Danville

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• Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
• Year: 2014
• ISBN:
  9781439645628
• Topic: Histoire
• Subtopic: Histoire de l'Amérique du Nord

A town transformed by the American railroad system, Danville, Illinois's rich history is displayed through a collection of images throughout the centuries.

Named after early pioneer and fur trapper Dan Beckwith, Danville was a dream realized when the first town lots were auctioned on April 10, 1827. The town grew, especially after the "iron horse" made its way into the area. The railroad opened the doors to Danville's rich manufacturing potential, and the town expanded. Serving as the Vermilion County seat, Danville has undergone many changes in the last 70 years. Although the focus of its economy has changed, the days of General Motors, Chuckles, General Electric, and many more businesses and industries that provided work and brought people to the county linger in memory. Employment provided a rich and full life upon which the heritage of Danville was built.

One

IT’S OFF TO WORK WE GO

Plumbers Union Local 293 poses with a car at the 1909 Labor Day parade. For years, workers from the area have participated in Danville’s parade with decorated floats. Beginning at Harrison Street, the parade usually heads south on North Vermilion Street. Prizes are awarded for the best entries in the parade.

William J. Anker was 16 when he entered the flower industry. In 1887, he built this shop and greenhouse at 314 Jackson Street, where he raised and sold flowers. After moving three times, the shop finally settled into its present-day location, at 421 North Hazel Street. Anker also ordered flowers from Chicago via postcard or telegraph. When telephones came into use, flowers ordered by 10:00 a.m. would arrive by the Wabash evening train.

This photograph shows the display window in the Cramer & Norton store. The store was listed as a dry goods store and sold suits, cloaks, ladies’ ready-to-wear clothes, and millinery. It was situated at 12–14 East Main Street in the early 1920s. Its advertising slogan was “Watch Us Grow—The Store for All the People.” The sign in the foreground states that the display is “Suggestive Apparel for Easter Parties.”

The Aetna Hotel was built on the southwest corner of Vermilion and North Streets in 1865, just after the Civil War ended. In 1888, the roof of the two-story brick building was removed and two more floors were added. Several years later, the building was extended about 30 feet to the alley. It was one of the finest hotels in the city and played host to many notables, including William F. “Buffalo Bill” Cody and future president Franklin D. Roosevelt, when he was a candidate for vice president in 1920. The building was razed in the 1930s to make room for a Walgreens. Of special note are the streetcar tracks in the center of the intersection and the traffic signal in the center of the street. Thompson’s Restaurant (left), five doors south of the hotel, was known for its cafeteria-style service, with guests eating at their famous one-armed chairs.

At the beginning of the 1900s, traveling by automobile on dirt roads was very hazardous, especially in bad weather. In an effort to encourage automobile travel, the American Automobile Association lobbied for new road construction. The Dixie Highway was designed to promote travel between Chicago and Miami. By 1927, nearly 5,786 miles of roadway on the Dixie Highway had been improved. In Danville, this highway ran from North Vermilion Street down to Main Street and then east on Main to the Indiana state line. This photograph of Dixie Highway, taken in the 600 block of North Vermilion Street, shows businesses in the early 1900s. They are, from left to right, the Big 4 Hotel, Reid Bros. Groceries, a dry cleaners, Danville Pure Milk Company (a wholesale and retail milk company whose delivery wagon is parked on the street), Samuel H. Dahlquist Shoe Store, and Walter Kiningham Groceries.

This 1920s photograph shows the interior of the Main Restaurant, at 6 West Main Street, which was owned and operated by George E. Ames. This was a prime location, situated between the Illinois Traction System’s streetcar station and the Plaza Hotel, and across the street from the courthouse. This building was used alternately as a saloon and a restaurant.

The Hotel Savoy, built in 1913, was located at 11–13 West Main Street. This 1930 photograph shows the hotel sandwiched between Westside Pocket Billiards, on the left, and Bresee Towers, on the right. The hotel later became known as the Milner Hotel. In the early 1960s, the building was razed for the new First National Bank building.

Built in 1915 as a rooming house, the Hotel Carlton, at 9–11 West Harrison Street, became a hotel in 1925. It had no elevator, but rooms were $1, or $2 for a room with a bathroom. Among others, federal jurors, show people working at the Fischer Theater, and Danville Dodgers baseball players stayed at the hotel. It closed in 1958 and was razed in 1965.

This early Danville scene, on Washington Avenue just north of Main Street, shows a café serving oyster and fish stew for 25¢; stewed rabbit with dumplings, boiled beef, and cabbage for 30¢; and stewed rabbit for 35¢. Star Laundry is visible behind the café, and the Wabash Café can be seen to the right. No wasted space here—every wall and window was used for advertising.

This 1921 photograph shows the day force of the Illinois Traction System’s motormen and conductors in front of one of the streetcars. Fast-moving streetcars, faster-moving automobiles, and slow-moving pedestrians made for a bad mix when operating streetcars. From 1902 to 1936, at least 14 people died after being run over or struck by streetcars. Five others and one horse died in car or buggy collisions. In 1902, Carey B. Hall, hired to operate a streetcar, was warned to keep the car on the rails or lose his job. On his second day, Hall, traveling down West Fairchild Street, discovered he was unable to slow down because of the frost-slickened rails. Approaching the end of the line at Logan Avenue, he bailed out of the car just before it jumped the tracks and rolled down the hill at Lake View Memorial Hospital. True to their word, the company fired Hall for his inability to control the streetcar. Hall went on to become an accountant at Danville Transfer & Storage, and then the president of the company in 1912.

Danville Tent & Awning began in 1895 in the home of Thomas J. Wodetzki in Lincoln, Illinois. Wodetzki learned the trade working for a firm in Joplin, Missouri, that made white Conestoga wagon covers. Six years later, in 1902, he opened his Danville business at 523 East Main Street. In 1966, the firm had a factory at 248–250 West Main Street and a showroom at 219 West Main. Demands for its products came from all over the United States. The company provided weather protection for homes and stores as well as the agricultural, industrial, transportation, and recreational businesses. In the mid-1960s, the company added filter bags, used by millers of grain, to its line. After expansion in the 1960s, the awning business was dropped from its product line. The company continued to make its tents from heavy grades of cotton until the 1970s, when it switched to vinyl-coated nylon, which was cheaper, stronger, longer lasting, and fade resistant. Later, the firm moved to 1706 Warrington Avenue. A fourth-generation family-operated business, it is now known as American Pavilion.

Hotel Grier-Lincoln, built in 1935 at 101–103 West Main Street, was situated ...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• 1. It’s Off to Work We Go
• 2. What a Way to Go
• 3. All Work and No Play
• 4. Meet and Greet
• 5. Serve and Defend
• 6. Those We Remember
• About the Vermilion County Museum Society