Site of Former Town of Danville

At its height in the mid-1800s about 1,000 people lived in Danville, and some 600 of them were enslaved. The plaque's "rich plantation area" was built on their labor. The town stood on the lower Coushatta Trace, with a cotton gin, two blacksmith shops, two stores and an inn, and it may have taken its name from the Illinois town that the Lindley families left in 1830. Sam Houston ate at a barbecue here on September 11, 1858. When the railroad went through Willis in 1870, most of Danville's businesses and many of its people followed it.

What the plaque says

Site of Former Town of Danville Founded before 1840 as trade center, rich plantation area. Many prominent families had Texas beginnings here. At peak, town had 15 businesses, several churches, good schools; refusing right-of-way to Houston & Great Northern Railway in 1870s, lost its people and commerce to new town of Willis, on the railroad. Sheperd Hill Cemetery (at this site) is all that remains of the once-thriving town. Claim to enduring fame lies in memory of Jonathan Lindley, a Danville man who lost his life defending cause of Texas at the Alamo, March 6, 1836. (1970)

Where it stands

More markers nearby

• Site of Willis Cigar Factory — 4.4 mi
• Willis — 4.7 mi
• West Fork of The San Jacinto River — 9.7 mi
• Former Homesite of Joseph L. Bennett — 11 mi