Denton County will get its first permanent Boys & Girls Club branch on August 19, when Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Tarrant County opens a converted fire station at 195 W. Corporate Drive in Lewisville. The $5 million renovation transforms the old firehouse into a 10,000-square-foot facility with 25-foot ceilings and an outdoor area being redesigned as a playground, closing out a five-year push to bring a physical club location back to a county that had gone without one since 2019.
The project traces back to the city of Lewisville, which gifted the repurposed fire station to Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Tarrant County, as reported by the Fort Worth Report. Lewisville City Council approved the ownership transfer in February 2026, the nonprofit finalized its purchase on April 9, and officials broke ground on April 24, according to the Cross Timbers Gazette. Denton County Judge Andy Eads reportedly spent time at the firehouse as a child before it was repurposed, and he said the project required partnerships, support, donors, volunteers and public communication, per the Fort Worth Report.
Denton County itself put real money behind the effort. The county committed $3 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds to support the organization's operational expansion and service delivery in Denton County, according to the City of Lewisville. The RAO Foundation added a $1 million lead gift for the renovation in April, along with a matching $1 million challenge to the broader North Texas community, according to the Fort Worth Business Press. Between 2021 and this year, the nonprofit had already invested more than $700,000 in Denton County services, the Fort Worth Report notes.
A County That Went Years Without a Club
Denton County had been the largest county in the nation without a dedicated Boys & Girls Club branch, per the Fort Worth Report. The area's last physical locations, run by Boys & Girls Clubs of North Central Texas in Sanger and Lake Dallas, suspended operations ahead of the 2019 school year. That left a gap that Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Tarrant County began filling in 2021, during the COVID-19 pandemic, when it started servicing Denton County with a mobile clubhouse, the outlet reports.
That mobile operation — four vehicles plus tents and tables — now reaches six Denton County locations, including two sites in Denton proper and four in Lewisville, offering tutoring, academic counseling, field trips and hands-on STEM programs. The organization also ran a robotics pilot program with four Denton ISD schools. President and CEO Daphne Barlow spoke publicly with county commissioners about the need back in February 2022, laying groundwork that eventually led to Tuesday's opening date.
Denton County Commissioner Bobbie J. Mitchell, described by the Fort Worth Report as an early champion of the program, cited county data showing 5.9% of Denton County children live below the federal poverty line. Mitchell said she hopes the Lewisville branch's success will spur more chapters countywide. Lewisville Mayor TJ Gilmore called the new facility a valuable community asset, according to the same report.
Location and Access Built Around Need
The Corporate Drive site sits within one mile of three elementary schools and a middle school, and within several miles of Lewisville High School, according to the City of Lewisville. The Fort Worth Report notes the branch is situated near Lewisville ISD schools with the greatest need, and the parcel can accommodate a future 5,000-square-foot expansion. City filings citing 2023 Census and Feeding America data found 15.7% of Denton County youth experience food insecurity and 40.5% of students across the county's 11 school districts are classified as at-risk.
Annual membership will run $100 for children ages 6 to 12 and is free for teens ages 13 to 18. During the school year, hours run 3 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.; over the summer, the branch will operate from 7:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Tarrant County estimates more than 6,000 children a year will benefit from the redesigned firehouse, and the Lewisville chapter is set to start serving students during the 2026-27 school year, per the Fort Worth Report. Meals for enrolled kids will draw on the nonprofit's centralized Blue Door Kitchen program, which prepares fresh meals and flash-freezes them for distribution across its multi-county branch network.
Part of a Larger Regional Push
Lewisville marks the organization's first Boys & Girls Club branch in Denton County, and it arrives amid rapid multi-county growth. As Hoodline previously reported, the nonprofit merged with the Boys & Girls Club of Hill County in January and completed a merger with Fort Worth-based Clayton Youth Enrichment in July, pushing its combined reach past 90,000 children across North Texas. Founded in 1926, the organization served over 66,000 youth in 2023 and roughly 76,000 in 2024, expanding its service footprint by more than 500% between 2018 and 2026.
Once the Lewisville branch is fully operational, the nonprofit plans to use it as a distribution point for the mobile clubhouse, which is expected to be sent to additional Denton County communities. After-school programs remain needed across the county despite the 2019 closure of the earlier Sanger and Lake Dallas locations, the Fort Worth Report notes. Whether the group raises the rest of the RAO Foundation's matching challenge, how soon it pursues the permitted expansion at the Corporate Drive site, and whether its mobile stops in Denton proper eventually become permanent branches all remain open questions as the doors prepare to open.
