Danville, Mississippi
Alcorn County
(submitted by Gerald & Tammy Westmoreland)
Danville, ten miles south of Corinth, had its origin around a store owned by two men by the name of Rives and Fitz. This was the first white settlement in old Tishomingo County (Alcorn County was not formed until 1870) and was originally named Troy. Troy soon became an important town, woth the first circuit court in the county located here. Troy had an abundance of freestone water, which enabled a tannery, and a licensed whisky distillery, to establish there.
In 1838, the New Hope Presbyterian Church was organized in a schoolhouse near Troy. The church cemetery, now called Old Danville Cemetery, has markers dating to the 1830s. The population reached a peak of 150, and Danville had blacksmith shops, four or five businesses, a two-story inn, a Masonic Temple, a school, an Indian trading post, and several saloons.
With the estanlishment of a post office the name of the town was changed to Danville. In 1848 the town was incorporated by an act of the legislature, but the start of the Civil War marked the decline of the place. With part of the town being destoyed by Federal Troops, and soon after the war the Mobile & Phio Railroad was built, Danville was left off its route. At this time the towns of Rienzi and Corinth came into prominence and Danville became extinct about 1870. Danville still had a post office by the early 1900s, though nothing was left of the settlement.
GPS: 34.825000, -88.538056
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