Historic Marker for Holbrook-Ross Historic District

The Holbrook-Ross Historic District, named for its two major streets, is significant as the first neighborhood in Danville for African American professionals. Lawyers, ministers, dentists, and physicians, as well as business owners, insurance agents, postal clerks, and skilled craftsmen, made it their home in the late 19th century. It grew rapidly during the 1880s following construction of the Danville School, the city's public school for Blacks. By the turn of the 20th century, Holbrook Street had become Danville's foremost Black residential address.

The district includes 107 contributing buildings in a primarily African-American neighborhood of Danville. It includes a full range of late 19th and early 20th century residential, commercial, and institutional structures. The majority of the houses are single-family dwellings that were built between 1880 and 1910, and includes notable examples of vernacular Italianate and Queen Anne styles. Notable buildings include the Williams House (c. 1890), Hargraves-Geary House (c. 1890), Tisden House (c. 1930), Leroy Johnson House (c. 1940), Broadnax Apartment (c. 1930), Calvary Baptist Church (1896), Holbrook Street Presbyterian Church (c. 1910), Loyal Baptist Church (1924), Wesley AME Church (1939), Westmoreland Middle School (1936), and the Annex Building (1925). 

The historical marker.

Holbrooks–Ross Street Historic District. Wikipedia. May 09, 2017. Accessed May 10, 2017. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holbrooks%E2%80%93Ross_Street_Historic_District.