Our Back Pages

An Adventuress in Arlington

2011-12-23T06:44:00.000-08:00

Princess Agnes Salm-Salm.

The story of Princess Agnes Salm-Salm mixes myth and fact. Agnes Elizabeth Winona Leclerc Joy was born in Franklin, Vermont, on December 25, 1844, the daughter of General William Leclerc Joy. Agnes is described as a beautiful red-haired Indian woman, who worked in a circus as an equestrienne and an actress in Cuba, rode with her husband and nursed troops during the Civil War, and helped found the Red Cross in Europe.

In 1861 Agnes came to visit her sister who was living in Washington, D.C., where her beauty and riding style drew attention and she became part of Washington society. In a visit to Fort Blenker, (renamed Fort Reynolds) which was located near Fairlington, she met monocoled Prussian Prince Felix Salm-Salm. Captain Louis Blenker’s 8th N.Y. Volunteer Infantry Regiment, made up of Germans, Hungarians, Poles and other Europeans, and known for their colorful uniforms, lavish entertainment and neat campsites, had been previously stationed at Camp Hunter’s Chapel located near Arlington United Methodist Church on South Glebe Road. Although Agnes spoke no German and the Prince spoke no English, they were immediately attracted to each other and married in July 1862.

Prince Salm-Salm participated with the 8th N.Y. Infantry in General Ambrose Burnside’s Mud March, in the Fredericksburg campaign, in January, 1863. Princess Agnes Salm-Salm greeted President Lincoln with a kiss when he came to visit the troops. Prince Felix and Col. Otto von Corvin tried to interest President Lincoln and Secretary of War Edwin Stanton in recruiting 20,000 German troops to come fight for the Union, but this idea was rejected because of logistics, expense and predictable public reactions to employing mercenary soldiers, as the British employed the Hessian soldiers during the American Revolution. When the Prince’s appointment as an officer to the 8th N.Y. expired in April 1863, Princess Agnes used her influence to have her husband appointed to 28th New York Volunteer Infantry Regiment in July 1864, where he served in Tennessee and Georgia.

In January 1866, Prince Felix and Princess Agnes went to Mexico, where Prince Felix served under Prince Maximillian’s French forces. The night before Maximillian’s execution Princess Agnes kneeled before Mexican President Benito Juárez and pleaded in vain to spare Maximillian’s life, a scene painted by Mexican painter Manuel Ocaranza.

In 1868 Prince Felix and Princess Agnes went to Europe. Prince Felix served in the Prussian Army was killed on August 18, 1870, in the Battle of Gravotte. Princess Agnes remained in Europe and died Germany on December 21, 1912. The image above of Princess Agnes is from the Library of Congress.

Bibliography:
Coffey, David. Soldier Princess: the Life and Legend of Agnes Salm-Salm in North America, 1861-1867. 2002.
Salm-Salm, Agnes Elizabeth W. Ten Years of My Life, 1876.

What about you? Do you know of interesting people or events in Civil War Arlington? The Virginia Room wants to know.

Arlington Rocks Pt. 4: "United Mutation"

2011-11-22T07:28:00.000-08:00

In punk rock lore, the Washington D.C. area scene has always occupied a unique and significant place in both the history and ongoing development of the genre. This is primarily due to the presence of Dischord Records and the bands most commonly associated with the storied label such as Minor Threat, Fugazi, Scream and countless others.

In many ways, Arlington's own United Mutation represented a sort of highly idiosyncratic flipside to the Dischord coin, with an attitude and sound that refused to be pigeonholed. Mixing in many musical influences not normally associated with punk, from California-style psychedelia to near free-jazz soundscapes, the band proved to be adept composers as well as a visceral aural thrill.

Live appearances were infrequent as the band preferred to hone their sound and songwriting, maintaining a steady rehearsal regimen. Centered around the Fox brothers, John and Jay, as well as their distinctive vocalist Mike Brown, the band released a number of tracks via EPs and 7” singles through their DSI Records imprint with Dischord in the early to mid-1980s. More recent compilation albums on vinyl and CD serve as definitive statements from the band, who have now been recognized by a league of new fans as one of the most original and uncompromising bands to come out of the Washington D.C. area punk movement.

Listen to United Mutation "Infinite Regression", from the 1985 Rainbow Person E.P. (MP3)

What About You?

Have any of you heard United Mutation's music or seen them back in the day? Let us know!

It's Your Turn!

2011-10-31T13:10:00.000-07:00

The photograph above, of a church we could only identify by the name "Congregacion Hispana," was most likely taken in 1996. Unfortunately, we have no other information about it. Can you help us? Does this church look familiar to you? We’d love to know if it has another name and its location. It’s your chance to contribute!

Early Emergency Fire Response

2011-10-06T09:47:00.000-07:00

From an oral history with Walter R. De Groot:
"Like I said, Fillmore Gardens [an apartment complex in South Arlington] before that was done, there was kind of a farm area there. The county didn't pick up trash. You burned your trash and if you had a lot of waste, limbs and stuff breaking off the trees or raking leaves in the fall, you just drug them out [and] what you would have called "curbed" them...most of them were just drainage ditches and folks just dragged them out in the street and set them on fire. And I think that's how some of those field fires got going; either kids deliberately set them or farmers just burning waste and just caught the field on fire.

An interesting thing I had to learn was sound of sirens. Every fire house had a code and you heard like the sound of the fifth cycle up and down, up and down, and you had to count those. As I recall, Clarendon was three. If they didn't get many people they turned the siren on again and it would cycle up and down... If you heard the siren, you called the dispatcher and the dispatcher would just immediately spit out an address and hang up, he was so busy.

Then of course later on, a lot of the volunteer firemen company's would buy radios and all the boys would have what they called scanners, and they'd pick up any of the radio messages. And of course whatever units were being dispatched you'd pick that up, that's not my company, forget it."

Virginia Room Oral History Collection
Walter R. De Groot, Series 3, # 103
2004-05

The photograph above is the Clarendon Volunteer Fire Department building and trucks, ca. 1951.

What About You?

What are your memories regarding Arlington's Fire Department or large fires in your neighborhood?

Homes of Character

2011-08-18T14:21:00.000-07:00

Brumback Realty Company of Clarendon, founded by a father with six sons, was a builder in Country Club Hills in 1928-29. Country Club Hills was developed from 126 acres of beautiful hills and wooded land from the old Civil War era Grunwell estate and commanded a view of Washington, D.C. One of their architects was A.F. Thelander, who designed and built his own home in Country Club Hills at Rock Spring Drive and Avondale Avenue, facing the Washington Golf and Country Club. The English Tudor, Colonial, and Spanish style homes combined brick and stone and included two car garages, variegated tile roofs and copper gutters and flashing. The first 15 homes sold for an average of $20,000 in 1929. The Virginia Room has some photos from Brumback Realty showing tastefully furnished interiors and the distinctive exteriors of homes that are still admired today.

The Virginia Room has a copy of Arlington Historical Society’s 1987 driving tour of Brumback Homes in Country Club Hills, Woodlawn, Woodmont, Lyon Park, Lyon Village and some individual streets. The driving tour includes a quotation from Keith A. Brumback, President of Brumback Realty, Inc. about the Burmback Policy of Doing Business: "In my opinion, one of the most important and worthwhile lines of work any individual can undertake is that of providing families with attractive, comfortable homes in which all the joy of home-ownership can be experienced, without financial strain or worry on the family, and at the lowest possible price consistent with sound construction methods and good business practice."

A Virginia Room Oral History interview of George and Frances Brumback provides more information on the Brumback Realty Company, the building of Country Club Hills and Mrs. Brumback’s career as a teacher at Cherrydale and Woodmont Elementary Schools.

What about you? Do you live in a Brumback home? Do you have any photos of your home and neighborhood? The Virginia Room wants to know.

The Chain Bridge

2011-07-26T09:00:00.000-07:00

The first bridge to cross the Potomac in the Washington area was constructed in 1797 when Georgetown merchants built the "Falls Bridge" at the "Little Falls." The bridge was built to replace ferry service and was primarily used to drive cattle across to the Georgetown auction markets after the cattle had drunk heavily at Pimmit Run.

There have been eight bridges built on this site. The original one was a covered wooden structure that collapsed in 1804, and the second was destroyed by floods after only 6 months. In 1810, a third bridge was constructed that was truly a "Chain Bridge," the name by which all subsequent bridges have been known. Two chains were made from four-foot links of wrought iron and suspended from massive stone towers at either shore. The bridge itself was 136 feet long and 15 feet wide. This was a toll bridge which reported $9,000 in collected tolls in 1810. Tolls, thought to be high, were:

Four Horse Carriage: 1 ½ dollars
Two Horse Carriage: 1 dollar
Four Horse Wagon: 62 ½ cents
Two Horse Wagon: 37 ½ cents
Gig: 36 ½ cents
Man: 6 ½ cents

It was a relatively low bridge, and floods were a continuing problem. The third, fourth, and fifth structures were all swept away by high water.

The present Chain Bridge, a simple continuous steel girder structure, was built in 1939 with a vertical clearance between the bridge and the river of 45 feet. Nevertheless, in times of severe flooding, such as that experienced during Hurricane Agnes in 1972, the water level was so high that it became within a few feet of the bridge’s floor.

Do you remember Chain Bridge during the 1972 flooding?

"Arlington Heritage"

2011-07-01T09:38:00.000-07:00

Much of what we know about the history of Arlington County is due to the work of Eleanor Lee Templeman, photographer, local historian, and author of several books on the history of the area.

Templeman, although born in 1907 in Washington DC, grew up in California. She moved back east to attend the Critcher School of Painting and Applied Arts, where she graduated in 1929. She subsequently worked as an artist and illustrator for the American Automobile Association and the US Geological Survey.

However, Templeman’s real passion lay in local history. She was a descendent of Richard Bland Lee, uncle to Robert E. Lee, and served as Secretary, Genealogist and Historian of the Society of Lees in Virginia at various points between 1947 and her death in 1990. She was heavily involved with the fights to preserve Fort Marcy, Fort Ethan Allen and Sulley Plantation, and at the time of her death was working with groups to preserve Abingdon Plantation, which is located on Reagan National Airport grounds.

It is Eleanor Lee Templeman’s bibliography, however, that has had such an effect on local historical research. Templeman was constantly writing articles on Arlington and Northern Virginia history for a variety of historical publications, co-authored Northern Virginia Heritage and was the sole author of Arlington Heritage: Vignettes of a Virginia County (seen above). Templeman did the majority of the photography for both books; these photographs are an invaluable resource, documenting important structures, roads, cemeteries and even large trees as they stood in the 1950s and 1960s, when Arlington was undergoing major development. Meant as a “then and now” type of book, her “now” has turned into our “then”.

Templeman was rewarded for her efforts with awards from Marymount University in 1975 and the American Association for State and Local History in 1983. She was the Organized Women Voters of Arlington’s Women of the Year in 1966. Here in the library, the Virginia Room holds multiple copies of Northern Virginia Heritage and Arlington Heritage, and the Arlington Community Archives has PG 900, her photographs from both books, and RG 23, her research and clipping files.

Altha Hall "It's All in a Name"

2011-06-03T07:14:00.000-07:00

Altha Hall was originally built by a gentleman from Fairfax named Andrew Adgate Lipscomb II (born 1854), who later became Assistant District Attorney of the District of Columbia during President Grover Cleveland's administration.

In 1886, not long after marrying his wife Lamar Rutherford, Lipscomb ordered construction in Arlington for a mansion to be modeled after one that had been long admired by his wife, a resident of Athens, Georgia. Actual Georgia pine was shipped by rail and used for the paneling and also for the forty-foot pillars, while hardware and fixtures from a castle in England were used on the front doors. Fine Italian marble was used to build the fireplaces and crystal chandeliers from Europe were also procured.

The Lipscombs moved into their mansion in 1889, having named it "Ruthcomb" as a composite of their names, Rutherford and Lipscomb.

After the death of Mr. Lipscomb, the property was sold in 1905 to Mr. and Mrs. Thaddeus Matthew Tyssowski of Washington. She was the former Alice Walton Green of Lewinsville, Virginia. Emulating the previous owners, the new occupants renamed the home "Altha Hall", a combination of their names, Alice and Thaddeus. Mr. Tyssowski was a successful businessman and insurance company executive and his son, Colonel John Tyssowski, married Catherine Woodward. John later became Chairman of the Board of Directors of Woodward & Lothrop.

In 1921, the Tyssowski family sold Altha Hall to Dr. W.S. Benedict, who lived there for 14 years before moving to a country estate near Sterling, Virginia. The hall was then leased by Tyssowski to Miss Anna Payne, who held a nursery school and kindergarten there. The property was then sold in 1957 to a group of real estate investors who had the property rezoned from residential, in hopes of turning it into a potential apartment house site. During this time, the house was occupied by the Lance family until its destruction in 1959.

Further information about Altha Hall can be found in the excellent book "Arlington Heritage: Vignettes of a Virginia County" by Eleanor Lee Templeman, which is available for checkout here at Central Library. The photograph above is from the booklet “A Brief History of Alexandria County, Virginia,” published under the auspices of the county Board of Supervisors, of which early area activist and official Crandall Mackey was a member.

What About You?
Do you remember Altha Hall? Did you ever visit the property? We want to hear from you!

Where is my Civil War Ancestor's Camp?

2011-05-04T13:16:00.000-07:00

Letter from Iselin Roberts to wife Nelly dated December 31, 1861
See transcribed text of letter

Union soldiers in Arlington wrote from geographic locations such as Arlington Heights and Hall's Hill. While the forts in the defenses of Washington are well-documented and photographed, it can be difficult to find information on temporary camps and hospitals. State and local historical organizations help piece together the "puzzle" of a Civil War ancestor's life after consulting on-line photographs and other sources available through the Library of Congress and National Archives and Records Administration.

