Present Day Placement

Where the 63 lots of the "town lands of Danville" were exactly located has been a point of discussion.  The main problem in this discussion, is that the plan of Danville most often used is from the book by Calvin Morgan Fackler, titled "Early Days In Danville".  The names of the streets on this plan are usually assumed to be the same names, and in the same locations, that are used today.  This is not the case.

The following figure is my attempt to place these 63 lots in their positions as they would have been located in 1784.  Please note the names of the streets are different as they are in present day Danville.

The "Public Square" is in the same location as it is today.  The name "1st Street" is still in the same location. It extended on the eastern side southward along the "Public Square".  The present "Main Street" was called "Broad Street".  Now "Second Street" is present day "Walnut Street" which is not the location of "Second Street" of today.  "Third Street" is today called "Martin Luther King Jr." and is not the location that "Third Street" is today.  "Main Cross Street" is the name that was given to the center of town. [Third Street today.]  "West Street" is now "4th Street", and the end of the town lands would come to what is called "Church Street" today.  The courthouse now stands in Lot #6.  Whew...lets try and review:

                        Main Street (of today) = Broad Street in 1784

                        1st Street (of today) = 1st Street in 1784 (extended down the Public Square)

                        2nd Street (of today) = Market Street in 1784

                        3rd Street (of today) =  Main Cross Street in 1784

                        4th Street (of today) =  West Street in 1784

                        Walnut Street (of today) = 2nd Street of 1784

                        Martin Luther King (of today) = 3rd Street of 1784

The west end of town would end where Church Street stands today.  What a deal... the present day placement of the town lots of 1784.

A Town Lot

The 76 acres for the town lands of Danville were organized into 63 equal size lots.  A public square was also planned and outline as shown in the figure below.

To orient you, north is at the top of the page.  Constitution Square is shown as "Public Square" with Main Street called "Broad Street".  [It was to be 90 feet wide whereas the other streets were to be 60 feet wide, thus "Broad Street".]  The public square was to be "20 poles 6' 3" in length [north to south] and "14 poles 10' 6" wide. [east to west]  One pole equals 16'5" square.  The next figure zeros in on "No 1" which begins the numbering system for the lots of Danville.

It is on the corner of "Broad Street" and "Market Street". [The present Main and Second Street.]  Each of the 62 lots were to be of equal size with the dimensions shown above.  They were to be "8 poles 2'6" north to south, and  "10 poles 3'1/2" east to west.  This would be 134ft. 6 inches by 168ft. 1/2 inch east to west.  It takes a bit to get organized to the plat since the names are different then we call them today.  Here you go, town lot #1 in Danville, 1784!  More to come.