These abandoned and endangered storefronts, and the old Dane’s Hardware across the railroad tracks, are all that remain of the commercial center of Danville. Danville was settled around 1892 and named for Daniel Greenwood Hughes (1828-1906). Hughes was the father of U. S. Congressman Dudley Mays Hughes, namesake of the town of Dudley in nearby Laurens County. The Hughes family were prominent in agricultural and varied business endeavors throughout the region.

Daniel G. Hughes’s obituary [abridged], from the 26 November 1906 edition of the Atlanta Constitution: [he] was born in Twiggs county April 5, 1828. He attended a private school in that county and attended his junior year in Franklin College, now the state university at Athens. Leaving college, he was married to Miss Mary H., daughter of Alsa Moore, of Athens, sister of Dr. Richard Moore and sister-in-law of Congressman Charles Bartlett. He settled in Twiggs county. He lived there until 1889, when he moved to Macon, which has since been his home. Mr. Hughes’ wife died in 1880, and he married Anna N., daughter of Samuel Dalzell, of Indianapolis…Mr. Hughes served two years in the Civil War, in which he was an efficient officer. After the war he returned to Twiggs county, where he owned large lands and other interests, and lived there until he moved to this county. He has always been actively employed in business, but although born and reared on the farm and living on it the greater part of his life, Mr. Hughes has always been an active politician. He was always a staunch Democrat and was elected to represent his county in the general assembly in 1885 and 1886 and so efficiently did he serve his constituents that they wished him to serve a second term, but he declined reelection. Mr. Hughes ran for congress in the fifth congressional district against James H. Blount, and the race was a very close one. He was a director of the Macon, Dublin and Savannah Railway. He was a member of the Elks and Royal Arch Masons and a member of the Baptist church.