For example, on December 31, 1861, Iselin Roberts of the 4th NY Cavalry wrote a letter to "My Dear Wife Nelly" from Camp Hunters Chapel. Information from the Arlington Historical Society website http://www.arlingtonhistoricalsociety.org and Arlington United Methodist Church historian Sara Collins locates this camp at Glebe Road and Columbia Pike, at the site of the Hunter's Chapel Methodist Church. The Union Army established a camp and appropriated church building materials. Hunters Chapel's successor, Arlington United Methodist Church, is two blocks away.

The New York State Museum and Veteran's Research Center website has a regimental history of the 4th NY Cavalry's service, including their journey to Fairfax Court House and onward to the First Battle of Bull Run/Manassas, and the writings of Gustavus Asche-Berg, "This Sorrowful War: A Veterinary Surgeon in the 1862 Shenandoah Valley Campaign."

Another New York regiment stationed at Hunter's Chapel, the 8th NY Infantry, also known as the German Rifles or Blenker's Division, was made up of German immigrants. The aristocratic military veterans of European wars in Blenker's Division impressed General-in-Chief George McClellan with their drilling practices and neat campsites. A book owned by Arlington Central Library, The Soldier's Pen: Firsthand Impressions of the Civil War by Robert E. Bonner contains soldiers' writings and drawings from the Gilder Lehrman Collection of New York City. A unique drawing of Camp Hunter's Chapel and drawings of other Northern Virginia locations by Private Henry Berckhoff of the 8th NY German Rifles can be found in this book and in a virtual exhibit on the Digital History website of the University of Houston.

What about you?

Do you have a Civil War ancestor who came to Arlington? Do you know of documents or images of the Civil War in the Northern Virginia area? The Virginia Room wants to know.

Transcribed text of letter from Iselin Roberts to wife Nelly

December 31, 1861
Headquarters New York Mounted Rifles
4th Calvary N.Y. Volunteers
Camp Hunter's Chapel, Virginia

My Dear Wife Nelly,

I wrote to you two days ago and I cannot help writing to you again. You will excuse the writing as my head aches so I can hardly see I have such a bad cold still I must have a few words with my Nelly. I received an nother Box yesterday from my Sisters and Brothers for Christmas and we had a jolly time over it I assure you for there was lots of good things in it. My Dear Nelly, I wrote to you on Sunday last the day that I received your letter and I am in hopes that I will hear from you soon again. I wish that you could write to me often as your letters do me so much good, and I like to hear from you so very much.

Dear Nelly, I did not say much in my last as I was in such a hurry but you can give my Best Respects and wish all of them a Happy New Years for me. I mean Mrs. Phillips, Mrs. Jenner, Mrs Simmons, Mrs. Richmond, Mrs. Clark, Mrs. Green, Mrs. Arnold and all inquiring friends, also Mr. Phillips, Mr. Jenner, Mr. Rodman, Dr. Crane, Dr. Baker and all of your friends. I hope there will be no trouble about the Furlough, they say that we will get paid the fifth of January. I hope we will as I want to try and bring the money home to you. I haven’t much to say at present, only I hope that my dear Nelly will have a good New Years.

Bibliography

Arlington Historical Society website http://www.arlingtonhistoricalsociety.org
Bonner, Robert E., The Soldier's Pen, Firsthand Impressions of the Civil War, New York: Hill and Wang, 2006.
Cooling, Benjamin Franklin III, Owen, Walton H. II, Mr. Lincoln's Forts: A Guide to the Civil War Defenses of Washington, Lanham MD: Scarecrow Press, 2010.
Digital History, University of Houston website: http://www.digitalhistory/uh.edu/ Virtual Exhibitions: Watercolor Sketchbook by Henry Berckhoff 8th NY German Rifles, Gilder Lehrman Collection GL1606 p.6 Morning Scene at Camp Hunter's Chapel, October 1861.
Gernand, Bradley E., A Virginia Village goes to War: Falls Church during the Civil War, Virginia Beach, VA: Donning Co. Publishers, 2002.
Gilder Lehrman Collection website: http://www.gilderlehrman.org
New York State Museum and Research Center http://www.dnma.state.ny.us
Virginia Room Newsclipping Files – Civil War - Various categories Includes notes by Arlington United Methodist Church Historian Sara Collins, U.S. Sanitary Commission list of camps, lists of many Union regiments in Arlington.

Walker Chapel

2011-04-01T05:55:00.000-07:00

Home to one of the earliest church congregations in Arlington County, the unique history of Walker Chapel is that of both change and tradition.

Located at the present address of 4102 North Glebe Road, the original Walker Chapel was built in 1871, six years after the end of the Civil War, and only a year after the end of Arlington County's occupation by the Union Army. Initially a junior church of the Mount Olivet Circuit, the chapel was situated on land donated by Robert and James Walker, whose father David Walker was buried in the adjacent Walker (Family) Grave Yard. The original building was a single room frame structure with a small belfry and basement, seated near the upper part of the graveyard. A new church was built at the opposite end of the cemetery in 1903, with further additions taking place in 1952 and 1954, including the construction of an education and administrative building. The original chapel continued to be used for Sunday School classes prior to its demolition in 1930. The photograph above was taken in August, 1996, before the extensive renovations of 1999; the result is the stately white brick church that stands today.

What about you? Have you been to Walker Chapel? We'd love to hear from you.

All Work and No Play

2011-03-01T11:04:00.000-08:00

In 1949, Arlington established a formal Department of Recreation for the rapidly growing and developing county. However, the classes, clubs and activities sponsored by the department mirrored the school system and were segregated. In 1950, a formal "Negro Recreation Section" was created "with a special emphasis on sports." Its director was Ernest E. Johnson, who was a central figure for African-Americans in Arlington who wished to participate in the Department's programs.

Johnson expanded the Negro Recreation Section to include classes for children in not only a variety of sports, but dance, theater and music (including accordion classes), and community events like teen beauty pageants and parades. He was forward-thinking, documenting many of these activities in the early to mid-1950s with professional photographs; a collection of 78 of these images are held in the Community Archives. Johnson oversaw the development of Jennie Dean field and a new recreation center at Hoffman-Boston on S. Queen St. This center later became known as the Carver Center. Johnson's activities stretched beyond the Department of Recreation. He was the leader of Arlington's first African-American Cub Scout Pack (#589), chartered in April of 1952.

For the 1962-1963 fiscal year, the Negro Recreation Section was quietly changed to the Carver Section, with Johnson still as its supervisor. In 1964, the Negro Recreation Section disappeared in a department reorganization; Johnson became Supervisor of the Centers Section, overseeing "teen clubs, free classes and meetings of non-Department sponsored clubs in the centers." With no fanfare at all, the county's Department of Recreation had become desegregated and Johnson was integrated into the department's existing administration.

Ernest Johnson continued to serve Arlington County, and on May 8, 1982, Arlington celebrated Ernest E. Johnson Day with a parade that ran from the Walter Reed Recreation Center to the Carver Recreation Center, a softball game that afternoon, a senior tea and a testimonial dinner that evening. A photograph from the event, showing Johnson (center) and his wife Mignon (left) is shown above. Johnson died in December 1992, after a life to service to the people of Arlington; his work let Arlington play.

What About You?

What are your memories of Arlington's Department of Recreation: classes, clubs, parks and fields? We want to hear from you!

Saeg-WHO?

2011-02-04T05:46:00.000-08:00

Reserve Hill and George Saegmuller

George Nicholas Saegmuller was a native of Germany who came to live in Washington in 1870. He was an inventor of scientific instruments including the Seagmuller Solar Attachment for use in surveying and a telescopic bore sight for heavy naval guns.

Saegmuller married Maria Jane Vandenberg {h} of "Reserve Hill" on Little Falls Road, and they lived in the family home there with Mrs. Saegmuller's parents, eventually inheriting the property. The area is said to have been named "Reserve Hill" during the Civil War when reserve troops from the Union Army were stationed on nearby Minor Hill. After the original frame house burned in 1894, Saegmuller built a large stone residence, completed around 1903, using bluestone quarried from the property. The large stone water tower built behind the house, with its cupola-capped octagonal roof, was said to be a replica of a gate tower in the Nuremberg city wall.

Saegmuller established a business in Washington manufacturing precision instruments but was nevertheless very involved in the community. He was elected to the Board of Supervisors in the 1890s and later became chairman. In addition he borrowed money, using his own credit, to help put the county on a strong financial footing and gave money for a school which was named after him, shown above (this building was later replaced by the James Madison School).

The house is currently owned by the Knights of Columbus who use it as a meeting hall and headquarters.

What About You?

What are your memories of "Reserve Hill"? We want to hear from you!

The Lyon's Den

2011-01-09T16:23:00.000-08:00

Lyonhurst, or Missionhurst as it is now known, is a Spanish Mission-style stucco house originally built in 1907 as a residence for Frank Lyon, an early developer in the County. Lyon had traveled a great deal and was influenced by the Spanish missions he had seen in the American West. The house was built with large porches to catch the breeze in the hot summer weather, and he built a water tower on the property in the same Spanish style. The Lyon family was also one of the first to have electricity in the County. The house currently serves as the headquarters for the Immaculate Heart Mission Fathers.

Frank Lyon was a lawyer and social reformer who was the editor and later publisher of the Alexandria County Monitor. It was through this newspaper that he waged a campaign against the lawlessness that was rampant in the Rosslyn and Jackson City areas of the County in the early part of the 20th century. Lyon was also a prominent developer intent upon establishing the area as a residential community and who promoted increasing the powers of local government to thus broaden and strengthen the ability of the County to protect its citizens. He developed additions to Clarendon and later developed both Lyon Park and Lyon Village.

Home For The Holidays

2010-12-23T13:33:00.000-08:00

Built by English architect George Hadfield for George Washington Parke Custis (step-grandson and adopted son of George Washington), Arlington House was home to Robert E. Lee from 1831 to 1861, and the annual holiday season was a time of much celebration for the Lee and Custis families. The annual return to Arlington House was an occasion near and dear to all family members. Indeed, beginning in 1831, Robert E. Lee returned to Arlington on 20 out of 30 Christmases, all while he was an active duty soldier.

The house was decorated with ivy, pine, holly, and myrtle. Mistletoe was hung from lanterns and arches, and a great yule log was brought to the fireplace on Christmas Eve and lit from a piece of the log from the previous Christmas. Gifts, including books, skates, dolls, and many others were exchanged by family members, followed by morning prayer and breakfast. A holiday feast of turkey, ham, plum pudding and mince pie was served later in the day.

The Christmas of 1860 would be the final one at Arlington for the Lee family, as Virginia seceded from the Union in April of 1861, and the estate was occupied by U.S. Army troops in May of that same year.

What About You?

What are your Arlington holiday memories? We want to hear from you!

The Consumer Brewery

2010-12-03T05:56:00.000-08:00

Long before the era of brew pubs, local breweries served a similar function. By providing their communities with a convenient source of beer, tavern owners and other customers were given an option from having to rely exclusively on larger commercial breweries.

The Consumer Brewing Company was Arlington's local brewery of note. Built in 1896 in Rosslyn under the direction of noted local architect Albert Goenner (who was also responsible for the building of the original Arlington County Courthouse), the building was located above the site of the old Aqueduct Bridge. Rosslyn at this time was a notorious area, home of many taverns, gambling establishments, brothels, and the like. The building itself was a distinctive red brick structure with turrets on the ends, a clock tower in the center, and a large smokestack at the back. Around 1904, the business was reorganized and William McGuire became president of the brewery, changing the name to the Arlington Brewery, which continued operations until 1920 when Prohibition went into effect. The building subsequently served as a lithographic print shop and warehouse until its demolition in 1958, when the property was used for the construction of a Marriott motel.

The photograph above is a view of Rosslyn and the Aqueduct Bridge from Georgetown. The brewery and smokestack is in the upper right section of the image.

Much of the material for this particular Our Back Pages was taken from an excellent article written by Virginia Room volunteer Willard J. Webb for the October 2000 edition of the Arlington Historical Magazine. Willard passed away on Nov. 23 of this year and is greatly missed.

What About You?

What are your Consumer Brewing Company memories? We want to hear from you!

Friday Night Lights

2010-11-02T07:44:00.000-07:00

From the insert to the game program for the Washington-Lee Generals/Fairfax Rebels football game, Friday, September 11th, 1964:

"The Generals are defending their Northern Virginia Championship tonight when they come up against their first and one of the toughest teams of the season – the Fairfax Rebels.

"Fairfax's 18 returning lettermen that helped leave last year's game scoreless will be W-L's biggest headache. General Coach John Youngblood also feels Fairfax is going to have the heaviest team in the league.

"Coach Youngblood claims that depth is the team's problem and that he will be depending on half a dozen men to play both ways… [b]ut Coach Youngblood is optimistic about the whole thing. 'We will beat them if we can manage to get more points.'"

What About You?

What are your Arlington high school football memories? We want to hear from you!

Haunted Arlington: Arlington's X-files, Pt. 2

2010-10-01T08:40:00.000-07:00

With Halloween lurking just around the corner, it seems only appropriate that we should rummage through some of Arlington's own "X-Files" and blow the dust off of an incident alleged to have happened at Arlington Hall, a girls finishing school turned intelligence post that was profiled in a previous Our Back Pages. Though anecdotal in nature, this recollection from an anonymous military policeman has much more detail than is the norm and is a fascinating story.

