In June of 1904, Mary E. Wimbish purchased a plot of land “situated in the City of Danville on Green Street and Colquhoun Street” for $775. Five years later, she divided the plot and sold one half of it to Coleman Abner Mahan for $2,875, and the other to his soon-to-be brother-in-law, Andrew A. Giles. Considering the elevation in price, it may be supposed that Mary commissioned the homes that were built on the two lots.

Andrew Giles, the third eldest of eleven children, was born in Chatham, Virginia, on the 19th of November, 1871 to George Washington and Eliza Ann Collie Giles. The family moved to Callands when Andrew was a boy, and as a young man he arrived in Danville shortly after his father’s death in 1895. By 1900, according to the Census, he was living on the 300 block of Main Street where, employed as a bookkeeper, he shared rooms with Sam A. Shadrick. by 1910, he was bookkeeping for a wholesale grocer. He married Mary Mahan in October of 1904. Mary was born in Callands, and it was likely while living there that the two became acquainted. Born in 1883, Mary was the youngest of five children. Andrew and Mary Giles had lived in the home at 923 Green Street just shy of ten years when he purchased the house next door from his brother-in-law and moved to 925 Green Street, where they lived with Mary’s father, and where the family would remain for the next thirty-five years. As Andrew’s health declined, the Gileses began looking to the future. They sold the home to another of Mary’s brothers, Charles Mortimer Mahan and his wife Addie, though the Gileses continued to live in the home. Two years later, on the 31st of March 1933, Andrew suffered a stroke and was immediately stricken with paralysis. He died that evening, about 8:30, in his home at 925 Green Street. Mary remained in the home for another twenty-two years before she passed away following a cerebral hemorrhage.

Charles Mahan died in 1946, leaving the property to his wife, and after Mary’s death, Addie rented the property to other tenants, but by 1965 it simply became too much to hold onto, and the home went into foreclosure. It was purchased in October of that year by Leonard Bowen. It would change hands seven more times through the 60s, 70s, and 80s before Fred and Laura Meder would purchase the property and restore it, making it one of the Old West End’s highly-valued rental properties.

Going back to the sale of 923 Green Street by Andrew and Mary Giles in 1919, the property became the home of Thomas Belt and Edna Fulton. Thomas was born in Pittsylvania County in 1882 to Major Thomas Fulton and Nancy Henderson Hylton Fulton. Thomas was in the retail hardware business. He married Edna Harvey in December of 1908. The couple had three children. Thomas died in 1945 when liver cancer spread to his pancreas. Edna maintained the home until 1962 when it was sold to Bill and June Hudgins. Just a few years later, in 1966, Edna died suddenly from an aneurism. Having inherited the home from their parents, the Fultons’ three children sold the property to Bill and June Hudgins.

Not a lot is known about the Hudgins. Bill was born in 1925. He married June Marie Williams in April of 1949 in Chatham, Virginia. In 1966, they sold the home, but continued to live in it at least up until 1970 when they appear in the directory. In 1973, the couple separated and in 1984, they were divorced. The house stood empty for a time before it was purchased by the Danville Historical Society as part of their historic preservation rotating fund in 1983. It was purchased by an interested party in 1985 and was the property of Darlene Parsons for the next twenty years before falling into foreclosure. The property changed hands twice more and then fell into foreclosure again in 2011 before Steve and Susan Wilson purchased and restored the property. Today, like its sister at 925, it is a rental property of high integrity and visual appeal. It is presently the home of David Hanbury. David and next door neighbor Adrienne Brune are close friends and both came to Danville to take teaching positions at Averett University.

Adrienne came to Danville from Oklahoma after finishing her PhD in Sociology at the University of Oklahoma. Originally from Michigan, she arrived in Danville about the same time David did. David grew up in Kentucky and Mississippi and received his PhD in Psychology from the University of Southern Mississippi. It was while finishing up his post-doctoral work at Wake Forest that the two became instant friends. David, shortly after arriving in Danville, took the house at 923 Green Street, while Adrienne was renting a loft in the River District. When the house next door became available, David persuaded her to take it. The two friends are both Associate Professors now at Averett as well as neighbors.

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