DANVILLE, VA | Southern Factory Town

[Thundertubs]

Danville is a city of about 44,000 on the Dan River in Pittsylvania County, south-central Virginia, just above the North Carolina state line. It's a gritty old town with a large warehouse district. Photos were taken late in the evening and early in the morning.








































































































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More Virginia: PETERSBURG | LYNCHBURG

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[Evergrey]

Pittsylvania... great name...

Fantastic built environment with perfect grey skies! Love the narrow but muscular street in the first photo.

[rousseau]

Look at all that brick. Did this place get lost on the way to Massachusetts?

[xzmattzx]

Great pictures! Danville has some great industrial building stock!

I flew over Danville a couple weeks ago:

[202_Cyclist]

Excellent photos! It is both amazing and sad how many beautiful buildings we've abandoned in this country. There is probably tens of billions of dollars of potential housing just sitting vacant and deteriorating

[mrnyc]

good lord, think of the loft and studio and startup potential -- just wait until the hipster kids get wind of this town!

[ColDayMan]

I've got family there too. Thanks for the tour.

[mrherodotus]

Originally Posted by ColDayMan

I've got family there too. Thanks for the tour.

My grandmother was born and raised in Danville. We might be kin, LOL! Come to think of it, her brother and sister ended up in Middletown, Ohio. Hmmmmmmm!

[Ex-Ithacan]

An old brick rascal which has seen better days. The Appalachin towns/cities have so much potential, but it's sad they don't seem to really have a great future. Wonderful pics Tt. Looks even more "alone" than when I visited a decade ago.

Here's what that big cream colored factory sign looked like back then:



Thanks for the tour.

[Yorkie]

Looks really distressed and bleak. It does have a good mix of potential rehab stock, but what else does it have too offer?? There is no major highway nearby to even entice tourist too stop an look around on there way to their distention. Unfortunately it is in an area that needs some real cash flow, some major investment.......In all the pix posted I saw hardly any people or commerce...

[STLgasm]

Who knew?

[cabasse]

i'd almost forgotten that i've been here before. back when i was in jr high, late 90s. i took a trip here with a church group - "world changers" - and helped fix up a house and install siding for someone. i worked with some people from st. louis who i remember being very proud of their home city. memories.

nice photos. i can sort of remember the city looking a bit like this, but it was a few years before my interest in cities was piqued.

[Cirrus]

Virginia's own little rust belt: Lynchburg and Danville.

[dbcook1]

Originally Posted by Cirrus

Virginia's own little rust belt: Lynchburg and Danville.

Actually, Lynchburg has come a very long way over the past few years and the revitalization effort is now in full swing here. There are some 314 new lofts and apartments either under construction, built within the past six months or planned for 2014 in the downtown area alone. Several other projects including the Lower Bluff Walk (a downtown pedestrian mall), renovation of the Academy of Fine Arts, construction of a new transit hub, and the development of a downtown grocer brings the total amount of development to around $100 million going on at this very moment. Lynchburg itself is one of the fastest growing among all Virginia cities under 100,000 with the population growing from 65,269 in 2000 to 77,203 in 2012 without annexing any new land. Liberty University is rapidly growing with about $500 million in on-campus projects under construction. Available here is a rundown of all the various projects around downtown Lynchburg and a map about half way down I developed:

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=1635205

and a photo thread I put together for Lynchburg about six months ago:

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=1621575

[ShadowMaster]

I like these tours of Industrial towns. These are interesting - http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/j...ps8ce45b71.jpg

[LSyd]

great thread, and perfect lighting for the mood of industrial decay. i kick myself every time i see photos of it that i haven't explored it yet. definitely on my to do list when i move back to the US.

Originally Posted by Cirrus

Virginia's own little rust belt: Lynchburg and Danville.

you've gotta include Petersburg.

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[DetroitSky]

Looks like an interesting place. Thanks!

[kcexpress69]

Grittiness, indeed!!! But a great building stock to go with it!! Thanks for sharing!!

[Lakelander]

Great shots. Looks like a pretty interesting town.

[KB0679]

I've driven through Danville before (took the back roads from Charlotte to DC one year), but never got a chance to see downtown. Looks like a smaller, less vibrant version of Winston-Salem.