One evening, while on patrol, the policeman overheard various discussions on his police radio about a number of odd occurrences in a certain building. In fact, the building was one in which the policeman himself had previously heard strange noises while on duty. During the course of the evening, MPs assigned to the first floor desk in the building were hearing footsteps from the floor above. The footsteps had the characteristics of a person walking on a hard, wooden floor, and then stepping onto a carpeted, softer surface. After a supervisor was summoned to the scene, this activity was heard again, causing the supervisor and additional personnel to investigate the second floor, to no avail. At the same time, a second patrol which was en route to the scene, noticed what appeared to be a female figure clad in a floral print dress who repeatedly entered and exited an upstairs ladies bathroom, pausing to regard her reflection in front of a mirror. After observing this behavior, the patrol notified the MPs at the downstairs service desk, who again investigated the area in which this activity is alleged to have taken place, with a similar lack of results.

One would think that all of this is mysterious enough, but, it was later learned that the building in which this incident occurred was rumored to have been haunted by the ghost of a young woman from the time when Arlington Hall was a girls finishing school. Supposedly, after becoming pregnant by a stable hand, the young woman took her life out of fear of the embarrassment and shame that it would have brought to her family.

What about you?
Do you have a spooky tale to tell? Tell us about any hauntings or mysterious occurrences that you have encountered in Arlington.

Clarendon Circle

2010-09-03T08:15:00.000-07:00

One of the busiest areas of Arlington can be found in Clarendon, where Washington Boulevard, Wilson Boulevard and Clarendon Boulevard all meet. In the early 1900s, the presence of the trolley in Clarendon led to an outgrowth of merchants and businesses in that neighborhood.

Although the names, owners and buildings themselves may have changed over time, what has remained constant is the steady parade of shoppers, pedestrians, and commuters that flock to the businesses and restaurants in Clarendon. Long before malls and multiplex cinemas became the mainstays of the present day consumer, customers packed the Ashton Theater, Little Tavern, Sears, and numerous other businesses in Clarendon.

Clarendon Circle was conceived around the time of the onset of World War I, when a parcel of land donated by Arthur J. Porter was used to make the circle. Sometime in the late 1920s-early 1930s, the American Legion began construction on a War Memorial Monument in the center of the circle, supposedly using stones from a retaining wall from the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, which was being dismantled at that time. After its dedication on November 11, 1931, the memorial remained at Clarendon Circle until 1940, when concerns about the structure being a possible traffic hazard resulted in its relocation to the Court House that same year. Eventually, in 1986, the memorial was returned to a spot very near its original location.

What About You?

What do remember about Clarendon Circle? Shops? Businesses? Trolleys?

Playing Ball at Jennie Dean Park

2010-07-30T07:52:00.000-07:00

The photograph above has the following caption: "Play Ball! The game is about to start on Jennie Dean Field. Left to right are: Dernard [sic] Johnson (Arl. Rec. Dept.), captain of the Arl. Rec. Dept., Mr. Pryor (counselor of 153), and Warren Jackson (Mgr. of the Daper Jeans)."

Ernest Johnson was the Supervisor of the Department of Parks' Negro Recreation Section while the county had a segregated recreation system. In 1964, after a reorganization of the department, he became Supervisor for the county's recreation centers. Johnson was very involved in the development of the programs under his charge, and during the early 1950s, oversaw photographic documentation of the Negro Recreation Department's programs. Researchers can now see photographs of dances, plays, sporting teams, parades and other activities for both African-American children and adults; Johnson's widow generously donated these photographs to the Virginia Room.

Jennie Dean Park, located at 3630 27th Street South, was part of the first group of parks developed by the Department of Recreation when it was formed in 1948. During development, it was referred to as "the county's presently sole recreation area for colored citizens." Serving south Arlington and located in the African-American neighborhood Nauck, Jennie Dean Park, with its baseball fields, tennis courts and open areas, gave south Arlingtonians a new place to enjoy outdoor activities, either on their own or through a county-sponsored program. Today, the park has a lighted basketball court and picnic facilities, and is a centerpiece of the area in the warmer months.

What About You?

What do you remember about Jennie Dean Park? How about the programs in the Negro Recreation Department? Did your path cross with Ernest Johnson? We want to know!

"An Arlington Entrepreneur"

2010-06-29T08:26:00.000-07:00

According to an article in the American Business Review in December 1929, Ruby Lee Minar was the "most successful woman in realty development in the country": high praise at a time when there were few women in the workforce, much less in a profession dominated by men.

Ruby Lee was born in Montana in 1883 to a Baptist clergyman and his wife. They moved several times during her childhood and it is said that when her father was unable to officiate at Sunday morning services, Ruby Lee preached the sermon for him. She received her B.A. from Kalamazoo College and also received a Master's Degree from the University of Chicago. She taught public speaking for a time and was chosen as Chair of the Women's College Section of the Women's Suffrage Party for the state of New Jersey. After marrying John Milton Minar, the couple settled in Washington, D.C. and it was there that her profession changed from teacher to real estate developer and entrepreneur.

At the close of WWI, Mrs. Minar had a savings account of only $200 in Liberty Bonds. However, she invested the bonds in lots in Chevy Chase, MD, and four years later purchased a 400 acre tract in the County Club section of Arlington, naming it Lee Heights. She then successfully developed a three million dollar subdivision project and later went on to develop a number of other subdivisions. She accurately foresaw the time when Arlington would become a bedroom community of DC, and at one time her real estate office was the largest in the area.

Ruby Lee was elected the first president of the National Soroptimist Club in 1928. Soroptimist International is a worldwide organization for women in management and professions, working through service projects to advance human rights and the status of women. Today the Ruby Award, which honors women who are making extraordinary differences in the lives of other women, is named in her honor.

The Virginia Room holds the papers of the local Soroptimist Club, which is no longer active. The photograph above is of a parade in Lee Heights, circa 1950.

What about you?
Do you have memories of Lee Heights? We want to hear from you!

Arlington’s All-Star

2010-05-27T10:24:00.000-07:00

George McQuinn's senior portrait from the Washington-Lee High School yearbook, 1929.

He has no plaque in Cooperstown and you won’t find a hometown field with his name. But back in the day, George Hartley McQuinn of Arlington, Va. could pick it with the best of them. In 1938, just his first full season in the big leagues, he hit safely in 34 straight games for the lowly St. Louis Browns. Later, he hit .304 while playing for the New York Yankees.

Born in 1910, George McQuinn was a seven-time All-Star and a major leaguer for 12 years. He helped win two American League pennants and a world championship ring as the unlikely spark for the 1947 Yankees. And at the end of each season, he came home to Arlington, where as a boy living near modern-day Ballston, George played ball with his five brothers. He was even named the first captain of the Washington-Lee baseball team.

Just before his final season in the big leagues, George bought himself a sporting goods store back home at 1041 N. Highland St. in Clarendon, gave it the winning brand “McQuinn’s,” and took an active role in running the place. He returned to the store for a year after his retirement following the 1948 season, but baseball wasn't finished with him yet. George managed various minor league teams, winning four championships with the Braves in Quebec. As time went on, he accepted part-time scouting positions for the Braves and then the Washington Senators while spending more time at his store and writing a concise but thorough “Guide to Better Baseball.”

Clarendon's downturn in the 1960s forced McQuinn to close his store, and he finally left baseball in 1972. He moved to Alexandria and became an apartment manager, spending more time with his family. George McQuinn died following a stroke on Christmas Eve 1978. He was 68 years old. McQuinn was never voted into Cooperstown. But in the last spring of his life, he was inducted into the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame in Portsmouth. His official photograph shows him wearing the Yankees uniform.

Saturday, May 29th, is the 100th anniversary of George McQuinn's birth. For more about him, read this article by Peter Golkin, from which this Back Pages is taken.

Arlington’s All-Star--George McQuinn

He has no plaque in Cooperstown and you won’t find a hometown field with his name. But back in the day, George Hartley McQuinn of Arlington, Va. could pick it with the best of them. Kids bought first basemen’s mitts bearing his name. And his bat also made an impression. In 1938, just his first full season in the big leagues, he hit safely in 34 straight games for the lowly St. Louis Browns.

George McQuinn was a seven-time All-Star and a major leaguer for 12 years. He helped win two American League pennants and a world championship ring as the unlikely spark for the 1947 Yankees. And at the end of each season, he came home to Northern Virginia.

Born on May 29, 1910, McQuinn grew up learning the game on various fields around then-“Alexandria County.” One makeshift diamond required shooing cows from the Lacey pasture north of Washington Boulevard and west of Buchanan Street. More ball could be found on the future site of the Parkington Shopping Center, later Ballston Common.

“Baseball became my life very quickly,” McQuinn told the Washington Post’s Bob Levey in 1976. “We never had nine guys, only about seven or eight, but that didn’t make any difference. I used to play all spring and summer and go hunting and fishing all fall and winter. The other kids used to say, ‘You’re going to be a big leaguer.’ And I knew it in my heart.”

While George and his five brothers played in and around their Ballston neighborhood, their father was always somewhere nearby, driving the Fairfax-to-D.C. line for the Washington & Dominion rail line. Football and basketball also filled out the days but by high school, McQuinn’s grace in the field and at the plate stood out. He was named the first captain of the Washington-Lee baseball team.

Topping out at 5 foot 11 inches and about 165 pounds, McQuinn made up for average size with an impressive physical discipline and natural ease. Soon after graduation, he hit the semi-pro leagues and caught the eyes of Yankees scouts as a potential heir to another leftie, Henry Louis Gehrig.

“The Yankees were so much richer and better run than the rest of the teams,” McQuinn remembered. “I wouldn’t have minded playing in Washington before the home folks, but New York was kind of the ultimate. And everybody knew about Gehrig, oh, my yes.”

His contract with New York meant sharpening his game in farm towns like Wheeling, Albany, Binghamton and Scranton. But despite consistently hitting above .300, McQuinn couldn’t gain much traction toward reaching the Bronx. He was never even invited for a look at Yankees spring training. Why bother since the “Ironhorse” Gehrig would no doubt play day-after-day, season-after-season?

“I should have said sell me or trade me. There was no future in playing minor league ball behind Gehrig. But I didn’t,” McQuinn recalled. “Maybe that’s why when I finally did make the big leagues, it didn’t seem like so much of a thrill.”

Even without a request, the Yankees eventually cut McQuinn loose—twice in fact. Instead of apprenticing in the Bronx, his 1936 major league debut came on a conditional contract with Cincinnati, followed by one more year of promise with the Newark Bears back in the Yankees’ system.

Lacking a first basemen among many things, the St. Louis Browns grabbed McQuinn for 1938. The Yankees hadn’t bothered to protect him on their roster. In that first full rookie year, he rewarded the Browns’ faith hitting .324 along with 42 doubles, second in the American League. He was also second among first basemen in fielding.

By painful coincidence, McQuinn’s 34-game summer hitting streak ended during a trio of back-to-back-to-back doubleheaders in Philadelphia, just before the Browns visited the Bronx. A building cache of publicity for McQuinn was wiped out. At the same time no one, especially the Yankees, could have known that Gehrig had only a few more months left in baseball.

Despite some horrendous Browns season records (55 wins-97 losses in 1938, 43-111 in 1939), McQuinn generally thrived during his St. Louis years. But looking back, he couldn’t shake the trajectory of his career. “We’d finish last every year. I began to think God didn’t intend for me to become a Yankee.”

World War II took many ballplayers overseas, leveling pro fields across the United States. For the Browns in ’44, it meant their one claim to an American League pennant. McQuinn helped lead the way. Known to wear a brace for recurring back pain, he had failed two Selective Service System physicals. And by '44, he was considered too old for military induction. The Cardinals, who also shared Sportsman Park, would win the “Trolley Series” four games to two but McQuinn’s .438 average topped both teams and his would be the only Browns’ homer in Series history. The team became the Baltimore Orioles in 1954.

While George McQuinn spent the war playing ball among what was known as an "all 4-F infield," his younger brother Kenneth served in the Naval Reserves. A ship’s cook, he died during the June 6, 1944 invasion of Normandy, leaving behind his wife and toddler son back in Arlington. Kenneth Warner McQuinn is among the names on the Clarendon memorial to Arlington’s war dead. Another brother, Army Staff Sgt. Charles McQuinn, was decorated for gallantry in France and Belgium.

At the end of the ’45 season, McQuinn found himself traded to the cellar-dwelling Philadelphia A’s. He later acknowledged being troubled by the Browns playing that year with a one-armed man, Pete Gray, in their outfield. With the A’s, McQuinn was plagued by chronic back pain and an anemic .225 batting average. Upon his release in the fall, A’s manager Connie Mack reportedly suggested: “George, you played one year too long.”

McQuinn was 36 years old, almost a senior citizen in pro ball. That January at their Virginia home, his wife Kathleen asked about spring training just weeks away. “Honey, what are you going to do? Baseball or work?”

McQuinn was jolted. “That word work. It hit me between the eyes,” he remembered.

Cold calls to several clubs failed to generate much interest. Then, saved for last, McQuinn reached out to new Yankees manager Bucky Harris. The aging first baseman would try to close the loop on his old dream of pinstriped glory. With the Bronx Bombers still haunted by the sudden end of the Gehrig era and hobbled by the war years, McQuinn said he knew how to get the Yankees back to the Series for the first time in four years.

As Harris later recalled, “Naturally I asked how and he said, ‘Sign me.’ Now I know McQuinn, and have known him for several years. I figured if he had enough confidence in himself to come to me like that I couldn’t lose trying him.”

McQuinn wouldn’t take the opportunity for granted. “How many times do you get to live a dream?” he asked in 1976. “I prepared for that season like I’d never prepared for anything else.”

