The district includes 107&nbsp;contributing buildings&nbsp;in a primarily African-American neighborhood of Danville. It includes a full range of late 19th and early 20th century residential, commercial, and institutional structures. The majority of the houses are single-family dwellings that were built between 1880 and 1910, and includes notable examples of vernacular&nbsp;Italianate&nbsp;and&nbsp;Queen Anne&nbsp;styles. Notable buildings include the Williams House (c. 1890), Hargraves-Geary House (c. 1890), Tisden House (c. 1930), Leroy Johnson House (c. 1940), Broadnax Apartment (c. 1930), Calvary Baptist Church (1896), Holbrook Street Presbyterian Church (c. 1910), Loyal Baptist Church (1924), Wesley AME Church (1939), Westmoreland Middle School (1936), and the Annex Building (1925).&nbsp;

The Holbrook-Ross Historic District, named for its two major streets, is significant as the first neighborhood in Danville for African American professionals. Lawyers, ministers, dentists, and physicians, as well as business owners, insurance agents, postal clerks, and skilled craftsmen, made it their home in the late 19th century. It grew rapidly during the 1880s following construction of the Danville School, the city's public school for Blacks. By the turn of the 20th century, Holbrook Street had become Danville's foremost Black residential address.

Historic Marker for Holbrook-Ross Historic District

This walking tour of historic Danville Virginia includes historic buildings, landmarks, and several historical markers that include everything from the town's history as the center of tobacco production to its role in both the Civil War and the Civil Rights Movement. 

Marker Inscription - Confederate Prison No. 6 - Constructed in 1855 as a tobacco factory by Major Williams T. Sutherlin, this renovated structure housed union prisoners during the Civil War, 1861-1865. It was one of six Danville Confederate prisons in which as many as 7000 Union soldiers were confined. - Erected in 1985 by the Department of Conservation and Historic Resources. Originally a tobacco factory, this building&nbsp;was transformed into a prison. The factory was built in 1855 by the mayor of the city, William T. Sutherlin. Up to 7000 prisoners of war were held in six prisons in this area from 1863 - 1865.&nbsp; Disease and starvation were common in these prisons. The Confederate army allocated precious little food for the Union prisoners. Even with some help from the local population, over a thousand perished owing to malnutrition and disease. For the unfortunate soldiers located here, rats were a treasured food. Small Pox and other diseases spread throughout the prisons, causing many to become ill without any medicine or doctors to help. The winter months were the worst, with few blankets and little firewood.&nbsp; The site of the former prison has been commemorated by a historical marker at the intersection of Loyal Street and Lynn Street.

The Confederate army converted numerous warehouses and city squares in war-ridden Virginia into prisoner of war camps. This former tobacco warehouse became a prison for fifteen months between December 1863 and February 1865. The prison was crammed with several thousand Union troops, a condition that led to 1,323 of those men perishing while imprisoned here. Local citizens and the Confederate troops stationed here sympathized with the terrible conditions the prisoners faced, and many took small steps to alleviate their suffering. As the South suffered increasing privations as the Union gained control of eastern Virginia, however, local citizens had fewer resources and less of an inclination to aid suffering Yankee prisoners. 

Confederate Prison No. 6

The city of Danville's latest mural depicts various aspects of tobacco growing, including a tobacco auction. The city's third mural was completed at the end of 2016. The 20-by-30-foot mural is painted on the side of 308 Craghead St. that faces Patton Street and will be visible from the River District’s busiest intersection at Main and Craghead streets,

The next mural is already being planned to feature Danville native Wendell Scott, the first African-American NASCAR driver.

Historic Mural - Tobacco Heritage

Completed December 2005 by mural artist and illustrator Wes Hardin, this 40' by 75' mural depicts the Old 97, a Southern Railway train enroute to Spencer, NC, before it derailed at Stillhouse Trestle in Danville on September 27, 1903, killing 11. The event served as an inspiration for songwriters and balladeers and the result is the now famous "Wreck of the Old 97". The mural is located in the River District at the corner of Main Street and Memorial Drive at the Gateway to the Historic Downtown and Tobacco Warehouse Districts

Historic Mural - Old 97

In 1886, Danville’s first trolleys used mule power. After two years, electrically operated vehicles replaced this primitive public conveyance. Later, still using the green and cream color scheme, modern streamlined vehicles supplanted open cars and in 1938, gasoline-powered buses replaced the iron-wheeled trolleys, bringing a nostalgic era to an end. Likenesses featured are Walter Gunn assisting wife, Gail, down the steps as young Andrew Preston Saunders climbs aboard. In the right inset are Mary and K. D. Williams, founders of Mary’s Diner. In the stroller at left is Jesse Brooks. The mural, created by artist Wes Hardin, can be seen at the corner of Spring and N. Union Street at the City's transportation hub

Historic Mural - Transportation

Over the past 150+ years in downtown Danville, Virginia, the four corners created by the intersection of Main and Union Streets have played host to many significant buildings. As you stand at this crossroads, imagine the various constructions pictured here. Realize that one corner has always been as it is today—and one has, until recently, always been a “place to stay.” The Dudley Block suffered a premature setback—and the once home of Woolworth’s awaits a new beginning. The downtown segment of the River District is a 2016 Virginia Main Street Community.  Virginia Main Street is part of a successful national movement to revitalize America’s historic downtown business districts. 

