Historical Home Makeover of the James Root House

If you have been around Danville for a while you may have noticed that historical buildings tend to move from time to time.

One of the latest to move is the James Root house at 90 Railroad Ave.

The home, designated as a heritage resource on the Town’s “Survey of Historically Significant Resources,” was moved forward on its property this fall, to be closer to Railroad Ave.  It is also being restored, with an added new development on the rear of the property.

The new two-story building in the back will feature office space on the second floor, and retail or café/restaurant space on the ground floor, according to the Town of Danville’s principal planner, David Crompton. 

This is the second time the James Root house has moved since it was built in 1860.

Until 1950, the home was located “one building north of Linda Mesa, on Hartz Ave.,” according to the . At that time it had a Linda Lane address, until Linda Lane merged with a widened Railroad Ave. in the 1980s, according to the museum’s records.

The period home, like many others around town, has a rich history that tells the story of the evolving Danville community.

Joel Haden Boone, a descendent of the famed American frontiersman Daniel Boone, built the original Queen Anne style cottage, recorded local historian, Virgie Jones, in her book, “Historical Persons and Places…in San Ramon Valley.”

Jones, a longtime resident of Alamo, traced many of the local area’s founding families’ lineages and stories in several books she published during her lifetime.

Boone married Sophie Love, the daughter of one of Danville’s pioneers, Robert Beatty Love.

Joel and Sophie Boone had six children in the home; however, only their daughter, Ina, born in 1873, survived into adulthood; her four sisters and one brother all died after contracting tuberculosis, said Jones.

The Love and Boone families were prominent and involved families in the community, and owned most of the land from Prospect Ave. to Del Amigo Rd.

Ina Boone married June James Root in 1891, and they rode the first Southern Pacific train out of Danville to Martinez to obtain their marriage license, according to Jones’ account.

Root’s family had roots in America dating back to 1600, initially settling in Connecticut. 

His father, James, was said to have set out from South Carolina on his trip west with “$120 and a bowie knife, pistol, two rifles and clothing,” eventually arriving in California in 1847, Jones recorded.

June James Root was born in Oakland in 1867, and at sixteen years of age arrived in Danville, where he worked on the Baldwin Ranch.

Later, after his marriage to Ina, he farmed and raised bees on the Love Ranch.

Together, James and Ina Root had five children, one of whom died in infancy. They lived in a few homes around town, finally moving into the home currently under renovation in 1910, where they raised their surviving four children.

According to the Museum of the San Ramon Valley and Virgie Jones, James Root and his son also established the Mount Diablo Dairy in 1931, located just west on Linda Mesa, where they processed, bottled, and delivered milk locally until 1945.

The home was then occupied by the Charles Ignatius Hardiman family around 1948, according to Jones, and passed back into the hands of a Root granddaughter, Eileen Root McCauley and her husband Robert, who were the home’s last residents. 

Since the early 1960s, the home has been used as a retail space, and has featured various businesses, selling everything from collectibles gathered by an international airline pilot during his travels; to children’s and women’s clothing and dried and silk floral arrangements; to most recently, sports collectibles.

Relocating historical buildings is not an unusual occurrence in Danville.

Perhaps the most famous move was in 1996, when the original Southern Pacific train depot, which houses the Museum of the San Ramon Valley was moved to its current location at the corner of West Prospect Ave. and Railroad Ave.

It was quite an event in the history of the town.

The depot was moved 600 feet north to part of the original Southern Pacific Railroad property. The building slowly made its way down Railroad Ave., accompanied by a parade of local residents, as shown in photographs of the event on display at the museum today.

Moving historical structures is part of a strategy that the town uses to keep its historical character, while also adjusting to contemporary development needs and trends.

Preservation of the town’s historical landmarks and roots has been a core principle of Danville’s Master Plan dating back to its incorporation in 1982, says Crompton.

Early town documents reveal that the first leaders of the new town felt it was important to prevent the erosion of the local character that they observed in other communities within the rapidly growing San Ramon Valley.

Early on, they set a strategy of designating and actively preserving local heritage landmarks and the original settlement’s downtown district in order to set Danville apart within the region.

Strict guidelines pertaining to the renovation and development of designated heritage resources have been key to ensuring that standard is maintained as the community has grown and changed.

As a result, it can be challenging for owners of these types of properties to redevelop them, says Crompton.

In order to encourage the restoration and renovation of these properties, while also allowing the owners to realize economic benefit from their property, the Town has often allowed the original structures to be moved when possible, usually forward, to allow for added development, according to Crompton.

A similar project is also presently in progress on another heritage resource property on East Prospect Ave., adjacent to , he says.

With such an approach, the town has been able to ensure that the landmarks that bear the stories of the earliest generations of Danville’s residents and maintain the town’s distinctive character, like the James Root House, will continue to bear witness for the generations to come, ensuring that Danville remains a business as well as heritage destination in the San Ramon Valley.

This is a periodic series that covers local history and little known facts about the Danville and Alamo communities. If you have a topic to suggest, or a memory to share, please contact kirsten.e.branch@gmail.com.