Tenacity and dedication paid off in ‘47. McQuinn beat out four others for the starting job at first and hit .304 that year—second-best on the team. He drove in 80 runs and homered 13 times. At one point during the season, the Yankees notched a 19-game win streak. In October, they took a dramatic seven-game Series from the Dodgers. McQuinn made the cover of Sport magazine and writers declared him the “baseball Cinderella story of the year.” Joe DiMaggio said McQuinn was the key to the team.

“I made them forget Gehrig for a while, anyway,” McQuinn reflected later.

His career had almost ended before its remarkable comeback. But McQuinn was now also ready to prepare for “work”—life after the game. He bought himself a sporting goods store back home at 1041 N. Highland St. in Clarendon, gave it the winning brand “McQuinn’s,” and took an active role in running the place. And he was still a Yankee—a world champion.

The 1948 season came quickly and despite all best hopes, there would be no second straight magical year in New York. McQuinn spent much of the season watching from the dugout. He hit .248 and he drove in just over half the runs of the previous year. His season ended with a failed pinch-hit appearance in Fenway Park. The defending world champions finished third, Harris lost his job and McQuinn was released in October. But it would be a different off-season from the one before.

Satisfied that he had nothing left to prove, McQuinn readily accepted retirement. He had appeared in 1,550 games, had 1,588 hits, a lifetime average of .276 and 135 homers. On the field, there were 13,414 put-outs, 1,074 assists and just 113 errors. Very solid numbers.

He returned to Arlington and the store on Highland full-time—for a year.

With the 1950s came the familiar baseball pangs. Now he would try managing in the minors, returning to familiar towns up into Canada and west to Idaho. In Quebec, where he also manned first on occasion, his Braves won four championships. But as a new decade approached, more time at home became his goal.

McQuinn eased into the part-time life of a scout for the Braves and later the Browns-like Washington Senators. “I knew I would never be a big league manager. I was just too easygoing,” he later told the Post. With his lifetime of know-how and love for the game, McQuinn reached out to the next generation of coaches and players, writing a concise but thorough “Guide to Better Baseball.”

Northern Virginia kids and their parents still sought out the local celebrity-retailer. Phil Wood, then in grade school and now Washington’s noted baseball historian-broadcaster, recalls his own visit in the early ‘60s:

“George’s sporting goods store in Clarendon was a very short walk from my grandmother’s house. My dad took me in there once and introduced me to him. Now, my dad didn’t really know George McQuinn but George acted like they’d been friends for years. I was still in the single digits, but tall for my age and was actually switching to first base in Little League because of some knee issues. And George talked about how to choose the right mitt, and how much bigger they were than when he played (although they would get still bigger as the years went by). He was obviously a good businessman [and] knew how to charm the customers.”

By the mid-60s, Arlington’s once-vibrant shopping districts like Clarendon faced serious challenges from the new outlying malls. Parking issues, limited space and upkeep took their toll. McQuinn closed his store. A few years later he formally left baseball, retiring in 1972 from a scouting post with the Montreal Expos, Washington’s future Nationals.

McQuinn was living in Alexandria where his business and management skills went to use overseeing an apartment building just on Martha Custis Drive, just south of I-395. He had time to watch his grandson play Little League and welcomed the occasional chance to talk about his own days on the ballfield.

George McQuinn died following a stroke on Christmas Eve 1978. He was 68 years old.

“I always regretted not looking him up again after the business closed,” Phil Wood says. “Especially when he passed away at a fairly young age. Good player, great glove man, and more of a power hitter than you might expect—lots of extra base hits.”

McQuinn was never voted into Cooperstown. But he was the first inductee of the Arlington Sports Hall of Fame when it was created in 1958 by the county's Better Sports Club. And in the last spring of his life, McQuinn was inducted into the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame in Portsmouth. His official photograph shows him wearing the Yankees uniform.

Infamous Arlingtonian Mary Ann Hall

2010-04-30T11:03:00.000-07:00

Rixey Mansion, now part of Marymount University, stands on the site of Mary Ann Hall's country house.

Mary Ann Hall, sister of Bazil Hall, the farmer and slave owner for which Hall's Hill (now Highview Park) was named, also owned property in Arlington which she used as a summer home and country house. The main building of Marymount University, Rixey Mansion, now occupies the site of Mary Ann's farmhouse.

Mary Ann was a high-class madam in Washington where she ran a brothel (located at the foot of Capitol Hill) for over 40 years. She bought the lot and had the brothel built to her specifications, a substantial house with four stories containing 25 rooms and a basement.

When the construction for the National Museum of the American Indian began, professional archeologists were called in to interpret the site where her house stood. The results of the excavation showed that the quality of materials at the site was better than that of the surrounding neighborhood. Tableware was expensive and seeds and bones found showed a nutritional diet that included substantial amounts of beef, poultry and fish as well as turtle, and fruits such as coconuts and berries. Also found were dozens of corks and bottles which seemed to indicate Mary Ann's fondness for champagne.

A successful business woman, in 1853 she was able to purchase a farm in Alexandria County (now Arlington) to which she gradually added through 1869. As she grew older she spent more time at the farm and turned over business matters to her younger sister Elizabeth.

District of Columbia court records show that when she died, Mary Ann Hall was worth $87,000 (about $2,000,000 today) with no debts. A list of her belongings included Belgian carpets, oil paintings, plush red furniture and an ice box as well as a large number of sheets, mattresses, blankets, feather pillows and comforters.

Mary Ann never married, had children or kept a diary. She left no collection of personal letters or business ledgers, so there is little known about her as an individual. However, her obituary in the Evening Star described her as a person of unquestioned integrity and a heart open to "appeals of distress and a charity that was boundless."

After her death in 1886, she was buried in Congressional Cemetery. The inscription on her grave monument reads:

Truth was her motto
Her creed charity for all
Dawn is coming.

A Family's Final Resting Place

2010-01-28T09:01:00.000-08:00

Of the two Shreve family cemeteries in Arlington, the Southern-Shreve cemetery could possibly lay claim to having a more unique history. Located on the north side of Fairfax Drive, between North Frederick and North Harrison streets, the cemetery sat near the property of Richard and Frances (Redin) Southern. Richard Southern was a landscape architect and horticulturist, who became known for pioneering the use of the tomato as a food. It may seem hard to believe in these modern times, but prior to Southern's efforts, the tomato was widely regarded as being poisonous and was only used for decorative purposes.

The land was given as a dowry by Frances Redin's brother, a prominent Georgetown attorney, and was the burial place of John Redin, father of Frances and her brother. This generous act may have been precipitated by the fact that the Southerns cared for John Redin during his final years. He was buried in the garden of the Southern's home in 1832, his gravestone being the first in what was to become the family cemetery.

Being neighbors of the Shreves, Birches, and Balls, the families intermarried and the house and property remained in the Shreve family until 1904.

There are approximately 20 marked stones in the cemetery, which is still in fairly good condition today, with the most notable being that of Richard and Francis Shreve, who were both killed by lightning on June 25th, 1874. The inscription reads: "Struck by a thunderbolt from Heaven, they both lay down and died, they left three lambs whom God had given them, may he for them provide."

What About You?

Do you have any stories involving local family history? Let us know!

ARLINGTON ROCKS - PT. 3: "The Seventh Dawn"

2009-11-16T06:43:00.000-08:00

Progressive rock…I'm sure that some of you still have a few King Crimson, Yes, Moody Blues, or Emerson, Lake, & Palmer albums lurking in your collections somewhere. While never approaching the popularity of the aforementioned groups, Arlington's very own entry into the progressive rock sound of the 70's, The Seventh Dawn, had a story arguably as unique as any, and a sound that avoided the pitfall of many of their superstar contemporaries, which has led to a modest, but well deserved reappraisal of the band that few could have predicted.

Listen to The Seventh Dawn

Essentially a songwriting project of three brothers, Heff, Bil, and Eric Munson, along with Heff's girlfriend and wife-to-be Ann, The Seventh Dawn was formally launched in 1973. In early 1975, a college friend at Virginia Commonwealth University suggested the band record a vinyl record to accompany a “mock-up album cover” he was doing as an art assignment. Using the recording equipment available at the school’s electronic music laboratory, the resulting album, “Sunrise”, was completed in 1976. 200 copies of the disc were pressed. Though the recording was primitive by the standards of the day, there was no denying the quiet power and charm of the performances, and the songwriting was strong throughout. "Sunrise" reflected the tastes of the members, with strains of The Beatles, King Crimson, and progressive British folk acts such as Steeleye Span and Renaissance being evident.

A follow-up album, "Dreams" was recorded, but not released due to financial constraints. Weathering numerous lineup changes, the band soldiered on until breaking up 1981.

Years later, fate intervened when their seemingly forgotten album found its way into the hands of serious record buffs in the 1990's, fetching a very expensive price on the collectors market. This resulted in the album's reissue on vinyl, and eventually, a 2007 reissue on CD with bonus tracks, and, the release of the long deferred second album, "Dreams" as well.

What About You?
Do you remember The Seventh Dawn? Let us know!

"A Dangerous Place"

2009-10-23T11:35:00.000-07:00

The new Westover Library opened October 31 at the corner of Washington Boulevard and N. McKinley Road. It is a dual use facility shared with the schools and located on the site of the original Walter Reed School. When the previous building opened in 1963, 3000 books were borrowed on the first day, a record number of check-outs for a single day at that time, according to then library director Jane Nida.

The whole library system was expanding during this period, and at one of the dedications, County Board member Roye Lowry made the following remarks, a reminder of the importance and power of libraries:

"The serenity of this building and the quiet atmosphere of its interior should
not mislead us, for this is meant to be an exciting and even dangerous place…Awaiting us here will be the best and the worst in ourselves and in all men…If you enter this place, you shall not leave unmarked, for this is a place where illusions are shattered, where prejudices are destroyed, where hopes and ideals are kindled anew…A library is a dangerous place for anyone who is afraid of new ideas. I hope that we will always keep it that way."

The Great Outdoors

2009-09-01T13:19:00.000-07:00

The young girls above are enjoying a rarity in Arlington County: swimming in an outdoor pool. Although there are private swim clubs all over Northern Virginia, Arlington has only one outdoor public pool, at Upton Hill, which is part of the Northern Virginia Regional Park Authority, not the county.

Young people in Arlington were still able to learn to swim. The county was unique in that by 1968, there were indoor pools and instruction at every public senior and junior high school. However, swimming outside during the summer could be more difficult. The Department of Parks and Recreation tried to help with their summer day camp program. New in the summer of 1953, campers went biweekly to "the Marine Corps pool" and "the Middleburg pool" according to the annual report. That report specifically stated "[b]ecause of lack of facilities, swimming and golf are not a part of the Department's sports activities." Today, classes are still offered through the county – year-round, inside.

What About You?
Where did you go swimming in Arlington? Did you attend the county's day camp? Do you know anything about "the Marine Corps pool" and "the Middleburg pool"? Let us know what you remember!

Littlest Italy

2009-06-23T13:18:00.000-07:00

Arlington is not known for its vibrant Italian community, but actually at one time there was a small section of the county known as "Little Italy." In the Marcey Creek ravine there once lived about twenty-four Italian and Sicilian quarrymen who worked the quarries on the Potomac Palisades near the mouth of Pimmit Run, Gulf Branch, Donaldson Run, Marcey Creek and Spout Run. These quarries once produced the building material for many structures in the Washington area.

Two types of stone were quarried: rubble to crush for use on streets and roads, and larger stones for construction. Among the buildings that used the stone included Georgetown University, St. Patrick's Church, the Hains Point seawall, and St. Elizabeth's Hospital. The last quarry closed in 1938.

In preparation for the George Washington Memorial Parkway's construction in the mid 1950's, the National Park Service acquired the quarry land, including the area known as "Little Italy" where the last three remaining quarry workers remained. The above photograph shows a waterfall in one of the quarries after it was turned into parkland. Guiseppe (Josh) Conduci and his brother Carmelo (Carl) Conduci and Phillip Matoli had lived peacefully there after the quarries closed down, raising and selling flowers…their only extravagance, pure olive oil for cooking. Friends stepped in to find homes for them, but forced to move from the only homes they had known for so many years was wrenching, and a sad ending to what was once Arlington's early "Italian community."

What About You?
Do you remember the quarries on the Potomac Palisades? Let us know what you remember!

An Historic School

2009-05-12T13:16:00.000-07:00

Driving along Arlington Ridge Road you pass an old two-story brick building with a bell tower which was once the Hume School. Named for civic leader and philanthropist Frank Hume, it is the oldest remaining school building in Arlington.

Built in 1891, the land was purchased for $250 from Frank Hume, a successful wholesale grocer in Washington D.C., who later donated land for an adjacent playground as long as the building was used as a school. When the school was built it was the County's newest school and attacked as an extravagance as it had three rooms, considered far too large for any "foreseeable" school population. Most schools at that time were one room only.

In 1958, when the school closed, the Hume heirs deeded the property to the Arlington Historical Society, along with a $10,000 donation from one of Frank Hume's children to help with fundraising for a proposed museum to help preserve Arlington's heritage. The result was the Arlington Historical Society Museum, which is run primarily by volunteers and has been open at least one day a week since its inception.

What About You?
What do you remember about Hume School? How have you interacted with the Historical Society? Let us know what you remember!

Jacobs Castle

2009-04-14T13:15:00.000-07:00

Over the years, Arlington County has seen many residences and buildings rise and fall, but few can claim to have such an unusual story as that of Jacobs Castle.

While on vacation in Europe in the 1930s, obstetrician and gynecologist Dr. J. Bay Jacobs and his wife, Eva Harris Jacobs, saw a castle in Bavaria that they both greatly admired. Upon returning, the couple decided to build a similar one for their residence in Arlington.