4 Corners Revisited: The Evolution of Main and Union Streets, Danville, VA

Danville had already experienced some minor sit-ins as early
as 1960 that were inspired by the February 1, 1960 Greensboro, NC sit-in that
was so successful farther south. Frustrated with a lack of progress in Danville’s
particular case and by the NAACP’s reluctance for aggression, local civil
rights activists formed their own organization, the Danville Christian
Progressive Association (DCPA).&nbsp; The DCPA
was as an affiliate of Martin Luther King Jr.’s Southern Christian Leadership
Conference (SCLC).&nbsp;&nbsp; 

Three years later, after multiple attempts to petition
Danville city government to end discrimination in housing, schools, and
employment, members of DCPA and other civil rights activists marched into city
hall and occupied the city manager’s office.&nbsp;
June 6, 1963, the day afterwards, brought even more demonstrators to
city hall – this time around 200 people to occupy the city manager’s office.
This began the city’s initial retaliation to the demonstrators. 

Judge Archibald M. Aiken Jr. issued an injunction to obstruct
the protests by making stiffer punishments for unlicensed demonstrations. Aiken
also corralled a special grand jury to indict three of the protest leaders from
June 5th and 6th with charges of “conspiracy to incite
the coloured [sic] population of the State to acts of violence and war against
the white population”. Curiously, the statute for Aiken’s indictment of the
leaders came from Virginia law that was passed after John Brown’s raid on
Harpers Ferry in 1859. 

Despite the arrests and legal threats from city officials,
the demonstrators continued to march and occupy peacefully. From June 2 to June
8 there were 371 arrests made in connection with the demonstrations in Danville.
On June 10, 1963 fifty more demonstrators were arrested while peacefully
protesting. That night in an alley between city hall and the local jail,
Reverend H.G. McGhee led a prayer vigil with the singing of hymns. During the
vigil, the VA State Police had been mobilized to assist with the demonstrators.
Squad cars pulled behind the demonstrators and blocked the rear exit while fire
trucks and freshly deputized city garbage collectors trapped the activists at
the top of the alley. The entire prayer service was trapped. The local police
and the garbage men turned on the hoses and attacked the activists with high-pressure
water cannons and nightsticks. In the end 47 people were injured and more arrests
were made. This event made the “Night of Infamy,” and with it came a barrage of
negative press coverage and NAACP, SNCC, and SCLC leadership to press the
issue. 

A few days later on June 21st, Judge Aiken Jr.,
against the recommendations of the US Justice Department, indicted 10 more
demonstrators for their involvement in the sit-ins and occupations. Aiken again
used the same John Brown Statute. 

By the autumn of 1963 the SCLC had negotiated a deal with
Danville city government to hire the city’s first African-American policeman. The
civil rights struggle had ended in victory, but despite the pressure placed on
the city it was still very slow in establishing integration. For instance, it
was 1973 before a circuit court judge finally suspended the sentences of six
demonstrators that had been convicted 10 years prior during the demonstrations.&nbsp;

The Danville Municipal building in Virginia was the scene of one of the most violent attacks by a police department against civil rights protesters during the 1960s. The Danville sit-ins began in 1960 and occurred until 1963 when student activists, with the help of national civil rights groups, achieved slow integration of the Danville Public Library, city park, and several lunch counters throughout the city. Tensions between protesters and police came to a boiling point on June 10, 1963 when the police department arrested 50 demonstrators early in the day. Later that evening, a prayer vigil was held outside the local jail next to City Hall (now the Danville Municipal Building) when Virginia State Troopers, local police, and deputized garbage collectors cornered the demonstrators and used fire hoses and nightclubs to disperse them. This event became known as the “Night of Infamy.” In response, Martin Luther King Jr. came to Danville in support of the demonstrators on July 11, 1963.

"Bloody Monday," June 10, 1963: Civil Rights Protesters Attacked in Danville

The Danville Museum of Fine Arts was established in 1974. The Museum seeks to preserve and promote historical artifacts from the Dan River Region and promote contemporary artists in the area. The Sutherlin Mansion, Swanson Studios, a research library, and the Perkinson Rose Garden can be found on the grounds of the museum.&nbsp; The Sutherlin Mansion was built on a four acre plot&nbsp;in 1895 for Major T. William Sutherlin. Near the end of the Civil War it became clear to the Confederacy that they could no longer hold Richmond, their capitol. The President was moved to the Sutherlin Mansion to continue his duties. It was at the Sutherlin Mansion that President of the Confederacy Jefferson Davis learned of the Confederate surrender at&nbsp;Appomattox. Along with its rich historical history, the mansion's&nbsp;exterior is also an example of a typical Italianate Villa style in Virginia. The interior of the building no longer resembles the 1895 version of the building. Along with the Mansion, the Museum also promotes both antique and modern art of the area. The Museum hosts rotating exhibits on a quarterly basis. Their permanent collection includes art from the area as well as art that was collected by prominent historical figures, such as Miss Mabel Kennedy the Dean of Stratford College.

