Editing Danville, Virginia (section)

==History==
===18th century===
[[File:View of the Dan River Danville Virginia.JPG|thumb|upright=1.1|The [[Dan River (Virginia)|Dan River]] in downtown Danville]]
Numerous [[Native Americans in the United States|Native American]] tribes had lived in this part of the [[Piedmont (United States)|Piedmont]] region since prehistoric times. During the colonial period, the area was inhabited by [[Siouan language]]-speaking tribes.

In 1728, English colonist [[William Byrd II|William Byrd]] headed an expedition sent to determine the true boundary between Virginia and [[North Carolina]]. Late that summer, the party camped upstream from what is now Danville. Byrd was so taken with the beauty of the land, that he prophesied a future settlement in the vicinity, where people would live "with much comfort and gaiety of Heart." He named the river along which they camped as the "[[Dan River (Virginia)|Dan]]", for Byrd felt he had wandered "[[From Dan to Beersheba]]."<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://danvillehistory.org/history.html|title=History|website=Danville Historical Society|language=en|access-date=2019-06-15|archive-date=April 14, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190414221351/http://www.danvillehistory.org/history.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>

After the [[American Revolutionary War]], the first settlement developed in 1792 downstream from Byrd's campsite, at a spot along the river shallow enough to allow fording. It was named "Wynne's Falls", after the first settler. The village developed from the meetings of pioneering [[American Revolutionary War|Revolutionary War]] veterans, who gathered annually here to fish and talk over old times.

In 1793, the state General Assembly authorized construction of a tobacco warehouse at Wynne's Falls. This marks the start of the town as "The World's Best Tobacco Market", Virginia's largest market for [[brightleaf tobacco]]. The village was renamed "Danville" by an act of November 23, 1793.

===19th century===
[[File:William T Sutherlin Mansion Danville Virginia.JPG|thumb|upright=1.1|Danville was home to tobacco entrepreneur William T. Sutherlin. The city was sometimes called the "last capitol of the [[Confederate States of America|Confederacy]]"]]
[[File:Dan's Hill Virginia.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|Dan's Hill estate in western Danville]]
[[Image:Old 97 wreck at Stillhouse Trestle in Virginia - 1903 (2).jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|Wreck of the Old 97, 1903]]
[[File:Shuttered textile mill Dan River Mills Danville Virginia.JPG|thumb|upright=1.1|The abandoned Dan River Mills on the [[Dan River (Virginia)|Dan River]]]]
A charter for the town was drawn up on February 17, 1830, but by the time of its issue, the population had exceeded the pre-arranged boundaries. This necessitated a new charter, which was issued in 1833. In that year, James Lanier was elected the first mayor, assisted by a council of "twelve fit and able men."

By the mid-19th century, [[William T. Sutherlin]], a planter and entrepreneur, was the first to apply water power to run a tobacco press. He became a major industrialist in the region.

In the mid to late 1800s, several railroads reached Danville, including the [[Richmond and Danville Railroad]] (completed 1856), and the [[Atlantic and Danville Railway]] (completed 1890). These enabled the export of Danville's manufacturing and agricultural products. The major growth in industry came in the late 19th century, after the war. The [[Southern Railway (U.S.)|Southern Railway]], successor to the Richmond and Danville, built a grand passenger station in Danville in 1899, which is still in use by Amtrak and is a satellite facility of the Virginia Museum.

At the outbreak of the [[American Civil War|Civil War]], Danville had a population of approximately 5,000 people. During the war years, the town was transformed into a strategic center of [[Confederate States of America|Confederate]] activity. William Sutherlin was named [[quartermaster]] of its depot. The rail center was critical for supplying Confederate forces, and a hospital station was established for Confederate wounded.  A network of batteries, breastworks, redoubts and rifle pits defended the town.<ref name="auto"/>

A prison camp was set up, with the conversion of six tobacco warehouses, including one owned by Sutherlin, for use as prisons. At one time they held more than 5,000 captured [[Union (American Civil War)|American]] soldiers. [[Malnutrition]] and [[dysentery]], plus a [[smallpox]] epidemic in 1864, caused the death of 1,314 of these prisoners. Their remains have been interred in the [[Danville National Cemetery (Virginia)|Danville National Cemetery]].

The [[Richmond and Danville Railroad]] was the main supply route into [[Petersburg, Virginia|Petersburg]], where Lee's [[Army of Northern Virginia]] was [[Siege of Petersburg|holding the defensive]] line to protect [[Richmond, Virginia|Richmond]]. The Danville supply train ran until General [[George Stoneman|Stoneman's]] Union cavalry troops tore up the tracks. This event was immortalized in the song, "[[The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down]]."

