The Denton House was built as a farmhouse in 1795 by Joseph Denton a descendant of Reverend Richard Denton who founded Hempstead in 1664. The house was once part of thousands of acres of farmland. Over the years the Denton family made changes to the farmhouse facade to make it look like a mansion. In the 1860’s, it was converted to a Georgian style mansion with ornamentation. In the early 1900’s the property was in out (tax problems) and back into family hands with much of the farm land sold off
In the 1930’s it was sold for commercial use and at different times it was a funeral home and then three different restaurants later on. In the early ‘50’s it was Luigi’s Restaurant and between 1955 and 1986 it was two restaurants: first Charred Oak Manor and then Dallas Ribs.
The present fast food restaurant bought the property in 1986 intending to demolish the now dilapidated property and build one of their traditional restaurants. The locals fought against this use and sought historic landmark designation due to many of the Denton family descendants being historical figures in the community. They succeeded and the new owner was forced to maintain the facade and forego their traditional “Golden Arches”. They restored the exterior to what it looked like in a 1926 picture. They spent four million dollars on the renovation and what they came up with was the most beautiful and historic of their restaurants in America.
Please bring your own pen.
Cache container magnets are on the side NOT the end. Please replace securely.
FTF GOES TO BroKarl. Congratulations