The Danville Museum of Fine Arts & History is located in the Sutherlin Mansion on Millionaires Row in Danville, Virginia. Built for William T. Sutherlin in 1859, the house has become well known as the "Last Capital of the Confederacy." It served in this capacity from April 3 until 10, 1865, just weeks before the Civil War came to an end. In 1974, the house was opened as a Fine Arts & History Museum.

Danville Museum of Fine Arts & History

The Langhorne House&nbsp;is an historic late 19th-century house later enlarged and used as an&nbsp;apartment&nbsp;house. Its period of significance is 1922, when&nbsp;Nancy Langhorne Astor, by then known as Lady Astor and the first woman to sit in the British Parliament, came to Danville to visit her birthplace and promote Anglo-American relations.The original dwelling was built in 1874 as a one-story, central-passage plan structure with a rear ell. It was enlarged in 1878 to add a second story and&nbsp;Italianate-style porch. In 1921, the house was moved to the next lot and further enlarged, with conversion for use as four apartments. The house was attached to a three-story apartment building constructed at its original site. The front facade features a two-tier porch with fluted Doric columnns in the&nbsp;Classical Revival&nbsp;style and multiple entries. In 1990, the structure was restored to its appearance in 1922, when Lady Astor made a speech to 5,000 people from the second-story porch of the house.The building was listed on the&nbsp;National Register of Historic Places&nbsp;in 2006.&nbsp;Owned by the Lady Astor Preservation Trust, it is located in the&nbsp;Danville Historic District.

The Langhorne House is the birthplace of Nancy Langhorne, Viscountess Astor, the first woman seated in the British House of Commons. Her sister Irene married the artist Charles Dana Gibson who immortalized his wife as the "Gibson Girl," the international fashion ideal of the turn of the 20th century. Their father, Chiswell Langhorne, worked in the tobacco industry while in Danville and is credited with developing the tobacco auctioneer's chant at Danville's famous loose-leaf tobacco auctions. A historical marker is located at the corner of Broad and Main Streets. The Langhorne House museum is open Saturdays 2:00-5:00 pm, or by appointment

Langhorne House

In the 1890s artist Charles Gibson created new female caricatures for his cartoons showing life at the turn of the century. These female characters are known as the "Gibson Girl," a phrase that recognizes how the artist's depiction of young adult women were more self-assured, independent, and free to express themselves than American women in the past. These women represented an artist's vision of&nbsp;what contemporary Americans described as the “New Woman." Gibson's drawing became so popular that they were featured on wallpaper, merchandise, magazines, and other products. The popularity of the Gibson Girl demonstrates that Americans from the 1890s to the 1920s were not only aware of the greater mobility afforded women during this time period, but celebrated the "New Woman" as both independent and feminine-two qualities that had been seen as incompatible in the past.

This historical marker depicts the childhood home of Irene Langhorne Gibson, who became the model for artist Charles Dana Gibson's iconic "New Woman" of the turn-of-the-century. The popularity of the image was such that the "Gibson Girl" could be seen throughout the period in magazines, newspapers, and on merchandise. The house was built in 1874 but later moved to 117 Broad Street. Irene married artist Charles Dana Gibson in 1895. The artist created many different "Gibson Girl' illustrations over his career, incorporating some of the alluring traits he found in his wife in creating the ideal "New Woman" of the turn-of-the-century. 

Historical Marker - The Gibson Girl

After completing his term as the 44th governor of Virginia, Montague ran for Senate but was defeated by the incumbent, Thomas Staples Martin. Following that election, Montague became the dean of the law school at Richmond College and practiced law in the city of Richmond. Montague won election to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1912 and remained in that office until his death in 1937.

This historical marker stands in front of the former home of Virginia politician Andrew Jackson Montague. Montague served as governor between 1902 and 1906. He was also the attorney general of Virginia between 1898 and his election as governor in 1902. His home was built in 1891, a period when Montague served as the attorney for the Richmond and Danville Railroad. It was during these years that Montague made connections and established himself as a leading citizen and capable attorney. It was this reputation, as well as the political connections he made in Richmond, that spurred his long career in state and national politics. Today, Montague is best known for his support of a campaign to purge African American voters from the polls. Although the 15th Amendment to the Constitution guaranteed that the right to vote could not be restricted according to race or previous condition of servitude, Montague and other leading Virginia politicians rewrote the state constitution to include a provision that restricted suffrage through a literacy test that was often unevenly applied to African Americans. 

Danville Virginia Walking Tour

Historic Marker for Holbrook-Ross Historic District

Introduction

Images

Backstory and Context

Sources