In 1865, Danville hosted the [[Confederate States of America|Confederate]] government. Confederate President [[Jefferson Davis]] stayed at Sutherlin's mansion from April 3 to 10, 1865, and the house became known as the "Last Capitol of the Confederacy."<ref name="arcadia">{{cite book|first1=Frankie Y.|last1=Bailey|first2=Alice P.|last2=Green|title=Wicked Danville: Liquor and Lawlessness in a Southside Virginia City|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ia9_CQAAQBAJ&pg=PT59|year=2011|publisher=Arcadia Publishing Incorporated|isbn=978-1-62584-122-3|page=59}}</ref> Here he wrote and issued his last Presidential Proclamation. The final Confederate Cabinet meeting was held at the Benedict House (since destroyed) in Danville. Davis and members of his cabinet left the city when they learned of Lee's [[surrender at Appomattox]], and moved to [[Greensboro, North Carolina]], making their way south. On the day they left, Governor [[William Smith (Virginia governor)|William Smith]] arrived from [[Lynchburg, Virginia|Lynchburg]] to establish his headquarters here.

In 1882, the biracial [[Readjuster Party]] had gained control of the city council, causing resentment and even alarm among some white residents, even though the council was still dominated by white members; the city had a majority African-American population. The Readjuster Party had been in power at the state level since 1879. Violence broke out on November 3, 1883, a few days before the election, when a racially-motivated street fight turned to shooting after a large crowd gathered; five men were killed, four of them black. A local Danville commission found African Americans at fault for the violence on November 3, but a US Senate investigation decided that white residents were to blame. No prosecution resulted from either inquiry.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia
|contribution=Danville Riot (1883)
|first=Brendan
|last=Wolfe
|title=Encyclopedia Virginia
|url=https://www.encyclopediavirginia.org/Danville_Riot_1883#itsFR
|year=2015
|publisher=[[Virginia Humanities]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite news
|title=The Press on the Danville Riot
|newspaper=[[Richmond Dispatch]]
|date=November 6, 1883
|url=https://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/_The_Press_on_the_Danville_Riot_Richmond_Dispatch_November_6_1883
|access-date=February 25, 2019
|archive-date=February 25, 2019
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190225223801/https://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/_The_Press_on_the_Danville_Riot_Richmond_Dispatch_November_6_1883
|url-status=dead
}}</ref>

In the late 19th and continuing into the early 20th centuries, tobacco processing was a major source of wealth for business owners in the city, in addition to the textile mills. Wealthy planters and owners built fine houses, some of which have been preserved.

Given the falls on the river, the area was prime for industrial development based on water power. On July 22, 1882, six of Danville's residents (Thomas Benton Fitzgerald, Dr. H.W. Cole, Benjamin F. Jefferson and three brothers: Robert A., John H., and James E. Schoolfield) founded the Riverside Cotton Mills, making use of cotton produced throughout the South. Both the Riverside Cotton Mills and Danville itself grew tremendously during Fitzgerald's leadership of the company as President. In its day it was known nationally as [[Dan River Inc. Riverside Division Historic District|Dan River Inc.]], the largest single-unit [[textile mill]] in the world.

As the industrial town grew rapidly, it attracted many single workers, and associated gambling, drinking, and prostitution establishments. By the early 20th century, the city passed laws against gambling, but it continued in small, private places.<ref name="arcadia"/>  On September 9, 1882, Danville Mayor John H. Johnston shot and killed John E. Hatcher, his chief of police. Hatcher had demanded an apology for a statement Johnston had made regarding unaccounted fine money. Johnston was charged with murder, but he was acquitted at trial. The Southern "culture of honor" was still strong and jurors apparently believed the killing was justified.<ref>{{cite web | title = John Epps Hatcher | publisher = Hatcher Families Genealogy Society | url = http://hatcherfamilyassn.com/getperson.php?personID=I28032&tree=WmTheIm}}</ref>

The [[Southern Railway (U.S.)|Southern Railway]] constructed a railroad line to the city in the late 19th century and had facilities here, which contributed to the growing economy. In 1899, the company completed a grand passenger station, designed by its noted architect [[Frank Pierce Milburn]]. For many years, passenger traffic was strong on the railroad; it also operated freight trains.

===20th century===
A serious train wreck occurred in Danville on September 27, 1903. "Old 97", the [[Norfolk Southern Railway|Southern Railway]]'s crack express mail train, was running behind schedule. Its engineer "gave her full throttle", but the speed of the train caused it to jump the tracks while on a high trestle crossing the valley of the Dan River. The engine and five cars plunged into the ravine below, killing nine and injuring seven. The locomotive and its engineer, Joseph A. ("Steve") Broadey, were memorialized in song. A historic marker at the train crash site is located on U.S. 58 between Locust Lane and North Main Street. A mural of the ''[[Wreck of the Old 97]]'' has been painted on a downtown Danville building to commemorate the incident.

