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Snapshot History of Danville and the Mills
| 1728 | William Byrd “discovers” Danville area while surveying dividing line between Virginia and North Carolina. |
| 1792 | Town charter by Virginia General Assmebly “for a town on the lands of John Barnett, near Wynn's Falls, to be called Danville.” |
| 1793 | Virginia Legislature grants seven trustees 25 acres to divide into half-acre lots. |
| 1802 | Toll bridge built over Dan River between properties then owned by John Barnett and Thomas Worsham. |
| 1816 | Roanoke Navigation Co. chartered: rights to improve navigation of Roanoke River |
| 1820s | Boom period for Danville. |
| 1828 | Danville’s first cotton mill established: Danville Manufacturing Co. |
| 1833 | Danville incorporated by Va. General Assembly. |
| 1837 | Stock market crash: 20-year depression follows. |
| 1846 | Richmond and Danville Railroad opens. |
| 1866 | Danville and Lynchburg Railroad chartered. |
| 1880 | Danville’s first post office built. |
| 1882 | Riverside Cotton Mills chartered for manufacturing cotton and woolen fabrics, rope. |
| Morotock Manufacturing Company opens. | |
| 1883 | Riverside Mill No. 1 is erected on the corner of Bridge and Main Streets. |
| 1887 | Riverside Mill No. 2 opens on the north side of Union Street Bridge. |
| 1888 | Addition to Mill No. 2 opens as Riverside Mill No. 3. |
| 1890 | Riverside buys Morotock Manufacturing Company and calls it Mill No. 4. |
| 1894 | Addition to Mill No. 3 opens as Riverside Mill No. 5. Mills 2, 3, and 5 known as the “Long Mill.” |
| 1895 | Riverside Mill No. 6 opens on the north side of the river, below Main St. Bridge. A second dam is built to supply water power. |
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Dan River Power and Manufacturing Company established by Riverside to develop a power source on the Dan outside Danville City. |
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| 1896 | An addition to the Long Mill opens as Riverside Mill No. 7. |
| North Danville (Neopolis) incorporated into Danville City. | |
| late 1890s | Riverside begins supplementing water power with steam. |
| 1902 | Construction of first mill in Schoolfield. |
| 1903 | Large dam built near new Schoolfield mill location. Because of opposition to potential pollution, mill buildings are located on high lands away from the river and operate with electricity. |
| First houses built in the Schoolfield mill village. | |
| 1909 | Riverside Cotton Mills merger with Dan River Power and Manufacturing Company to form Riverside and Dan River Cotton Mills |
| 1920 | Inflation following World War I boosts mill sales to record highs. |
| 1931 | Strike: Led by United Textile Workers. Ends six months later without achieving any of strikers' goals |
| 1940s | Temporary economic rejuvenation of mill after decline begun 1920s. |