Bayless-Selby House Museum

317 West Mulberry Street

Denton, TX, 76201

(west of Elm)

Phone: 940-349-2865

dentoncounty.com/dept/main.asp?Dept=120

Samuel A. Bayless and his wife, Mollie, came from Monroe County, Tennessee. Samuel purchased a two-roomed farmhouse in 1884, located at what is currently 1301 Myrtle Street, Denton. That farmhouse is now the one-story section of the museum. Samuel contracted to construct the two-story part of the house in 1898 in Queen Anne style.

Samuel died in 1919, and Mrs. Bayless chose not to continue to live in the house. Instead, she arranged with a neighboring nursery man, Mr. R. L. Selby, Sr. to exchange houses with her, and she and her family moved out of the house to enable the Selby family to move in on Thanksgiving Day. The Selby Family has continued their nursery business, and to this day the Selby greenhouses are still located near the Myrtle Street address. The house remained in the Selby family until 1970.

In February, 1998, the City of Denton announced an auction for the house that is now the Bayless-Selby House Museum. Mildred Hawk of Denton, a member of the Denton County Historical Commission, was the successful bidder. In April, Mrs. Hawk gave the house to the Historical Commission for restoration as a museum. In June, the house was moved to its present site in the newly-created Historical Park of Denton County, just a glimpse away from historic downtown Denton. Restoration took just over three years, and the house was opened as the Bayless-Selby House Museum on September 29, 2001.

Information from the museum's site