What to See in Danville - Top Sights and Attractions

Museum in Danville, Illinois. The Fithian House is a historic house located at 116 N. Gilbert St. in Danville, Vermilion County Illinois. The Italianate house was built in 1855 for William Fithian. Fithian was a physician and a politician who served in the Illinois House of Representatives and Illinois Senate. In addition, Fithian donated land for and was the namesake of Fithian, Illinois, a Vermilion County village located west of Danville. Abraham Lincoln was a close friend of Fithian's, and while visiting Danville during his 1858 senatorial campaign, he stayed in the house and gave a speech from its second-floor balcony.

The house is now part of the Vermilion County Museum, a history museum which exhibits both the house's period interior and displays on local history and historical figures in a separate building.

The house was added to the National Register of Historic Places on May 1, 1975.^[1]

Theatre in Danville, Illinois. The Fischer Theatre was built in 1884 in Danville, Illinois, and was known as the Grand Opera House at that time. The grand opening was held on November 5, 1884. The lot on which it was built cost $6000, and the building itself cost $28,000 including furnishings. In 1912, the theatre was remodeled and upon its reopening on March 13, 1913, it was known as the Fischer Theater, after a member of its governing board. In 1929, the theater added equipment to project movies, and the exterior was remodeled when apartments and commercial space were added to the front of the building. A large pipe organ was used to accompany silent movies. In 1971, the theater was sold to the Kerasotes Theatres chain. The original seating capacity was about 900, which included the main floor, mezzanine, balcony and boxes. New seating was installed in 1971 when it became a Kerasotes theatre, giving the main floor a capacity of 600.

In 1982, the Fischer Theatre was closed. Kerasotes Theatres removed and sold the building's fixtures, and the building was turned over to the city of Danville. In 1997, the building was deemed unsafe and slated for demolition, but in an attempt to save the building, Danville's Old Town Preservation Association convinced the city to turn the building over to the association. In 1998, the Old Town Preservation Association sold the building to the Vermilion Heritage Foundation. On June 20, 2006, the leadership of the Vermilion Heritage Foundation closed the theater to future events due to increasing utilities and maintenance costs and a desire to re-focus on fundraising for the complete restoration.

In August 2018, local philanthropist Julius W. Hegeler II became involved with the project and donated several million dollars for the renovation. The project began with a new roof and tuckpointing of the brick exterior, and was then expanded to include the interior of the building.

The Fischer Theatre is on the List of Registered Historic Places in Illinois.^[2]

Bridge in Danville, Illinois. The Stone Arch Bridge is a bridge in Danville, Illinois, which carries U.S. Route 136 across Stony Creek. The segmental arch bridge is 92 feet long and built with sandstone. The bridge was built in the 1890s to facilitate Danville's expansion during an industrial boom. As various geographic and political limitations prevented the city from expanding in any directions but east and southeast, the city grew over Stony Creek, necessitating a new bridge. Mayor John Beard commissioned the bridge; during the 1890s, Beard and political rival John Cannon clashed over many issues, and Beard most likely built the bridge to demonstrate his political effectiveness. The bridge is the only segmented arch bridge remaining in east-central Illinois and is one of five stone arch bridges in the region.

The bridge was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1986.^[3]

Public library in Danville, Illinois. Danville Public Library is a library in Danville, Illinois formed in 1883 by consolidating several existing collections. Originally it existed in rented space in buildings in downtown Danville. On November 7, 1904, a new Carnegie library opened and served for the next 91 years. The library had a Beaux-Arts design with columns flanking the front doors and a parapet wall above the entrance. It was expanded in 1929 thanks to a gift from Augustus Webster.

Construction on a new library building just north of the existing building began in 1994 and was completed in 1995. The grand opening was held on November 7, 1995.

The Carnegie building still exists and now operates as the Vermilion County War Museum.^[5]

Holland Apartments is a historic apartment complex located at 324-326 N. Vermilion St. in Danville, Illinois. The building was constructed in two sections; the northern half was built in 1906, while the southern half was completed in 1927. Both sections of the building are designed in the Dutch Revival style; architect Charles M. Lewis developed the original design in 1906. The front and side facades each feature multiple stepped gables; the front-facing gables are flanked by dormers. The first floor, which originally housed four stores and a restaurant, features arched entrances, a brick parapet, and extensive corbelling. The Dutch Revival style is rare in the Midwest, and the building is the only Dutch Revival structure in the Danville or Champaign areas.

The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places on November 16, 1988.^[7]

Building in Danville, Illinois. The Vermilion County Administration Building, formerly known as the United States Post Office and Court House, is a historic federal building located at 201 North Vermilion Street in Danville, Illinois. The building was built in 1911 to serve as Danville's post office and a district courthouse for the Eastern District of Illinois. The building has a Renaissance Revival design, which was in keeping with Supervising Architect of the Treasury James Knox Taylor's preference for classically inspired styles. The limestone building's symmetrical front features a row of arched windows flanked by an entrance pavilion at each corner. A dentillated cornice circles the building above its second floor, and pediments along the roof top each entrance. The U-shaped interior of the building features wood and marble ornamentation and terrazzo floors.

Until 1988, the building housed the post office on its first floor and federal court operations on its upper two floors. After a new courthouse opened in Urbana, bankruptcy cases continued to be heard in Danville until 2013, when the building was mostly vacated.

In June 2017, the federal government transferred ownership to Vermilion County. The county clerk, auditor, treasurer, recorder and county administrative offices moved into the building in May 2018. The Vermilion County Board currently meets inside the former courtroom.

The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places on November 22, 2016.^[8]

Historical landmark in Vermilion County, Illinois. The Danville Branch, National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers Historic District is the historic campus of a branch of the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers in Danville, Illinois. The branch, which opened in 1898, was one of eleven branches of the National Home, which formed in 1867 to treat Union soldiers disabled during the Civil War. U.S. Representative and Danville resident Joseph Gurney Cannon used his political influence to establish the Danville Branch, which brought money and jobs to the city. The campus served as both a medical facility and a planned community for the area's veterans, and it included housing, veteran-run shops, community halls, a school and library, and a chapel. Most of these buildings were designed in the Georgian Revival style; however, the library is a Classical Revival building, and the chapel has a Gothic Revival design. The campus also includes the Danville National Cemetery. The buildings remaining on the campus are presently divided between Danville's Veterans Affairs hospital and the Danville Area Community College.

The campus was added to the National Register of Historic Places on January 30, 1992.^[9]