The property chosen was a section of the former Thomas B. Dawson Estate, located near Rosslyn on a bluff of the Palisades overlooking the Potomac River. Construction started in 1938, with ongoing additions and improvements taking place into the 1950s.

Among the many features of the property was a fish pond, a striking wrought iron spiral staircase housed in the turret, and the oak flooring of the first floor living room, which had an unusual motif of carved butterflies in the shape of a man's bowtie.

Following the deaths of the Jacobs (Mrs. Jacobs in 1979, Dr. Jacobs in 1988), the ornate antique furnishings were sold at auction, and, the castle was then deeded to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists by Dr. Jacobs' son John Bay Jacobs II. Later, the property was sold to developer Conrad Cafritz, who envisioned developing some of the land while turning the castle itself into a community center. These plans came to naught when Cafritz went bankrupt and the property was foreclosed upon and later destroyed in November 1994.

A somewhat macabre coda to Jacobs Castle occurred when demolition workers unearthed the body of a baby, found inside a crate behind a small, boarded passageway. Dr. Jacobs' son said his father preserved the bodies of stillborn infants for use in his teaching.

What About You?
Do you have any memories of Jacobs Castle? Let us know what you remember!

Close Encounters

2009-02-26T13:10:00.000-08:00

ARLINGTON'S X-FILES PT 1-UFO'S IN ARLINGTON

At some time in our lives, most of us have seen something puzzling in the sky that left us looking for some type of explanation. From early Biblical accounts to present day sightings, it's a phenomenon that has become part of our modern folklore and whether one is a believer or skeptic, it is a topic that will continue to be debated.

Arlington has had its share of sightings over the years, and even played a part in the much publicized "UFOs Over Washington" flap that took place from July 13 to July 29, 1952, over Washington, D.C., when, on July 13th, a green, oval shaped object was reportedly seen circling the Arlington and Washington D.C area.

Other notable reports of UFO activity in Arlington County include a May 5, 1990 report of an object that was sighted by an amateur astronomer using binoculars, a May 27, 1997 sighting of 2 rapidly moving discs, and a 10 minute sighting of a disc shaped object with revolving red and white lights on Sept. 19, 2000.

What About You?
Have you had a close encounter of the Arlington kind? Let us hear from you!

Snowy Fun and Games

2009-01-27T13:08:00.000-08:00

Below, an excerpt from the Virginia Room's Oral History with Clyde Shepard. Above, the Presbyterian Church of the Covenant on Military Road.

Interviewer: What did the kids do around wintertime? Did you sleigh ride like we do now?

Narrator: Yes, in the wintertime, that's exactly what we did. We played on that Glencarlyn hill down there where the Seven Eleven is. We call that the County Hill. Of course, you only had a car come by there occasionally. When I was very young, the cars would only come by every fifteen minutes, one car. It was a very dangerous thing we did...we used to catch on the back of the bus when he'd slow down and hit the tracks down there and we'd get a free ride, you know. We had gloves on, and we'd be on our bellies on the sleigh, and then we'd catch the bus and he'd pull us up and we'd slide back down and wait for the next car or bus. [W]e'd get a big fire on the top of the hill...a big old barrel we had down there and we'd start a fire. It seemed like the winters were more severe back when I was a child. We had snow all winter long.

What About You?
What memories do you have about winter in Arlington? Let us hear from you!

The Best Kind of Activist

2009-01-16T13:07:00.000-08:00

When Arlingtonians attend a Neighborhood Day celebration, shop at retail stores built in high-rises across the street from an Arlington metro station, or buy produce at the Arlington Farmer's Market, they can thank Ellen Bozman. Bozman, who moved to Arlington from Illinois in 1950, was a believer in good government and smart community planning. She was first active in Arlington's League of Women Voters, pushing for school desegregation and becoming the league's president from 1963 to 1965. Over time, Ellen was drawn into county work by her civic responsibility, culminating in her election to the Arlington County Board in November of 1973. She kept that seat, holding the chairmanship six times, until her retirement from the Board in 1997. One of her most long-lasting achievements was the success of Smart Growth, which surrounded metro stops along the Courthouse-Ballston corridor with urban retail and residential high rises while keeping areas further out more open and suburban. In 1986, Washingtonian magazine named her "Washingtonian of the Year."

Bozman's tireless work on behalf of all Arlingtonians continued even after her retirement from the County Board. Until her death on January 8, 2009, she was a board member for the Arlington Community Foundation and appeared at Neighborhood Day celebrations, of which she was the founder. Today, you can find out more about Ellen Bozman's work on behalf of Arlington County residents in the Virginia Room. There are oral histories and county publications that document Bozman's time on the County Board, and maps that document Arlington's development over the second half of the twentieth century.

What About You?
What are your memories of Ellen Bozman? Let us hear from you!

A Parkington Christmas

2008-12-09T13:05:00.000-08:00

The commercial area now known as Ballston was called Parkington from the 1950s into the 1980s. The name referred to the large parking garage built there to accommodate the growing suburban population of the Washington area. The main shopping attraction of Parkington was the Hecht's store, which was included into the formation of the Ballston Mall and is now known as Macy's. The Hecht Company, as it was known at the time, constructed the garage themselves.

During the holidays, Hecht's advertised it's "Kiddies' Train Ride" in local papers, including the Alexandria Gazette. The ad read "Clear the tracks for the Disneyland Special! Kids, get your Mommie and Daddy to bring you to the Hecht Co. at Parkington today and every day till Christmas! Take the most exciting train ride you ever had! Buy your ticket for just 9 [cents] and hop aboard for a wonderful, magical train ride through Disneyland…where you'll see your favorite Disney characters – Donald Duck, Alice-in-Wonderland [sic], the Mad Hatter, and many, many more! Buy and armful of tickets and go 'round as many times as you'd like!" There was even a "bucking bronco" nearby. Of course, the train was only for kids, but "doting parents can watch too!"

What About You?
Do you remember the train ride at Hecht's, or Christmas shopping in Parkington? What other Arlington holiday traditions do you remember? Let us hear from you!

The Old Oaken Bucket

2008-11-19T13:03:00.000-08:00

Oral histories are a vibrant and personal part of the Virginia Room's collection. Here, Barbara Ball Savage, a W & L alumnus, talks about one of Arlington's Thanksgiving traditions, the Old Oaken Bucket game. This interview was conducted in February of 2000.

Barbara Ball Savage: The Oaken Bucket was very big between W & L and George Washington High School in Alexandria. And you could count on a few fights there every Thanksgiving morning because the tempers would get pretty high. I can remember Forest Tucker, the actor - do you remember who Forest Tucker was? He was a W & L graduate. He graduated with my sister-in-law as a matter of fact. And he would come back for that game, so I can remember him being there while I was in high school. But it was a big thing. Thanksgiving morning we would all bundle up and I swear the days were colder then than they are now. I can remember just freezing. And if it was down in Alexandria we would all pile in cars and go down there and go to that game. It was really a big thing for Arlington and Alexandria. And then we’d come home and the turkey would be just about ready because Mother had things ready. She’d have dinner on the table for 21, 22 people by 2:00 at the latest.[…]

And Thanksgiving was a wonderful time, and then we all went out in the back yard and played touch football. Everybody got in the games and played. Or, we’d finish raking the leaves…[s]o Thanksgiving was a very special day. But that football game, you’d talk about it for a month ahead of time, you know, how important that game was going to be.

What About You?
What do you remember about the Old Oaken Bucket game? What about other Arlington high school traditions? Let us hear from you!

Protest!

2008-10-28T13:02:00.000-07:00

In the photograph above, taken on July 13th, 1974, Arlington County police officers protest outside the courthouse after a County Board meeting. A month earlier, the County Board had recommended an 8 percent pay raise for county police officers; the police, represented by the Arlington Policeman's Beneficiary Association, requested a 10.8 percent increase to keep up with the rising cost of living in the Washington, DC, area. At the board meeting on July 13th, representatives for the police and fire fighters urged the County Board to reconsider, but to no avail. After the meeting, this protest was held. County police, along with all Virginia county employees cannot, by state law, strike.

However, Arlington's finest protested in another way. Throughout the month of July and the beginning of August, police officers dramatically reduced the amount of traffic tickets issued, about 75 percent. Many of those that were written were for "violations of state statutes" instead of "violations of county ordinance," so the fines collected would go to the state treasury. The county was losing about $7700 per week, and Arlington motorists were very happy.

The crisis was resolved in mid-August with a new contract for Arlington police. The 8 percent pay raise held, but the county agreed to shorten the work week for officers and cover more health insurance costs. However, the crisis spawned a movement within county employee groups to push for more open and flexible collective bargaining for county wages across all departments.

What About You?
Do you remember this protest? Let us hear from you!

Time Marches On

2008-09-23T13:01:00.000-07:00

The ruins of Abingdon Plantation sit on a hill by a roadway in busy Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. The property began as a 6000 acre land grant to Robert Howson in 1669, which was traded to John Alexander for 6000 hogsheads of tobacco. A member of the Alexander family built the first part of the plantation house in 1746.

Abingdon Plantation was purchased in 1778 by John Parke Custis, stepson of George Washington, who wished to locate his young family close to Mount Vernon. The Custis family's plans were cut short when John Custis died from camp fever at Yorktown in 1781. His widow, Eleanor Calvert Custis, married Dr. David Stuart, an Alexandria physician in 1783 and had 13 more children. The two oldest Custis girls, Elizabeth and Martha, resided with the Stuarts, while Nellie and George Washington Parke Custis grew up at Mount Vernon. The Stuarts returned the Abingdon Plantation to the Alexander family in 1792.

In the years following Abingdon Plantation was occupied by Union troops during the Civil War. The plantation's productivity was hampered by the nearby development of several brick manufacturing companies and the region's growing transportation needs, with the Washington Alexandria and Mount Vernon electric railway, the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad and the Mount Vernon Memorial Highway (later GW Parkway) cutting into the land.

A fire destroyed the abandoned and deteriorating Abingdon home on March 5, 1930. In 1938 President Roosevelt selected the site for National Airport which opened in 1940. Today, the airport's parking area surrounds the ruins of the main house, which can be seen by the nearby metro line. Visitors can see artifacts from the Abingdon house site in a special exhibit hall inside the airport, and the site is open to the public.

What About You?
Have you visited the Abingdon Plantation site? Let us hear from you!

Local Girl Makes Good

2008-08-12T12:59:00.000-07:00

Shelley Mann, Olympic gold and silver medalist in the 1956 games in Melbourne, Australia, was a well-known and well-loved Arlington resident. She moved to Arlington as a preschooler with her parents, Hamilton and Isabel Mann. She started swimming at age 11, when her parents enrolled her at summer camp to get her involved with other children. Shelley excelled and enjoyed it so much she joined the swim club at Walter Reed Hospital, where Hamilton Mann was stationed. While at Walter Reed, the team won American Athletic Union indoor and outdoor championships from 1953 to 1956. The AAU was a national network of sports teams that produced dozens of Olympic athletes during the middle of the twentieth century.

Though training for several hours a day, Shelley was still an ordinary, though popular, teenager. She attended Thomas Jefferson Junior High and graduated from Washington-Lee High School in 1955. While a student, Shelley sang in the choir, was a member of the social group the Sub Deb Club, and attended dances, football and basketball games, and went out to eat with her friends. However, as Shelley's trophies and awards mounted, she became a local celebrity.

In the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, Australia, Shelley Mann won the gold medal in the 100-meter butterfly, the first year the butterfly stroke was part of the Olympic program. She was also part of the silver medal-winning 4x100 meter freestyle relay team. Her gold was the only one brought home by an American woman, and one of only two gold medals won by the entire US swim team. Once Shelley returned to the US, she was a national sensation and claimed as Arlington's own. On December 17, 1956, only home for a few days, Shelley received the key to Washington, DC, and was feted at Washington-Lee High School by Arlington's county board and citizens.

Come celebrate Shelley Mann and the Olympic spirit in the Virginia Room, where we are currently exhibiting Shelley's awards and personal effects!!

What About You?
Do you remember Shelley Mann and her swimming exploits? Did you know her? Let us hear from you!

A Day at the Beach

2008-07-29T12:57:00.000-07:00

Arlington Beach and Amusement Park opened May 30, 1923, on the Potomac River in the vicinity of the Long Bridge (the old Fourteenth Street Bridge). The beach flourished until 1929 when it was bought by the Washington Airport Corporation to provide additional landing space.

In addition to a sandy beach, there were bath houses, a dance pavilion, merry-go-round, Ferris wheel, and many other amusement park features. The park also touted excellent parking facilities. Dancing was advertised as one of the chief attractions in the opening season.

Unfortunately, due to its location next to the airport, visitors to the beach were all too often witnesses to airplane accidents and fatalities. Aviation was in its early days and was a largely unregulated industry so such accidents were not uncommon.

The beach also served as a recreational site for many organizations holding annual picnics, etc. At one such event it was decided, as a "lark," to "burn" someone at the stake. When the fire got out of hand, and the seat of the victim's pants actually caught on fire, he was quickly untied and beat a hasty retreat to the river where he doused himself to put out the flames. In spite of this incident it was later reported in the newspaper that all had a very good time!

What About You?
Do you remember Arlington Beach? What other things did you do during the summer in Arlington? Let us hear from you!

Everything Under the Sun

2008-07-08T12:53:00.000-07:00

Ayers' Variety & Hardware in Westover is a unique store; their specialty is everything. From screws to toys to lawn decorations to fishing line, if you need it, you can probably find it at Ayers'.

