The house at 841 Main Street was constructed in 1881 for tobacconist Calvin Maurice Flinn. Flinn, born in 1838, was a native of Stokes County, North Carolina. He came to Danville after the Civil War and had a drug store in the Masonic Temple. However, by 1878, He was associated with P. W. Ferrell in the tobacco business. In March 1980, Flinn purchased the land on which he constructed this home.
However, his time in the home was limited, passing on the first day of 1888. His wife Bettie died in 1901. Apparently, the house remained vacant for some years, as there will no Flinns in the city directory nor anyone listed at this address.
In the 1910s and early 1920s, the home was rented to Danville’s mayor, Capt. Harry Wooding. The Wooding family remained here until the mayor’s son, Harry Jr., purchased the home at 120 Holbrook Avenue. The mayor and his wife occupied an apartment there.
From 1922, when the home was substantially improved, into the late 1940s, it served as the parsonage for Main Street Methodist Church. These “improvements” included removal of the original Victorian porch and steps (see 1885 image below) giving its present Georgian Revival appearance.
In June 1973, several doctors who were being displaced from West Main Street by the construction of Central Boulevard proposed to demolish this house and the Fernald House at 855 Main and replace them with a new office building. Fortunately, the doctors withdrew their plan.
In 1977, Dr. William S. Ogden and his wife, Will Lou Gray Ogden, bought and completely renovated the house. The Ogden’s primary home was the J. H. Schoolfield House at 944 Main Street.
Tragedy struck in 2006 while the home was the property of attorney and former FBI Special Agent Gary L. Bengston. Bengston practiced from the lower level of the home. It was ruled that he had committed suicide by shooting himself twice in the head and setting the house ablaze. Little remained but the exterior brick walls.
The ruin was acquired by Tom Belles and Carla Minosh who have since rehabilitated the home into two luxury apartments.
Sources:
Danville Register, Sept. 23, 1978 – Flinn home has served Danville well by Mary Cahill
Danville Bee, June 24 and 27, 1973
1885 Sketchbook of Danville by Edward Pollock
