🔊 Hear The Story

The Dr. Bruce James House – 803 Main Street
Reproduced with permission from Victorian Danville – Fifty-Two Landmarks: Their Architecture and History © 1977

This house has belonged to physicians and their families since it was constructed in 1899. It is interesting not only for its high architectural rating but because of its connections with these prominent Danville families.

About the same time Rorer A. James, Sr., a practicing attorney here, was acquiring the Danville Register, in January 1899, his brother, Dr. Robert Bruce James, was building this fine house for his residence and offices. According to Jane Gray Hagan’s Story of Danville, Rorer James paid the sum of $5,000 for the Register, the same figure entered on the tax books of 1900 as the value of Dr. James’s new home at the corner of Jefferson Avenue and Main Street.

The lot on which the house was built was a part of the George C. Ayers property now Elm Court, which was acquired by one Sarah Rhett, an unmarried female of Baltimore, Maryland, as the deed dated 1898 described her, and in June of that year she conveyed off a lot 70 x 160 feet to Annie May James, wife of Dr. Bruce James.

Annie May, called “Miss Snow”, was the daughter of John H. Schoolfield, one of the founders of Dan River Mills, who built his handsome home at 944 Main Street.

Dr. James practiced in the basement level of this house and resided in the two upstairs floors from the time of its construction until 1926 when he left because of ill health and moved to Lexington, Virginia, to serve as post surgeon and biology instructor at Virginia Military Institute. He was a beloved family physician and was held in high regard in his profession, being a contributor to medical publications. He served on the Danville School Board for a long number of years and it was he who gave the village that grew up to the south of Danville the name of Schoolfield. Prior to that time the railroad stop there was known as Jaffa.

Up the street at 968 Main Street, the present Mrs. Nora Wiseman home, lived his brother, Rorer, who as stated, was the owner of the Register and by then the Bee, and who according to Hagan, wielded a wide influence through the medium of these papers, which his descendants still own today. Rorer James married Anne Marshall Wilson, daughter of Col. Robert Wilson of “Dan’s Hill,” and he represented the county both in the House of Delegates and the state Senate and later was United States congressman from this district.

Another brother, John James, lived at 939 Green Street. A John James is listed as early as the 1879 city directory as being a tobacconist, at the time operating James Tobacco Co. Among his children was Vice Admiral Jules James whose brilliant career in the Navy is carried in clippings found in the scrapbooks at the Danville Public Library. Admiral James boosted the war effort by his appearance in his hometown in October 1943, when he came to Danville to celebrate Navy Day and was wined and dined by friends and relatives.

These three brothers, Bruce, Rorer, Sr., and John were sons of Dr. John Craighead James and his wife, Angeline Rorer, who resided on a farm near Axton where he had his office. The main house was burned during the Civil War, it is said, but part of the farm today is known as “Axton Lodge” and remains in the family.

Dr. Bruce James died on March 3, 1930, and is buried in Green Hill Cemetery. An account of his funeral lists his pallbearers as R.A. James, Jr., Wilson James, John Bruce James, Commander Jules James, U.S.N., Bruce Millner and Col. Sam Millner, all nephews of the deceased.

He was survived by his widow and three daughters, Barbara, Catherine and Harrell, all of whom had married and moved from Danville.

After Dr. James moved to Lexington, L.B. Cabiness and his sister, Miss Nancy Cabiness, occupied the house. Mr. Cabiness, an automobile dealer who later married Miss Mary Brann, an Averett teacher, managed the rental properties of Dr. James, who by this time had built the James Apartments (now demolished) at the rear of his home and had acquired Elm Court next door. Miss Nancy operated a small rooming house which, like the Canada House across the street, was the first Danville home for many of our successful businessmen.

Dr. M. E. Mease and Dr. R. B. Davis at one time also practiced in the basement level on Jefferson Avenue.

The widow of Dr. James in 1937 sold the house to Dr. Raymond Scruggs who practiced here for three years before moving his home and offices to 724 Lee Street where he lived until his death and where his daughter, Grace E. Scruggs, still resides. Here on Lee Street Dr. Scruggs was much at home, he and three of his sisters, who still reside there, occupying four adjacent houses just in front of the National Cemetery.

In June 1940 the house was sold to Dr. Henry J. Langston, who had his offices here until his death in October 1960. Dr. Langston, a native of Pitt County, North Carolina, was perhaps equally as loved by his numerous patients as was the original builder. The house passed to the children of Dr. Langston, and now belongs to his youngest son, Henry J. Langston, Jr., who resides here.

During Dr. Langston’s ownership the first floor was headquarters for the local Red Cross chapter until they acquired their own building up the street several years ago.

Although the residence has been converted into two apartments, it still retains its beautiful original features. A fine solidly proportioned Queen Anne mansion with Neo-Classical Revival architectural details, it reflects the less ornate design which had come into favor around the turn of the century. Conspicuous features include the second floor Palladian window, the large stairway window on the side and the graceful Ionic front porch. The floor plan of the house is reflected on the exterior by the three-part projections on the front and side. MC