Ayers' Hardware, as it is known to locals, was established by John W. Ayers, a World War II veteran from Georgia. He relocated to the Washington area while working for Woolworth's in 1924, but opened up J. W. Ayers Five and Ten Cents Store in 1948. Ayers was known as the Mayor of Westover, handing out candy to neighborhood children, providing materials to classrooms in nearby elementary and middle schools, and becoming active in several civic groups in Arlington such as the Kiwanis Club and the Arlington Chamber of Commerce. He was active in the community by working for sidewalks and streetlights, and overseeing the Westover Christmas tree, Halloween dances and "Westover Days." Ayers was a lynchpin of the community even after he turned over the store to his 32 employees in a profit-sharing plan in 1968.

Many were worried when Ayers died in 1976 that the store would disappear and the community spirit of Westover would fade. However, the Kaplan family bought Ayers Variety & Hardware in 1977 from the Ayers estate and has continued to stock it's shelves with quirky and practical items at good prices. It still serves as an anchor for the small stretch of stores on Washington Boulevard near Walter Reed school, and is a distinctive part of the Arlington business landscape.

What About You?
What do you remember about J. W. Ayers or his store? Let us hear from you!

Life During Wartime

2008-06-24T12:51:00.000-07:00

On May 24, 1861, Union troops came over the river to Arlington. At the time, Alonzo Hayes, Jr., lived with his widowed mother, Malvina, his two attractive older sisters, Annie and Mary, and his brother, William, in a two-story house at Sunnyside Farm, two miles from Aqueduct Bridge.

Their farm was adjacent to six Union forts protecting Washington and was occupied by a succession of Union troops. Fences and timber were removed to build forts and corduroy roads and for firewood. A stable with over 1,000 horses was built on their property and Union soldiers boarded in their home. According to a 1975 Oral History interview by his granddaughter Mrs. Janet Hayes Baldwin, twelve-year-old Alonzo was hit in the heel by a stray shell from a Union fort across the river and limped for the rest of his days. Alonzo also caught smallpox from the troops but survived with no scarring. The family would entertain soldier visitors who were well-behaved but seemed to be homesick, but the widowed mother would sometimes send her daughters upstairs during those visits.

The site of Sunnyside Farm is now the Arlington Science Focus School and children still play on the lawn of Emily Hayes Park, which was donated to Arlington County by Janet Baldwin's maiden aunt Emily Hayes.

The photograph above was marked for publication, and shows Company L, Second New York Artillery, at Fort C. F. Smith in August, 1865. The original is owned by the Library of Congress.

What About You?
Do you know about Civil War events in Arlington? Is there evidence of the war on your property? Let us hear from you!

Arlington Analog Technology

2008-05-06T12:50:00.000-07:00

Cleffie L. Ellis was born in Warren County, N.C. and moved to the Washington area in the 1930s, where he attended the old Capital Institute of Radio and Technology. In 1937 he established Ellis Radio, later Ellis Radio and Television, in the Cherrydale section of Arlington. The shop also carried large household appliances.

Customers would come to view the new medium of television as well as attend demonstrations of household products. Mr. Ellis operated his store until 1988. In 1960 he founded Arlington Electronic Wholesalers.

What About You?
Do you have memories of Ellis Radio and Television or other early Arlington businesses? Please let us know!

Changing Times

2008-04-08T12:48:00.000-07:00

As an example of Arlington's gradual change from a rural to an urban county, a milk can is used to collect coins from parking meters in the 1950's.

What About You?
Do you have memories about Arlington's change from a rural to an urban county? Please let us know!

Stormy Weather

2008-03-11T12:47:00.000-07:00

The photo above is of an unidentified industrial area of Arlington flooded by the Potomac River. If you look carefully, you can see the Washington Monument in the distance. The photograph is dated from the mid-20th century, and the Virginia Room is looking for more information about this photograph.

We have an answer! Alert readers emailed the Virginia Room to let us know that this area is in fact Georgetown, near the Key Bridge. The silos belong to the Washington Flour Company. Thank you for your help!

What About You?
Do you know anything about this area of Arlington? Do you remember the Potomac flooding? What about other floods in Arlington? Please let us know!

Boy Scouts – Still Doing Good Turns

2008-02-12T12:44:00.000-08:00

Boy Scouts today are still working on merit badges, and Eagle projects, doing community service such as food drives, and enjoying camping and outdoor adventures. Walter DeGroot's Oral History in the Virginia Room describes Scouting in the 1940's.

For Truman's 1946 inauguration:

We marched down Pennsylvania Avenue and whatever that street is in front of the White House and then from there we dispersed. And I was so proud of myself. And it was cold that day. It was cold.

Camping on the Columbia Pike farm and greenhouse property owned by the father of a fellow scout, Jimmy Goings, from the Arlington Methodist Church Boy Scout troop:

It was a kind of a neat place to go camping. The boys would get on the AB&W bus, and get off at Mr. Going's, and drag our tents and the sort up the hill. We camped up there a lot. Behind that there was a very large stone quarry. It was more like a gravel pit. That's about where Hechinger's used to have a big store on Route 7 there. And of course Route 7 was the Bailey's Crossroads Airport. I think we boys used to hike...just to get the cold water from the [Carlin] spring, and then go back over to the camp.

What About You?
Do you have photos and recollections of Boy Scouts in Arlington? Please let us know!

Arlington Spring Resort

2008-01-22T12:43:00.000-08:00

The first outdoor recreation area in Arlington was developed at Arlington Spring on the banks of the Potomac near Arlington House. George Washington Parke Custis, the father-in-law of Robert E. Lee, was a hospitable man who kept many artifacts in Arlington House and dedicated his life to the preservation of the memory of his step- grandfather and adoptive father, George Washington.

Arlington Spring was initially used as a place to entertain family and friends, but in 1824 Custis opened it to the public in for a Fourth of July celebration. Arlington Spring contained a kitchen, dining hall and dancing pavilion, and up to 200 visitors a day came by boats, canal boats and later steam excursion boats to attend sheep shearing contests, political speeches or for recreation. Field tents used by George Washington during the Revolution were used on special occasions such as the Revolutionary war hero Marquis de Lafayette's visit to Arlington in October 1824. It was reported that 2,000 people attended the Fourth of July celebration at Arlington Spring in 1848.

This Arlington Spring illustration is from an 1853 drawing in Harper's magazine by Benson Lossing.

What About You?
Do you have memories of favorite outdoor recreations in Arlington and on the Potomac? Please let us know!

An Early Hybrid Vehicle

2008-01-08T12:41:00.000-08:00

The Evans Autorailer was a unique gasoline powered bus with retractable flanged pilot wheels with the ability to run on railroads. Six were acquired by the struggling Arlington & Fairfax Railway Company in June 1936, with an investment from Evans Product Company of Detroit. It was planned for these trolley replacements to run on rails through Rosslyn and convert to rubber tires to complete their trip over the Key Bridge into Georgetown. However, the Capital Transit Company successfully defended their exclusive franchise across the bridge, and the line ceased operation in January 1939.

Several of the autorailers were then acquired by the Washington and Old Dominion Railroad to use for line maintenance. This photo shows a W & O D autorailer converted for line maintenance with an added platform. The Fowler Carbonics building seen in the photo's background later became the Cherry Smash soda plant in Arlington.

What About You?
Do you have memories or pictures of autorailers or other Northern Virginia rail or trolley lines? Please let us know!

An Aerial View: Interchange of Arlington Blvd. with Washington Blvd., c. 1950

2007-12-11T12:40:00.000-08:00

WWII brought much growth and development to Arlington, but as one can see from this photo of the interchange of Arlington Boulevard. with Washington Boulevard, c. 1950, much of Arlington was still quite undeveloped several years after the War was over.

Trivia Note: Generally, only Boulevards, Drives, Highways and Roads cross the county in unbroken continuity ("streets," whether numbered or named, rarely do). Arlington Boulevard is such a road and is the dividing line between North and South Arlington.

What About You?
Do you have any memories of Arlington road development? Let us know!

Rixey Mansion

2007-11-27T12:37:00.000-08:00

Among the many stately and historic homes located in Arlington County, the Rixey Mansion deserves a special mention.

Set on one of four farms owned by Washington resident and Assistant Surgeon General of the U.S. Navy Dr. Presley M. Rixey, the Rixey Mansion was built to replace the property's old farmhouse which burned down in 1907. The mansion was constructed in 1919-1920 under the supervision of Dr. Rixey and architects Frank Upman and Percy C. Adams and was thought to be one of the most sophisticated and elaborate residences of its time, boasting an exquisite stairway, a grand drawing room, banquet room, and a first floor covered with marble, designed in a black and white geometric pattern. After Dr. Rixey's death in 1928, the farm was purchased by Mrs. Ida K. Polen and was used as a tea house. In 1937, following a fire at the Washington Golf and Country Club, the house was temporarily used as a dining facility until a new building was completed.

In 1948, the estate was purchased by the Religious of the Sacred Heart of Mary and upon the establishment of Marymount College in 1950, the Rixey mansion became the central building or "Main House" of the university.

What About You?
Do you have any memories of Rixey Mansion? Let us know!

Brick Works

2007-11-13T12:35:00.000-08:00

Clay deposits on the shore of the Potomac supported a considerable brick making industry in Arlington until well into the 20th Century. In 1905, there were 10 plants using local clays to produce brick for sale in Washington, chiefly a red brick but some a buff color. In his 1907 Brief History of Alexandria County, Virginia , Crandal Mackey states, that Alexandria County (the former name for Arlington) "manufactures more brick than any county in the United States."

One of the largest plants was West Brothers Brick Company. Founded shortly after the Civil War, it remained in operation until the land was taken over by the federal government in 1942 to build the Pentagon. Brick manufacturing eventually ceased in the area with the construction of Shirley Highway and the Pentagon.

Trivia Note: During the great flu epidemic of 1918, Perry West, grandson of the founder of West Brothers, noticed that the men who got the flu seemed to be those who never touched alcohol...so, as a preventative measure, he arranged for his workers to start the day with a dosage of 2 ounces of whiskey followed by 5 grains of quinine, with an additional dose at the end of the work day!

What About You?
Do you remember the clay pits or brick works along the Potomac? Let us know!

ARLINGTON ROCKS—PT. 2: "PENTAGRAM"

2007-10-30T12:33:00.000-07:00

The long standing heavy metal group Pentagram may never have had a best selling album or inked a lucrative contract with a major record label, but, over time, they have become legends to a modest, but fanatical worldwide fan base and have garnered critical raves from some of the most important rock writers and artists of the modern era.

Formed in Arlington in 1971 by lead vocalist Bobby Liebling and drummer Geof O'Keefe, the band soon began developing and perfecting their sound. Though unmistakably influenced by contemporaries such as Black Sabbath and Uriah Heep, the band were no mere copyists, boasting an unusually melodic vocalist in Liebling and an uncommon sense of subtlety, texture and drama in the guitar playing. Word of mouth led to a rehearsal for Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley of Kiss and a demo recording for Blue Oyster Cult's producer and manager but a major label contract eluded the band.

After weathering numerous lineup changes over the years, Bobby Liebling remains the constant in the group, though recent live appearances have been few. Numerous releases documenting all phases of Pentagram's career are easily available.

Listen to Pentagram - "Star Lady" [5MB .WMA file] Copyrighted materials, used by permission.

What About You?
Have you seen or heard Pentagram? Let us know!

Back To School: Washington–Lee High School

2007-10-09T12:31:00.000-07:00

Washington-Lee High School is currently undergoing a major renovation, but when it opened in 1925 it was considerably smaller and the community quite different from what it is today. The following is from an oral history with Sally B. Loving who taught at W-L for many years.

When the site was decided upon, some said it was located in a spot in north Arlington equally difficult to reach from all points. And that was about the truth, because the County was not built up and it [the school] was way out in…the field so to speak. The [original] Washington-Lee building cost $200,000, plus $231,339 for equipment

There were between 450 and 500 students there in 1925, when we entered the building. And when they first got in the building, we had to wait for the arrival of the chairs, so we either sat on the floor or stood. But that was the very beginning.

Washington-Lee was perhaps . . . the beginning of unifying the County, since the students came from Cherrydale, Clarendon, Ballston, Columbia Pike, and so forth. But it didn't take long. . . before you could realize what section of the County they came from. This is if there was a fire the night before: their loyalty went to their community (the fire department), and each one was sure that his fire department got there first. But gradually the spirit grew, as we grew up at Washington-Lee, and the spirit was good.

Virginia Room Oral History Collection
Interview with Sally B. Loving

What About You?
Did you go to W-L? What do you remember about your school days in Arlington? Let us know!

Summer Reading Fever

2007-07-17T12:30:00.000-07:00

In May 1961, the new Central Library opened for business on Quincy Street, near the intersection with Fairfax Drive; the two and two-tenths acres had several previous owners such as Horatio Ball. The library could hold 100,000 volumes, although at the time of opening, the library could only fill one-third of the shelves. Central staff for financial year 1961-1962 was 23.

The headline project for Children's section of Central Library was the Summer Reading Club. The theme for the summer of 1961, when the photograph above was taken, was "Diving for Books". Four branches, including Central, participated in the program and signed up 607 children who collectively read 1,792 books. According to the 1961-1962 Annual Report, 234 participants received achievement cards for reading six or more books. This program was augmented by film programs and story times for preschoolers, and an initial visit from a group of physically disabled children from the Edison School. This visit to Central reaffirmed the library's commitment to serve all Arlingtonians. There were even spontaneous carpools organized by parents and teachers to bring children to the library throughout the summer.

Many of the children's library activities from 1961 are mirrored in today's programs. The Get Caught Reading program has been in place for several summers and has been expanded to include adults as well. For the summer of 2007, there has been a spotlight on the upcoming release of the last Harry Potter novel. There are special programs beyond just story time for all children such as magicians and science programs, and all libraries participate. For over 45 years, Arlington libraries have helped spread summer reading fever!!!

