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Famous Residents
Danville has a bounty of famous residents to claim. Dick
Van Dyke, Jerry
Van Dyke, Gene
Hackman and Donald
O’Conner
are a few actors that grew up in Danville. Musician Bobby Short, astronaut
Joe Tanner, and author Helen
Wells are among other stars with Danville
ties.
Danville has honored the majority of its famous residents through its
Celebrity Way. Illinois Route 1 through Danville commemorates these residents
at key intersections with signs detailing their accomplishments.
In 1852, at the age of 24, Ward Hill Lamon began a partnership that would change his life. A young lawyer, Lamon, joined with Abraham Lincoln and traveled throughout Central Illinois practicing law in several communities. Lamon handled the paperwork while Lincoln worked the courtroom. Lamon joined in Lincoln’s campaign for president and was asked by Lincoln to move to Washington, D.C. where Lincoln would later appoint him as the Marshal of the District of Columbia. Lamon supervised security at the White House and personally guarded Lincoln. Lincoln sent Lamon to Virginia to oversee General Lee’s surrender. While in Virginia, his friend, Lincoln, was assassinated.
Joseph Gurney Cannon was born in Guilford, North Carolina in 1836. After practicing law in Tuscola, Illinois, Cannon became a United States representative in 1873. He would continue to serve in this position until 1891. After moving to Danville in 1878, Cannon would seek public office again and serve again as a United States representative from 1893 to 1913 and from 1915 to 1923. For four terms, from 1903 to 1911, he was a Republican Speaker of the House. Cannon died in Danville on November 12, 1926, and is buried in Danville’s Springhill Cemetery.