The W.T. Hughes House, 233 West Main Street
In September of 1912, Peter and Charles Booth purchased two lots on West Main Street from The Mount Vernon Villa Company. Two years after the brothers built their identical homes of Mt. Airy granite at 243 and 247 West Main Street, they built two additional houses at 233 and 235 West Main Street.
The home at 233 West Main Street, completed in 1914, was constructed in a fashion nearly identical to its cousins (though on a narrower scale) for the purpose of speculation. Starting shortly after the home’s construction, the family of W.T. Hughes took occupancy as renters. Two years later, they purchased the home.
William T. Hughes, a native of Pittsylvania County, was born in 1862. He came to Danville in 1881 with his brother John E. Hughes, and the two brothers made their fortunes (and their names) in tobacco. Mr. Hughes served in the Spanish-American War where he received the title of Colonel. He married Clara Emery Davis in 1891 and together they raised three children, sons Mirabeau and William, Jr., and a daughter Julia.
When Col. Hughes died after a long decline in health in 1928, his wife (who outlived him by thirty-three years) remained in the house until 1940, at which time she moved in with her son, Mirabeau and his family who had purchased the home next door at 231 West Main Street. In that year the Hughes sold their family home to George W. Davis of Davis Storage and Warehouse, Inc.
Mr. Davis was born on the 27th of March 1891 in Halifax, Virginia. He married Odille Lewis in 1916, and the couple had four children. Mr. Davis died in 1964 as a result of heart disease. After Mrs. Davis’s death in 1981, the house was sold to Rufus and Bessie Reynolds who would reside here for the next thirty years.
In 2010, the property became the home of Roberto and Gloria Lomas. It is currently the home of the Lowell family.
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
Danville Historical Society, Annual Holiday Walking Tour, 2013