What about you?
Did you participate in a library summer reading program as a child? What about the old Central Library? Let us know what you remember!

Arlington Rocks, Part 1: The Cherry People

2007-07-02T12:29:00.000-07:00

After the Beatles launched the "British Invasion" of the 1960s, it seemed like every town in America soon had any number of aspiring rockers forming their own garage bands and Arlington was no exception. Although usually regarded as a Washington D.C. band, local heroes The Cherry People had very strong connections to Arlington. The core of the band was the Grimes brothers, Chris and Doug, and Edwin Lionel "Punky" Meadows, who formed the Intruders in 1964 in Washington, D.C. A year later they moved to Arlington and became The English Setters and released three 45s. By the summer of '67 they changed their name again, to The Cherry People, and began to play regularly in area nightclubs and WPGC-sponsored dances at Washington-Lee High School. After a trip to New York, the band landed a contract with the Heritage Records label, and spent the entire fall of 1967 recording an album in New York City. The band soon found their songs were compromised by their record label, which added strings and horns in an attempt to promote a more pop sound. A devastating live band known for explosive guitar playing reminiscent of Jimi Hendrix, the album was released in May 1968, but its bubblegum-pop sound failed to represent what the Cherry People were really all about. Though the band soldiered on, they never regained the focus and momentum of their early days, finally calling it quits in 1975. Guitarist "Punky" Meadows later achieved a degree of fame with the 70s hard rock band, Angel. The Cherry People's album has recently been reissued on CD by the Collectibles label.

What about you?
Do you remember the Cherry People? Let us know what you remember!

Milling Around

2007-06-19T12:28:00.000-07:00

The Barcroft Mill not only provided wheat and corn meal to local residents, but also helped to shape and define what would eventually become the residential Barcroft community.

The origins of Barcroft Mill date back to 1836, when G.W.P. Custis built a water grist mill along Four Mile Run and Columbia Pike on land bequeathed to him by George Washington. After being inherited by G.W.P. Custis Lee, the mill was severely damaged by Federal troops returning from the Second Battle of Bull Run and was subsequently rebuilt around 1880 by Dr. John Woolverton Barcroft. By 1905 it had become a vital part of the community now known as Barcroft. In addition to the mill, the business center of Barcroft boasted a general store, a blacksmith shop and a railway shop. After fire destroyed the mill in the early 1920s, the property was purchased in 1925 by a company which built an ice plant on the foundations.

Trivia note: In a 1996 County Board election, John Woolverton Barcroft garnered 443 write-in votes in Barcroft Precinct, despite having been dead for over 100 years. This was done as an act of protest by Barcroft residents angered by a County Board decision to permit a rehabilitation house for drug-addicted mothers and their children to be built in the neighborhood.

What about you?
What do you know about the Barcroft neighborhood? Have you seen the remains of the mill? Let us know what you remember!

At the Movies

2007-06-05T12:27:00.000-07:00

A far cry from the multiplex theaters of today, the Buckingham Theatre greeted its customers with a façade that more closely resembled a Colonial style mansion. Built by the developers of the Buckingham Community in 1939, The Buckingham, as it was known, was the central part of a small shopping center located at the intersection of Glebe Road and Pershing Drive. The building itself was considered to be quite a creative endeavor due to the classic front design which eschewed the usual marquee, neon lighting and signs that were common to other theaters of its time.

The Buckingham played a role in the desegregation movement in Arlington when it was the site of demonstrations against Virginia's Massive Resistance policies in July 1962. Those arrested were eventually acquitted of all charges.

After a successful run of 47 years, the theater closed in 1986 and was converted to a post office in 1990, which it remains to this day.

What about you?
Do you have any memories of the Buckingham Theatre? Let us know what you remember!

Look Out for Spy Hill

2007-05-22T12:25:00.000-07:00

The area known as Spy Hill may not be the largest neighborhood in Arlington, but it certainly can claim to have had a unique history.

Spy Hill was originally comprised of two land grants, the Thomas Pearson grant of 1707 (660 acres), and the John Ball grant in 1742 (166 acres). The Pearson property was leased in 1740 for clearing and cultivation while the Ball property, which included the log cabin erected by John Ball known as the Ball-Sellers house, was sold as small lots around 1835. Together, these two areas became known as Boulevard Manor.

In 1851, New York farmer Timothy Bishop Munson and his family moved to Fairfax County. Munson started a nursery and raised sheep on the land known as Munson's Hill, now part of present day Arlington, which included the greater portion of Boulevard Manor. During the Civil War, Confederate forces established an outpost on Upton's Hill where the regional park is now located, from which they could observe troop movements across the Potomac. When the Confederate army withdrew from this area, the Federal army established Fort Upton on Upton's Hill as part of the defense of Washington owing to the ability to see the Washington Monument and the Capitol from this vantage point. The areas of Boulevard Manor and Fort Upton received the name Spy Hill as a result of these activities. The image above is a Harper's Weekly sketch of Union troops on Spy Hill.

In the 1860s, William A. Torreyson purchased land from the Carlin and Munson estates, including a sizeable portion of Munson's Hill, and established a dairy farm. Torreyson's daughter Lucy married George Reeves in 1894 and they took over the dairy farm in 1902, the last to operate in Arlington, until closing in 1955 under the ownership of George Reeves' son, Nelson. After its sale in the late 1970s, Spy Hill was a popular gathering place for teenagers until its eventual development in 1990.

What about you?
Do you have any memories of the Spy Hill neighborhood? Let us know what you remember!

The Wilson School

2007-05-15T12:24:00.000-07:00

Starting in 1902, residents of the Fort Myer Heights area clamored for a school to serve their area. The School Board seemed to agree, but the project itself never seemed to get going. There were serious problems with the construction of other schools in the Arlington area (at that point part of Alexandria County), and the board did not want another headache. Eventually, what was originally known as the "Clarendon" school and then Fort Myer School was built on Wilson Boulevard in 1910, approximately where the first tee of the original Washington Golf & Country Club golf course was placed.

In 1926, school administrators sent letters to Woodrow Wilson's widow, Edith, informing her of the school's name change to Woodrow Wilson School, in honor of the late president. These letters, a photograph of the school's construction, and two photographs of the first classes at the school are in the Community Archives' collection on the public schools. The photograph above, taken in 1932 for a fire insurance survey, shows the 1926 addition and can be found in the County Manager's Library Collection.

Wilson School became empty with the construction of Francis Scott Key School in 1968. It now houses the Mongolian School, a cultural education center for the Mongolian community in Arlington (one of the largest in the nation), and holds community events. There is hope that the Wilson School can become an organized arts center for the entire community.

What About You?
Did you go to Wilson or used the building for other events? Let us know what you remember!

When Cows Were Local

2007-05-08T12:23:00.000-07:00

Dairy farming in Arlington? Why yes, Virginia, there once was such a thing. In fact, Arlington was home to a number of dairy farms in years past, with one of the best known being the Reeves farm. Purchased in 1866 as a 160-acre farm by William H. Torreyson, the property stretched west of Four Mile Run and south of Wilson Boulevard, extending beyond Route 50 to Glen Carlyn Road. The farm was later operated by Torreyson's daughter, Lucy, and her husband George Reeves from 1898-1949; their son Nelson Reeves was made a partner in 1924. Nelson and his wife, Louise, kept the farm in operation until its final shipment of milk in July 1955 marked the end of dairy farming in Arlington.

The Reeves family continued to reside on the property, gradually selling off land as the county's population grew. After Nelson Reeves passed away in 2000 at the age of 90, ten members of his family sought to have the farmhouse preserved, eventually resulting in its designation as a historic district. Shown in the photograph above, Reevesland, as it is now known, provides a unique link to Arlington's agricultural heritage, and preserves a valuable family legacy for present day residents to enjoy and appreciate

What About You?
Do you have any recollections regarding the Reeves farm or other dairies in Arlington? Let us know what you remember!

Wartime Housing

2007-05-01T12:22:00.000-07:00

The J.E.B. Stuart homes were one of several federally funded projects that built low-cost WWII housing with a minimum of amenities. Built in the southern part of the county, they were constructed without regard to Arlington County building and zoning regulations. Segregated according to race, as was the custom at that time, the George Pickett, Shirley, J.E.B. Stuart and Jubal Early homes were for whites. The George Washington Carver and Paul Dunbar home were for blacks. The homes were built on concrete slabs without basements and heated by coal stoves. Tenants were selected on the basis of need. Residents of the Stuart homes, pictured above, and the other developments were for people employed by the rapidly-growing federal government during the war years; Arlington County in general had a significant upsurge in population during the 1930s and 1940s.

After the war, those who could afford to moved out of the homes and the properties gradually deteriorated. The federal government wanted to dispose of the projects and offered them to the County to be used for low income families living in sub-standard housing. However, the County decided against the offer as acceptance would have entailed the establishment of a local Housing Authority, a proposal which was very controversial at the time. As a result, the homes that had been built to a higher, more permanent standard were sold to tenants and the others were razed.

What About You?
Do you remember the J.E.B. Stuart homes and similar housing? What were the war years like in Arlington? Let us know what you remember!

Arlington's Airport

2007-04-17T12:21:00.000-07:00

Whenever the subject of air travel or airports in Arlington is raised, it is perhaps inevitable that talk of National Airport will dominate any discussion. A glance through decades past, however, reveals the interesting story of Hoover Airport, Arlington's first airfield.

Located in a pasture at the south end of the 14th Street Bridge on land now chiefly occupied by the Pentagon, Hoover Airport opened in 1926. Curiously enough, the following year saw another airport, Washington Airport, open virtually next door to Hoover on grounds previously housing a race track and horse show. After four years, the two combined services and became a single enterprise operating under the name Hoover Airport.

Diminutive even by 1930 standards, Hoover Airport had a single 2,400 foot runway which was intersected at mid-point by a road which had to be chained off by guards when the aircraft were landing or taking off. As advances were rapidly being made in the field of aviation, the shortcomings of Hoover Airport soon became apparent. In 1938, ground was broken at Gravelly Point, located at the Potomac's edge where the Abingdon estate had been, and by 1941, Washington National Airport was open for business and Hoover Airport was no more.

What About You?
What are your memories regarding air travel from and to Arlington? Let us know what you remember!

Mystery Door

2007-04-10T12:19:00.000-07:00

This photograph was taken by Eleanor Lee Templeman. She was the author of Northern Virginia History and Arlington History (both available in the Virginia Room), which, through photographs, tells the story of the area's development through the 1950s. The photograph above was not used in either book, but was part of her donation of photographs to the Community Archives. It may be the door to a springhouse or cold food storage area.

What About You?
Do you recognize this door, or this area? The Virginia Room could use your help. Let us know what you remember!

The Great Elephant Escape

2007-04-03T12:16:00.000-07:00

If you spent March 19th anywhere near Capitol Hill, chances are you were treated to a unique sight: namely, a parade of elephants from the Ringling Brothers and Barnum Bailey Circus marching smartly in line past the U.S. Capitol. Perhaps the organizers of the parade took a bit of inspiration from a somewhat more informal pachyderm procession that took place here in Arlington over 100 years ago.

On August 21, 1906, four of "Barlow's Elephants," a popular animal act featured at the Luna Park amusement park located near S. Glebe Road and South Eads Street, escaped from their quarters and decided to take a brief tour of the local area. One was corralled quickly, but the other three remained at large for several weeks, until their recapture in Fairfax County. The animals were then loaded on a freight train at Burke Station and safely returned to Coney Island.

For more information on the elephant escape, interested readers may want to peruse the book, Elephants and Quaker Guns: A History of Civil War and Circus Days by Jane Chapman Whitt, in the Virginia Room.

Did you know?
-- Bailey's Crossroads is named for the Lewis Bailey family, whose circus eventually became the current Ringling Brothers and Barnum Bailey Circus.

-- The names of the four elephants that escaped were "Annie", "Tom", "Jennie", and "Queenie".

What About You?
Do you have any interesting memories of attending the circus as a child? Let us know what you remember!

Everyone's National Pastime

2007-03-27T12:15:00.000-07:00

Around this time each year, the cry of "Play Ball!" heralds the start of another season of baseball. While the Washington Senators, Baltimore Orioles, and now the Washington Nationals dominate most local discussions concerning America's Pastime, there is a fascinating, if unheralded, aspect of baseball that took root decades ago in Arlington's African-American community. The earliest team, dating back to 1910, the Old Virginia Blues, played each Sunday on a field in East Arlington near Arlington Junction. The two best known teams, the Virginia White Sox and the Green Valley Black Sox, started playing ball in the 1930's and helped to provide a gathering place for local residents and families to socialize. Starting around May 30th of each year, weekends would see teams competing at a ball field situated near High View Park, on land which is now occupied by the Virginia Hospital Center, near George Mason Drive and Lee Highway. After the land was purchased for development, the teams folded, lacking a place to play.

What About You?
Did you have a family member, or, perhaps know anyone that played for the Virginia White Sox or the Green Valley Black Sox? Let us know what you remember!

Arlington Goes Green

2007-03-20T12:13:00.000-07:00

In 1900, Congress transferred 400 acres of land along the Potomac near Ft. Myer to the Department of Agriculture in order to create an experimental farm for plant testing and the improvement of plants and methods of cultivation. The area had been neglected for many years and even the top soil had been taken for the National Cemetery.

Over the years a number of interesting activities and experiments took place at the farm:

--Americans on governmental or private missions abroad were encouraged to send foreign plants home to see if they would help improve domestic plants. The farm naturalized over 100,000 types of foreign plants for domestic use; soybeans are one of the best known crops to be introduced this way.

