Danville Public Library
About this property
Danville Museum of Fine Arts and History, also known as the William T. Sutherlin Mansion and the Confederate Memorial, is a historic home and museum building located at Danville, Virginia. It was built for Major William T. Sutherlin in 1857–1858, and is a two-story, five-bay, stuccoed building in the Italian Villa style. It features a one-story wooden porch, a shallow hipped roof surrounded by a heavy bracketed cornice and topped by a square cupola ornamented with pilasters and a bracketed cornice. While at the house, which served as his temporary residence from April 3 to April 10, 1865, on April 4, President Jefferson Davis signed his last official proclamation as President of the Confederate States of America. On April 10, Davis was at dinner at the house when he learned of the surrender at Appomattox. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1969. It is located in the Danville Historic District. The house is owned by the city and was used as the Danville Public Library from 1928 to 1972. This mansion, after being sold to the city, became a “whites only” public library from 1928 to 1972. In the summer of 1960, Black students would decide that they wanted the library to be integrated, and staged a sit-in. To resist desegregation efforts, the library would be shut down, and would not open again until the fall of 1960. While the library now had to allow Black people into the library, it did not have to provide comfortable accommodations; and the library re-opened without chairs.
Location
Categories
Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).
Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Everything a full report reveals about Danville Public Library
This page lists Danville Public Library. A full Aubrey report for an address near it pulls together this listing alongside battlefield records, land patents, and every other historical record within a chosen radius:
Every location is different. Not every section appears for every place, only what the historical record actually holds turns up in a report.
Questions about this property
When was Danville Public Library listed on the National Register?
Danville Public Library was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on November 11, 1969.
What type of historic resource is Danville Public Library?
Danville Public Library is classified as a building in the National Register of Historic Places.
What is the period of significance for Danville Public Library?
The period of significance for Danville Public Library is recorded as the industrial era.
Can I research the history near Danville Public Library?
Yes. Aubrey Research reports search National Register listings, battlefield records, land patents, and other primary historical sources within any radius of a US address. A report for an address near Danville Public Library will include this listing and all other historical records in the area.
More in Danville County
Historic places, battles, and census history across Danville County.
Explore DanvilleCounty ›More historic places in Virginia
Browse all historic places in Virginia.
View Virginiahistoric sites ›Research the history near this site
An Aubrey US report for an address near Danville Public Library will include this listing alongside battlefield records and other historical sources within your chosen radius.