Town of Danville
Montgomery County Texas
Excerpts from “A History of Montgomery County, Texas” Chapter V, Cities,
Towns, and Communities,
by William Harley Gandy”: For Sources, see
Endnotes:
Danville is one of the extinct towns
of Montgomery County. It was located about five miles northwest of the
present-day town of Willis. Not much is known about the old town today,
because it has been gone for over eighty years. It had its beginning not
long after the town of Montgomery, because in the Telegraph and Texas
Register of April 8, 1846, it was listed as one of the towns of
Montgomery County for election returns of that year.31 During the 1850's, Danville, like
Montgomery, had a building boom. Many plantation owners with their slaves
from the Old South moved to the vicinity, cleared land, and built their
mansions. One of these plantation owners was Judge Goldthwait, who came to
Danville in 1854 and brought with him about two hundred slaves. In a
letter to his wife, Nat Davis wrote:
…Judge Goldthwait of
Alabama bought the H. G. Johnson place at little over $5.00 per acre and
has some 100 Negroes on it, and about as many over on the San Jacinto…32
Then in the next year,
1855, Nat Davis wrote to his wife and said, "I saw some fine cotton when I
went over to Danville on the 3rd at Goldthwait's plantation on the San
Jacinto."33
Another plantation owner
was General A. J. Lewis, from Virginia, who built a grand three story home
with a ballroom on the third story. The brick used in the house were
shipped from Holland and the wooden beams were fastened together with
wooden pegs whittled out by his slaves. He called this grand house
Elmwood, and it stood until 1940 when it was torn down and the lumber used
for a new and modern home. 34
By
1856 Danville had reached a population numbering about three hundred
inhabitants,35 and in the next year the Texas Almanac
described the place as "…a small village some fifteen miles north of
Montgomery, its trade being from the surrounding country, which is rich
and productive.”36
In January 1860 Danville
had grown large enough to seek incorporation; therefore, by an act passed
by the Texas Legislature it was incorporated as a town.37
Danville, at its peak of
prosperity, supported about fourteen business houses; however, they were
short lived, because like Montgomery, the Civil War and the coming of the
railroads caused Danville and its business houses to decline.38
When the Houston and Great Northern
Railroad was clearing its right-of -way toward Houston, the railroad
officials asked the Danville citizens for permission to run the railroad
line through the town. The majority of the citizens did not want the
railroad because they were afraid that the type of people that a railroad
would bring into their town would be undesirable; therefore, the railroad
passed about five miles east of the town, and it was not long until the
citizens of Danville saw their mistake. All of the business houses moved
to the railroad at the newly established town of Willis, and today all
that remains of Danville is a few broken bricks in an open field. 39 |
Danville: Ghost Town
with Few Reminders |
The
town, established in 1846,
has been dead
for almost 100 years.
by Charles Segers |
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There is a sign on a fence where
the town used to be: Posted, No Trespassing. Beyond is an empty lot
with one tumbledown shack and two ancient-looking wells. Horses, now
the only inhabitants of the old town, graze where the general store
once stood. |
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The place
is the site of Danville, one of the ghost towns of Montgomery County.
It is located about three miles north of Willis, off the Shepherd Hill
Road. The second road to the right after crossing the Highway 45
overpass was the community's main street. |
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At the
height of its development it supported 14 business establishments, and
had a population of about 300. Now there are just open fields all
around, and grass covers the scattered brick which remain from the old
buildings. No one would ever guess that the now quiet country road was
once the main street of a bustling community. |
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Jess
McIntyre of Willis is one of the few who can remember having seen any
of the original buildings. He can walk over the fields and point to
the places where the stores and plantation houses stood.
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"Some
of the buildings disappeared when I was just a small boy," he said.
"Of course the town–what
there was of it–had
died before I was born. My dad owned a farm here, and that is the only
reason I remember as much as I do." |
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The
community's only industry was farming---and farming on a large scale.
Many plantation owners from the Old South brought their slaves and set
up elaborate headquarters there. One of them, a Judge Goldthwait from
Alabama, brought 200 slaves. Apparently the land was well suited for
his purposes, because after one year a local citizen wrote to his
wife, “I saw some fine cotton when I went over to Danville on the 3rd
at Goldthwait’s plantation. |
|
Another of
the plantation owners a General A.J. Lewis from Virginia, imported
brick from Holland and built a large three-story house." Its most
interesting feature was a ballroom, which, historians note, was on the
third floor. The house stood until 1940, when it was torn down and its
lumber used to construct a modern house. |
|
The
Texas Almanac of 1857 described Danville as "...a small village
some fifteen miles north of Montgomery, its trade being from the
surrounding country, which is rich and productive." The exceptional
productivity of the land is noted again in a letter from one of the
Danville citizens (who, luckily, were prolific letter writers): I went
out to Danville last Saturday in company with Colonel Abbot and saw a
beautiful field of corn." This too was a letter to a wife. One hopes
the wives were as interested in hearing about "fine cotton" and
"beautiful fields of corn" as were their husbands in writing about
them. |
|
The
community also supported a school and several churches. In a letter
dated 1860 the schoolmaster, Jay C. Barron, wrote to his brother: "I
am teaching a little school in the neighborhood of Danville. I have
got about 14 or 15 scholars and will have 25 or 30 in a few weeks." He
signed the letter "Doctor Jay C. Barron," which was a private joke
between him and his brother whom he addressed as "Parson". The family,
which now resides in Willis, admits that ancestors came into the
community on false pretenses, one claiming to be a doctor, and the
other a preacher–neither
of which they were. |
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The Baptist
Church which was founded at Danville moved away soon after the I&G.N.
Railroad put its line through Willis. It is now known as the
First Baptist Church of Willis.
|
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The
Catholic Church moved to New Waverly, where the Polish-Catholic
population was centered. |
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There are
only four visible reminders of Danville's existence: The wells, a
cemetery, a church bell, and a small pond which was used for baptisms. |
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The
cemetery is only a short distance from the townsite, on a pleasant,
flower-covered hill. One could never guess its age from its
appearance, however. Many of the old families who own plots there
still live nearby, and they take pride in the intense care which they
give the place. Only a few of the original vaults and markers remain,
and they are- crumbling and covered with vines. The others are
comparatively new, having been placed there when the original ones
showed signs of decay. The names on the markers are those of some of
the best-known families in the county: McIntyre, Spillers, Tadlock,
Snapp, Dean, Smith. |
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A brass
bell marks the spot where the Catholic Church was located. It is
mounted on a cement foundation beneath a circular grove of cedars. The
site is still used on special occasions by the church at New Waverly.
|
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The pond is
not visible from the road, and only an old-timer like Jess McIntyre
would be able to point it out so quickly. He has a special reason to
remember it, since his mother was baptized there when she was very
young. |
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Local
historians calculate Danville's existence from 1846, since that was
the first year in which election returns were listed for the town.
During the 1850's it experienced a building boom, and continued to
grow for several more years. Then,
with the coming of the Civil War and the railroads, it began to
disappear. After thirty years the town was deserted except by a few
farmers who did not need to be near the railroad. The churches, the
post office, the school, and the businesses distributed themselves
between the new towns of Willis and New Waverly, which were on the
railroad. |
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Reprint from The
Spectator, December 23, 1969, p. 8 & 9
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Original Plan of the Town
of Danville
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For more
information about Danville, visit Karen McCann Hett's
Danville
pages.
Be sure to investigate the
book entitled, "Old Danville Montgomery County Texas" researched by Pam
Puryear at
Montgomery County Memorial Library.
R9764153.
Be sure to investigate
Karen Lawless
page
"Journey to Danville"
linked with permission.
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