The Dan River Canteen was started around 1938 in a modest, lightly ornamented brick building in the Minimalist Traditional Style just outside the mill site and next door to the 1903 Executive Office Building. The Canteen served food and drinks and other miscellaneous items for mill workers who needed a quick refreshment on breaks or after their shifts at the mill. According to newspaper accounts and company archives, the first manager of the Dan River Canteen was L.A. Hicks, who was transferred from the Dan River Cloth Store to manage the canteen. Later, Chas Anderson managed the operation, serving as an employee of Dan River, which owned the canteen through the business’s life. The Dan River Canteen was open until its customer base of millworkers dried up when the mills began closing in the early 2000s.
Heated scenes from the 1951 Strike at Dan River with the canteen building in the background. Courtesy of UNC-Chapel Hill Wilson Library’s Southern Historical Collection Dan River Inc. Papers.
1009 W. Main Street in 2020. Photo on file with the City of Danville.
schoolfieldvillage.com 