were given out to the oldest (Miss May Marshall, 79) and the one from the greatest distance (Miss Lily Gulvady from India, not pictured).

A group of women in Denton started Old Maid’s Day in 1950 to get “recognition, not menfolks.” It all began when Miss Dorothy Babb, a Latin and English teacher at North Texas State College (NTSC, now the University of North Texas) was tired of buying gifts for weddings, Mother’s Day, and baby showers. She complained… Read more »

Annie Webb Blanton: Influential Educator

Posted by & filed under 1900's, 1910's.

annie webb blantoncropped

When Annie Webb Blanton, an early twentieth-century Texas feminist and educational reformer, moved to Denton in 1901 to join the faculty of North Texas State Normal College (a predecessor to the University of North Texas), the town had 4,000 residents. Over the next seventeen years Blanton witnessed Denton’s population double in response to the opportunities… Read more »

Alvin Owsley: Early Supporter of the Normal College

Posted by & filed under 1890's.

A C Owsley and Sally Burns

Alvin Clark Owsley (1856-1938) was born in Missouri, received most of his schooling in California, moved back to Missouri to study law, and moved to Denton, Texas in 1873 to be a public school teacher. A year later he was the examiner of teachers for Denton County, remaining in that position until 1884. Owsley continued… Read more »