Afterward Democrats forced African Americans out of office and suppressed their voting rights. In November 1883 Democrats regained control of the state legislature by a large majority, and pushed out the Readjuster Party.

White Democratic legislators interpreted the Danville events as more reason to push blacks out of politics. In 1902, the state legislature passed a new constitution that raised barriers to voter registration, effectively [[Disfranchisement after the Reconstruction era|disenfranchising most blacks]] and many poor whites, who had been part of the Readjuster Party. They excluded them from the political system, causing them to be underrepresented and their segregated facilities to be underfinanced.<ref name="vaenc">[https://www.encyclopediavirginia.org/Disfranchisement#its2 Brent Tarter, "Post-Reconstruction Suffrage and following sections"], ''Disfranchisement'', Encyclopedia of Virginia, 19 July 2016; accessed 17 March 2018</ref>

On July 15, 1904, the Danville police successfully broke up a lynching party by firing warning shots above a crowd. About 75 white men had gathered at the jail to take Roy Seals, an African American man arrested as a suspect in the murder of a white railroad worker. The police saved Seals and the city quickly indicted some of the lynch mob; several men were convicted, fined and served 30 days in jail. The killer was found to have been another white man, who was prosecuted.<ref name="arcadia"/>

On March 2, 1911, Danville police chief R. E. Morris, who had been elected to three two-year terms and was running for a fourth term, was arrested as an escaped convicted murderer. He admitted that he was really Edgar Stribling of [[Harris County, Georgia]]. He had been on the run for thirteen years.<ref>[https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1911/03/03/105022523.pdf "Arrest Police Chief as Escaped Convict"], ''The New York Times'', March 3, 1911. Retrieved January 10, 2008.</ref>

On October 13, 1917, Walter Clark was lynched. He was an African American man who had fatally shot a policeman while resisting arrest for the killing of his common-law wife. Clark held off the police for two hours, but a mob gathered and set his house on fire. He was shot multiple times and killed as he left the house. His was the last lynching in Danville.<ref name="arcadia"/>

Heightened activism in the [[civil rights movement]] in Virginia occurred in Danville during the summer of 1963. Since the early 20th century, most blacks had been excluded from voting by the state constitution, which had created barriers to voter registration. White Democrats had imposed legal segregation after regaining control of the state legislature following the [[Reconstruction era]], and [[Jim Crow laws]] maintained [[white supremacy]]. On May 31, representatives of the black community organized as the Danville Christian Progressive Association (DCPA), demanding an end to segregation and job discrimination in the city. They declared a boycott of white merchants who refused to hire blacks and marched to City Hall in protest of conditions.

Most of the marchers were high school students. Police and city workers, armed with clubs, beat the young protesters and sprayed them with fire hoses. Around forty protesters needed medical attention, but the marches and other protests continued for several weeks.<ref name=CRMV>{{cite news|last = Civil Rights Movement Archive| title = Danville VA, Movement| url = http://www.crmvet.org/tim/timhis63.htm#1963danville}}</ref> Reverend [[Martin Luther King Jr.]], leader of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), came to Danville and spoke at High Street Baptist Church about the police brutality. He said it was the worst he had seen in the South. The date of one protest on June 10, 1963, later came to be referred to as "[[Bloody Monday (Danville)|Bloody Monday]]."<ref name=NA>{{cite news|last1=Crane|first1=John R.|title=Bloody Monday: History-changing day|url=http://www.newsadvance.com/go_dan_river/news/danville/bloody-monday-history-changing-day/article_c1366350-ca50-11e2-949c-0019bb30f31a.html |access-date=4 November 2015 |publisher=News-Advance |date=June 2, 2013}}</ref>

The [[Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee]] (SNCC) sent organizers to Danville to support the local movement. They helped lead protests, including demonstrations at the [[Howard Johnson's|Howard Johnson Hotel]] and restaurant on Lee Highway. The hotel was known for discriminating locally against blacks as customers and excluding them as workers. A special grand jury indicted 13 DCPA, [[Southern Christian Leadership Conference|SCLC]], and SNCC activists for violating the "John Brown" law. This law, passed in 1830 after a slave uprising, made it a serious felony to "...incite the colored population to acts of violence or war against the white population." It became known as the "John Brown" law in 1860 because it was used to convict and hang abolitionist [[John Brown (abolitionist)|John Brown]] after his raid on [[Harpers Ferry, West Virginia|Harpers Ferry]] in 1859.<ref name=CRMV/>[[File:RiverwalkDanDaniel.jpg|thumb|The Riverwalk Trail near the Dan Daniel Park along the Dan River]]

