Dentonio

Dentonio, also known as Denton Colony, was real estate development sixteen miles southwest of Carrizo Springs in southwest Dimmit County. The settlement, named for its founder, Graham Denton, was among the largest of several similar attempts to profit from land in Dimmit County between 1910 and 1920. Denton divided his 32,000-acre site into tracts surrounding a townsite; those who bought at least $210 worth of farmland were to be given a free town lot. In 1910 Denton built a two-story schoolhouse on the site, established a railroad "bonus" fund in hopes of enticing a rail link to his town, and waged a national advertising campaign. By 1912 1,600 purchases of Dentonio land had been made, and the town had twenty-one buildings, including a school, a post office, and a hotel. An extended drought and inadequate supplies of cheap water made it difficult for family farms to survive. By 1920 Denton and his out-of-state investors were fighting in court over the railroad funds. The town rapidly diminished. By 1929 it had lost its post office, and by 1936 only seven dwellings and the school remained. In 1947 the school was consolidated with the Carrizo Springs Independent School District. In 1984 only a windmill stood on the site.