The lot at 900 Green street, at the northwest corner of the intersection with Chestnut Street, was secured by Morris J. Fox  of 154 Chestnut Street for his son, Harry S. Fox, then twelve years old, as an investment. In 1879, Mr. Fox commissioned the Italianate-style house that stands there today to be built. According to census records, Frank S. Woodson, an editor for the Danville Register, was among the first to live in the home, possibly as a renter.

Sometime in the 1890s, John A. Hawkins and his wife, Ann Dickens Hawkins, moved onto the property. Mr. Hawkins’ early history is scant. According to census records, he declared his location of birth as Mississippi, though no records actually prove the family ever lived there. John Abner Hawkins was the third of three children (two girls and one boy) born to Abner W. Hawkins and Abner’s second wife, Mary Jane Nichols of Halifax County. Abner himself was born in Virginia, which further adds mystery to John’s claims of Mississippi origin, though that is hardly the only mystery regarding the family who seems entirely to disappear from all records between 1860 and 1887. Neither is his obituary very helpful in understanding his early history.

We do know that John was employed for many years with the Danville Lumber Company until about 1912 when he moved into the insurance business. He was also a civil magistrate and maintained offices on the fourth floor of the old city hall building. Sometime before 1920, the family moved to a home at 758 Main Street, and it was there, in May of 1920, that Mrs. Hawkins died suddenly of a heart attack.

To most people who knew him, John benefitted by exceptional health and vitality, even into his seventies, but his family knew he was merely disguising rapidly declining health. A series of heart attacks forced him to have an operation that nearly cost him his life. Recovering, he spent his final months pretending all was better than it was. He died suddenly at his home of a heart attack in the early morning hours of April 13, 1937, in a very similar fashion as had his wife, 17 years before. The couple are buried at Green Hill Cemetery in unmarked graves.

The Hawkinses, who had occupied the residence for some 25 years, had raised three children in their Green Street home. The youngest, John Abner, Jr., was a doctor who made great contributions, particularly locally, in the field of X-Ray radiology.

After the Hawkins family left the premises in the late 19-teens, the house was purchased by Henry Lea. Mr. Lea was born 10 March 1879 in Sutherlin, Virginia. He arrived in Danville as a young man to attend Professor Cook’s Business School. After graduating, he stayed on to assist Mr. Cook in his school. His first job in Danville was selling produce for Major W.T. Sutherlin before finding employment with Conway & Walker Coal Company. In 1906 he procured a position with the Danville Furniture Company under Willard Holland. In 1917, he purchased the company from Mr. Holland and formed the Lea-Lewis Furniture Company which he continued to operate and preside over until the time of his death in 1947.

Mr. Lea married Cora Dirksen in 1905, and the couple had four children. Mrs. Lea died in 1953 of heart disease. By 1935, however, the couple were living on West Main Street.

It was about that time that the house was divided into an owner occupied duplex with half the house being used as rental property. Louise Beavers, a widow, owned and occupied the ground floor with her son Harold and daughter Jean.

Louise Azile Richardson Beaver was born in Danville in December of 1878. She married John Lafayette Beaver in December of 1895, and the couple had eight children (one of whom married a Lea cousin). John Beaver was an engineer for the Southern railway company and was well known to be one of the best and fastest drivers. In 1928 he was diagnosed with prostate cancer and underwent an operation. He never fully recovered, and in 1929, he passed away, leaving Louise with four children still at home. Louise sold their N. Main home and purchased the house on Green Street where she rented out the upstairs rooms. She maintained the premises as such until her own death in 1959, after which the house stood vacant for a time.

In the 1970’s the Danville Historical Society began promoting Green Street and its architecturally significant houses to families and single occupancy owners. The organization’s revolving fund program purchased the house at 900 Green Street and stabilized and refurbished the home for occupancy. In 1988, the house was featured on the Holiday Tour, and in 1995 Laura Meder purchased the property, which she and her husband Fred have maintained as investment property. Many of the Old West End neighbors will remember the house for its stunning rose garden which was planted and maintained by Laura’s parents, Hilton and Eleanor Douglas.

The home, vacant once more, is undergoing major renovations, as Fred and Laura work hard to update its systems and make necessary repairs to the historically and architecturally important home. Both Fred and Laura are passionate about the Old West End and its efforts to preserve and restore these houses, however endangered they may be, while, at the same time, finding innovative ways of bringing them into the modern age so that thy are functional, efficient, and practical while maintaining their inherent beauty and integrity.

Sources:
Census and Vital records found at Familysearch.org
Images and vital information, including biographical sketches found at FindaGrave.com
Death notices and other information found in the Danville Register, Danville Bee and other newspaper archives at Newspapers.com and GenealogyBank.com
Census, Directory, Newspaper, and other information compiled by Paul Liepe