Prior to 1884, Denton and Haughton were two neighbouring townships in the County Palatine of Lancaster but in that year they were amalgamated under one authority, known as the Denton and Haughton Local Board. This arrangement lasted until 1894 when a Committee of Lancashire County Council decided that the two townships should be combined under one authority, known as Denton Urban District Council. The new council absorbed the township of Haughton but only retained the name of Haughton Green, which until 1894 was part of Haughton. In April 1974 local government reorganisation created the County of Greater Manchester and at the same time the Metropolitan Borough Council of Tameside was formed. Denton was one of nine townships (Ashton-under-Lyne, Audenshaw, Denton, Droylsden, Dukinfield, Hyde, Longdendale, Mossley and Stalybridge) that were subsumed to create Tameside and Denton Urban District Council ceased to exist.

In 1986 Greater Manchester ceased to be an administrative area and was replaced by 10 unitary authorities; namely Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport, Tameside, Trafford, Wigan and the cities of Salford and Manchester.

Hence, our county is Lancashire, not Greater Manchester.

Hatting was the most prominent industry in Denton and Haughton and it was centred around Wilton Street. Some of these businesses were, Joseph Wilson & Sons, Wilde & Booth, H Burgess & Co, Marlor's Ltd (later Denton Hat Co), Joseph Howe & Sons, J & T Moores, Messrs Walker, Ashworth & Linney, James Bevan & Co Ltd, James Bromley & Co, N Wild & Sons Ltd and Joseph Woolfenden & Co.

Coal mining was also important up until the 1920s and there were several coal mines throughout the districts of Denton and Haughton, the most prominent of which were Denton Colliery, on Stockport Road, and the adjoining Great Wood Pit.

In 1865, Joseph Oldham established a millwright general engineering shop somewhere near St Lawrence's Church on Stockport Road. Subsequently, the business moved to the south side of Hyde Road before the final move to the north side. By 1887 the company was manufacturing machinery for the hatting industry. Shortly after 1887, it began manufacturing machinery and equipment for coal mining, which included battery-powered portable miners' lamps. This developed into the manufacture of automotive batteries for commercial vehicles, cars and motor cycles and over the years this expanded into the manufacture of traction batteries, which included submarine batteries. During the period of the Great War (1914 - 18) the company manufactured shells for the war effort. After hatting, Oldham Batteries became the largest employer in Denton.

Since 1991, Denton has been twinned with Montigny-le-Bretonneux, France, which is close to Paris on the south west side.