DALLAS — High up on a hill in Denton, Texas, there's an old, open rural piece of farmland about 70 acres wide.
It belongs to a woman named Evelyn Barthold, who grew up on the property. Her ancestors came from Germany and bought the land in 1877.
"In her words, it’s a beautiful property and she wanted to do something beautiful with it," Barthold's friend Pete Maugans told WFAA.
Maugans serves on the board of a new non-profit, thought up by Barthold, called "The 1877 Journey." The organization is working, pending city approval, to build a tiny village of microhomes on the property to house people in Denton County experiencing homelessness.
The plan is to build 350 tiny homes, a food market, a catch and release pond, an amphitheater, and a museum on Texas farm history, featuring original items from Evelyn's family still kept on the property.
The formerly homeless living in the village would be able to use and also work at those facilities. Anyone from the surrounding community would be welcome to access them too, Maugans said.
The concept for the 1877 Journey is modeled after the “Community First!” village in Austin.
"We’re not asking for any taxpayer money, we’re 100% self-funded at this point, we’ve had some very generous contributions up until this point," Maugans told WFAA.
Maugans shared a new development in the project with WFAA on Monday. Barthold, he said, has also now donated the 200 acres adjacent to the property, which she also owns. Those acres can be used in a variety of ways, Maugans said, including possibly to help make money for the tiny home village.
You can learn more about The 1877 Journey here.