By the end of August, more than 600 protesters had been arrested in Danville on charges of inciting to violence, contempt, trespassing, disorderly conduct, assault, parading without a permit, and resisting arrest. Because of the large number of arrests on these charges, often the jails were overcrowded, and protesters were housed in detention facilities in other nearby jurisdictions. The demonstrations failed to achieve desegregation in Danville at that time. Town facilities remained segregated until after passage of the [[Civil Rights Act of 1964]]. African American residents were mostly unable to register and vote until after the federal government enforced their constitutional rights under the [[Voting Rights Act of 1965]].<ref name=CRMV/>

Since the late 20th century, the textile industry has moved to offshore, cheaper labor markets. The Dan River mill has closed and many of its buildings have been torn down, with the bricks sold for other uses. "The White Mill" of the Dan Mill complex, considered historically and architecturally significant, is being renovated in the early 21st century as an apartment complex.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Tupponce |first=Joan |date=2021-07-30 |title=Danville's White Mill gets second chance |url=https://www.virginiabusiness.com/article/danvilles-white-mill-gets-second-chance/ |access-date=2022-01-15 |website=Virginia Business}}</ref>

In the late 20th century, the restructuring of the tobacco, textile, and railroad industries all had an adverse effect, resulting in the loss of many jobs in Danville. The decline in passenger traffic caused the Danville railroad station to fall into disuse. It was listed on the [[National Register of Historic Places]] in 1995, and has been renovated by a combination of public and private funding. Today part of the station is devoted to the first satellite facility of the [[Science Museum of Virginia]].

The station renovations were completed in 1996. This project spurred investment in other warehouse properties, "which have been redeveloped into offices, commercial spaces, apartments, lofts, and restaurants. The approximately $4 million of federal grant money initiated the redevelopment and leveraged additional funds from public and private sources."<ref name="danstation">[http://www.greatamericanstations.com/stations/danville-va-dan/ "Danville, VA (DAN)"], The Great American Stations, 2013–2018, Amtrak; accessed 17 March 2018</ref>

Related spaces were developed for a park with amphitheater, a community meeting and recreation facility, and the Danville Farmer's Market. The city used ISTEA funds in association with the Virginia Department of Transportation, and partnered also with Amtrak, Pepsi-Cola, and other private sources.

===21st century===
The city and region continue to work to develop new bases for the economy. At the beginning of the century, in the 2000s, the economic losses made it challenging to preserve the city's many architecturally and historically significant properties dating from its more prosperous years.<ref name="auto1">{{cite web|url=https://henricohistoricalsociety.org/news2007.thirdquarter.html
|title=News 2007 - Third Quarter|website=www.henricohistoricalsociety.org|access-date=February 2, 2025}}</ref>

In 2007, [[Preservation Virginia]] President William B. Kerkam, III, and its Executive Director Elizabeth S. Kostelny announced at a press conference held in Danville at Main Street Methodist Church that the entire city of Danville had been named as one of the Most Endangered Historic Sites in Virginia.<ref name="auto1"/> This designation highlighted the importance of preserving Danville's architectural and historical heritage and drew attention to the challenges of maintaining these properties amid economic struggles.

Danville has been actively working to redevelop its River District as a hub for community life and economic activity. This effort includes revitalizing historic buildings, fostering local businesses, and promoting [[heritage tourism]] to attract visitors and stimulate economic growth.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.discoverdanville.com/districts/river-district/river-district-development/
|title=River District Development |website=www.discoverdanville.com|access-date=February 2, 2025}}</ref>

In 2020, the city approved a referendum to open a casino at the site of the old mill, which is slated to open in 2024. It is expected to generate significant revenue and create jobs for the community.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://wset.com/news/local/caesars-virginia-pushes-back-opening-to-2024-cites-supply-chain-labor-shortage-issues-casino-resort-entertainment-venue-danville-virginia-may-3-2022|title=Danville casino opening pushed to 2024|last=Cross|first=David|date=May 3, 2022|website=WSET.com|access-date=July 7, 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://journalnow.com/news/local/new-casino-in-danville-expected-to-draw-heavily-from-north-carolina/article_3794da6c-fbe3-11ed-8257-c73ad415cc38.html|title=New casino in Danville expected to draw heavily from North Carolina|last=Sexton|first=Scott|date=May 27, 2023|website=[[Winston-Salem Journal]]|access-date=June 4, 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://spectrumlocalnews.com/nc/charlotte/news/2023/05/12/ceasars-opens-new-casino-on-the-n-c--border--luring-players-and-workers|title=New casino opening in VA on the N.C. border, luring players and workers|last=Duncan|first=Charles|date=May 12, 2023|website=Spectrum News|access-date=June 4, 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.caesars.com/caesars-virginia|title=Caesars Virginia Homepage|website=caesars.com|access-date=June 4, 2023}}</ref>