--When a plant disease threatened to wipe out the domestic sugarcane industry in the 1920s, the Farm led the way in developing immunity to this blight which ultimately resulted in the rebuilding of the sugarcane industry.

--One of the more unusual examples of the Farm's experiments involved grasses for golf greens. Before WWI the country's golf courses were almost entirely dependent on German grown seed for their grasses. When the supply was cut off by the war, golf courses throughout the country contributed funds for experiments at Arlington to develop new domestic varieties.

With the development of Arlington National Cemetery and the construction of Memorial Bridge there was pressure to relocate the farm. In 1932 much of the farm's work was shifted to Beltsville, MD, and by 1941 the remainder of the property had been transferred to the War Department for use in the National Defense Program.

What About You?
Do you recall the Arlington experimental farm? Let us know what you remember!

Home of the Sir Loiner

2007-03-13T12:12:00.000-07:00

Arlington has never had a shortage of unique local eateries and for many, one of the most memorable was the Tops Drive Inn on Lee Highway. Home of the "Sir Loiner," a double-decker hamburger thought by many to be a forerunner of today's Big Mac, Tops was founded by businessman James J. Matthews in 1953. The original Tops Drive Inn was a 15-seat facility which included a team of carhops and a machine called the Teletray, enabling drivers to order their food without getting out of the car. The interior featured turquoise-colored phones at the tables for placing your order, and mini-juke boxes for hearing the hits of the day. There were 18 Tops in the DC Metro area before Matthews merged the chain into Gino's Inc. in 1968.

Some Tops trivia:

---Three of the sandwiches served at Tops were the Sir Loiner, the Jim Dandy, and the Maverick.

---Tops was the original server of Col. Sanders' Kentucky Fried Chicken in the area, and owner James J. Matthews served on the board of Kentucky Fried Chicken Corporation after Colonel Sanders retired.

---There was once a 15 minute television afternoon weather show sponsored by Tops called "Top Of De Vedder." The program was hosted by "Professor Felix Von Topsnak," who used a hand-drawn map of the U.S. on which he'd chart the weather while dressed in an overcoat, top hat and monocle.

What About You?
Were you a Tops regular? What was your favorite thing on the menu? Let us know what you remember!

Into a New Home

2007-03-06T12:11:00.000-08:00

After a 14-year stint at what was affectionately known to many as "The Garage," Signature Theatre has settled into its new location at 4200 Campbell Avenue (formerly S. Stafford Street) in the Village at Shirlington. This is the third location for Signature since its founding in 1988 by Donna Migliaccio and Eric Schaeffer. Featuring two black box theaters, greatly expanded facilities and ample parking, this new space is a far cry from the theater's humbler beginnings.

The Signature's first two years saw it hosted by the Gunston Arts Center on Wilson Boulevard, prior to its move to what had previously been the business location of Auto Bumper Plating at 3806 S. Four Mile Run. A long standing (1964-1992) auto repair and plating business run by the Lentini family, the garage was renovated at a cost of $300,000 to a 104-seat black box theater which quickly drew acclaim for their many productions over the years.

The current season at the Village opened on January 12, 2007, featuring Stephen Sondheim's Into The Woods as its premiere performance.

What About You?
What are your memories of the Signature Theatre? Let us know what you remember!

A Famous Neighbor

2007-02-27T12:09:00.000-08:00

February marks the 45th anniversary of John Glenn's space orbit. He was one of America's original seven Mercury astronauts and orbited the Earth three times on February 10, 1962 in the capsule Friendship 7. While Alan Shepard had been the first American astronaut in space in 1960, Glenn was the first American to circle the globe. Since Glenn and his family were long-time residents of Arlington, that also makes him the first Arlingtonian to accomplish such a feat!

Drawn to Northern Virginia in 1958 by the promise of good schools, the Glenn family soon took up residence on North Harrison Street where their children simply had to cross the street to get to class at Williamsburg Junior High School.

When Glenn was sent to NASA's astronaut training at Langley Research Center in Hampton, 180 miles from Arlington, his wife Annie and the children remained in their new house and John commuted on weekends.

After John Glenn's successful orbit, he received a national hero's welcome, but his home remained in Arlington. "Even Lyndon Johnson and his wife Lady Bird were welcomed at the house for Glenn's 41st birthday party, dining on Annie's ham loaf and staying well into the night."

With thanks to Peter Golkin for his feature on John Glenn from which much of this is excerpted. His entire essay can be found in the Virginia Room.

What About You?
Do you remember Glenn's historic flight? How about the Glenn family as your neighbor? Let us know what you remember!

A Honey of a Guy

2007-02-20T12:07:00.000-08:00

Mr. Floyd A. Hawkins, Sr. was born in 1895, and first moved with his family to Arlington on a two acre plot of land in 1925. While working as a letter carrier, and later a Motor Vehicle Office Supervisor at the Washington, D.C., City Post Office, Hawkins raised and sold meat from pigs, chickens and turkeys from his Arlington farm. In 1930 he acquired his first bee hives. In the next 58 years, he was affiliated with numerous beekeeper's associations, won awards and ribbons, and conducted numerous classes in beekeeping through the Arlington 4-H. The flyer above is from one his classes.

At the age of 81, Floyd Hawkins helped start the first Arlington County Fair in 1977, and served as the Fair's treasurer for 10 years. In 1985, he was honored as a civic activist in Arlington County for over 30,000 hours of volunteer service. He was also a member of St. John's Baptist Church, the Arlington Chapter of the Full Gospel Businessmen's Fellowship, a charter member of the Y Men's Club International, the Nauck Citizen's Association, and the NAACP.

This quote his from his oral history, which patrons can read or hear in the Virginia Room:

"I started raising bees in 1930. I got two beehives and they had got mean and wild at that time, you know, because they hadn't been attended to. So I got started off with two mean beehives. . . .[T]he queen bee, she's fertile for life. If she's mated by a gentle drone, every egg that she lays will be gentle bees, you see. If she's mated with a wild drone the bees will be mean as long as she lives - she'll always lay those same eggs because she's fertile for life. So that's the way that they had gotten wild and mean, and I got them, and I got rid of the mean queen and ordered a gentle queen - and the bees became gentle.

"A colony of bees, that's one family. She's the mother of all. She can be the mother of a quarter of a million bees in her lifetime. That covers a span of about two years before she stops."

What About You?
Did you ever take a class with Floyd Hawkins? Do you remember old farms in Arlington? Let us know what you remember!

A Lesson in History

2007-02-13T12:06:00.000-08:00

When four African American students, seventh graders Gloria Thompson, Ronald Diskins, Lance Newman and Michael Jones (above, left to right), entered Stratford Junior High School (now H.B. Woodlawn) on February 2, 1959, Stratford became the first white public school in Virginia to admit black students.

In opposition to the state's plan of "massive resistance,” the Virginia NAACP developed a strategy to focus their energy first where the black population was small, and the Byrd machine weak, and it worked. Arlington, with an African American population of about five percent, fit that description. In addition, it had a strong core of black activists, as well as whites who supported their cause and also did not want the Arlington schools closed down.

On that cold winter day, half of Arlington's police force, wearing white battle helmets and equipped with gas grenades and masks, were deployed around the entire perimeter of the school grounds. Fifteen plainclothesmen were on duty inside the school building, to which only students and teachers were allowed access. Press and other media, while present in large numbers, were barred from the premises of the school. Because of the precautions taken and the careful groundwork that was laid, the day passed without serious incident.

This date, however, marked the beginning of a process, for it was not until 1971 that Arlington schools were fully integrated.

The Virginia Room holds a wide array of materials on desegregation of the county's public schools. There are several oral histories, archival collections, photographs, vertical files that include newspaper clippings, and recordings of Library events featuring students and administrators of the time.

What About You?
What do you remember about Arlington at this time? Did you go to Stratford Junior High in the late 1950s or early 1960s? Let us know what you remember!

Westover's Library

2007-01-30T12:04:00.000-08:00

Funded by a bond referendum in 1961, the Westover library, seen here in the 1970s, was opened to the public in June of 1963. Prior to this, the Westover branch, founded in 1949, was located in small rented basement rooms at 1530 N. Longfellow Street, but the needs of the community soon outgrew the space. The new location at 1800 N. Lexington Street was designed by J. Russell Bailey, who also designed the Cherrydale branch building and the original Central Library in 1961.

From the Westover Library Dedication program:

"The modern split level design permits the entrance-level circulation desk to serve both the adult area on the upper level and the children's room on the lower level. The latter opens to a grass terrace for story hour use. Full length windows on the north wall provide good light. Air-conditioning has been installed."

Local women's and civic groups planted trees and maintained flower beds on the grounds, and helped purchase new furniture and books for the shelves. The Westover Library had quickly become part of the community. However, that community has kept on growing, and the Westover branch has packed a lot of books and information in a small space to keep up with community needs. Planning is currently underway to build a larger, more modern Westover branch library.

What About You?
What do you remember about Westover library? How about other Arlington branch libraries? Do you have any photographs of those buildings? Let us know what you remember!

Mmmmm...Hot Shoppes

2007-01-23T11:59:00.000-08:00

If the phrases "chicken box for two" or "pantry pack" sound familiar to you, then it is probably safe to assume that once upon a time, you were a customer at a Hot Shoppes restaurant. A classic slice of Americana, the first Hot Shoppes was established in Washington D.C. in 1927 by J. Willard Marriott, best known for founding the Marriott Corporation. By 1960, there were 70 Hot Shoppes restaurants in seven states and the District of Columbia. Arlington boasted a number of locations, including Crystal City, Shirlington, and Columbia Pike.

The Columbia Pike location in particular became a venerable Arlington institution, providing a loyal clientele with "Southern Home-style" cooking at affordable prices for 32 years. Located in the blue and white Nassif Building at 5611 Columbia Pike, it was a self-service style cafeteria that not only offered quality food, but also served as a neighborhood gathering place where customers felt like they were treated as family and seniors could take advantage of special discount prices. The Nassif Hot Shoppe closed its doors for good on August 21, 1996.

Some Hot Shoppe trivia:

--The first Hot Shoppe started as a curbside food stand selling A&W Root Beer and tamales in 1927.

--In 1967, Hot Shoppes officially changed its name, becoming the Marriott Corporation.

--Jazz musician Duke Ellington and his band recorded seven versions of the Hot Shoppes theme song which were aired on radio as part of an advertising campaign in 1967-1968.

--The last Hot Shoppes restaurant, located in a Marlow Heights shopping mall in Washington D.C., closed on December 2, 1999.

What About You?
What do you remember about the Hot Shoppes restaurants? Let us know what you remember!

Saving the Small Stuff

2007-01-16T11:58:00.000-08:00

Although you may think a ticket stub, sign, receipt or postcard is something that you use and then throw away, these materials many times have a much larger value. These bits and pieces are called ephemera, and are vital in helping construct Arlington's history. Ephemera, as defined by the Society of American Archivists, is "materials, usually printed documents, created for a specific, limited purpose, and generally designed to be discarded after use." Ephemera is collected because of its association with a person, event or subject, such a bill signed by a famous person, a ticket stub to a nationally-known event, or, as above, showing the logo and method of advertisement for the Arlington Chamber of Commerce.

The sign above would be shown in an office or shop window, letting customers know that the business was affiliated with the Chamber of Commerce for 1949. That means they were part of a larger business community, networking with other businesses and working together on community projects. Because of the date, the sign was meant to be thrown away at the end of the year. However, its existence in the Arlington Community Archives shows the Arlington Chamber of Commerce at the time was robust and active (the sign is made of heavy board with rich colors), and had a plan to showcase and advertise membership. Although the sign was meant to be thrown away, it remains in our collection as a valuable piece of ephemera.

The Arlington Community Archives has an entire collection of ephemera, Record Group 28, Pamphlets and Ephemera, and continues to take donations of this material. To find out more, see also Ephemera: A Book on its Collection, Conservation and Use, by Chris E. Makepeace, in the Virginia Room's book collection.

What About You?
What kinds of ephemera do you have? What stories to they tell? Let us know what you remember!

The Three Sisters

2007-01-09T11:57:00.000-08:00

While they may seem quaint or even primitive by modern standards, upon their completion in 1913, the Navy's Radio Station Arlington Towers were considered to represent the height of cutting edge communications technology. In their day, "The Three Sisters" as they were known, were the second largest manmade structure in the world behind only the Eiffel Tower, with the tallest of the three standing a full 45 feet higher than the Washington Monument.

Located at the intersection of Columbia Pike and Courthouse Road, the towers were built to launch the Navy's effort to establish a worldwide communications network. Using the call letters NAA, the towers functioned to provide the first long distance radio conversation, the first transoceanic radio telephone circuit (fittingly, to a French station broadcasting from the Eiffel Tower), and served to introduce the regular broadcasts of time signals, which was important to ships at sea who relied on accurate time checks for navigational purposes.

The towers were taken down in 1941 upon the opening of National Airport as they were considered to be an aviation hazard. Today, the site at Columbia Pike and Courthouse road continues to be occupied by military communications departments, chiefly the Defense Communication Agency. There are photographs like the one above, showing the Three Sisters and cavalry exercises from Fort Myer, and you can find out more information on the towers using newspapers on microfilm, all in the Virginia Room.

What About You?
What do you remember about the Arlington radio towers? What was early radio like in the Washington area? Let us know what you remember!

The Little Tea House

2007-01-02T11:56:00.000-08:00

The Little Tea House Restaurant, located on Arlington Ridge Road, opened in 1920 and remained there until 1963 when it was demolished to make room for a high-rise apartment building. During its heyday, many famous people ate at the restaurant, including Eleanor Roosevelt, Amelia Earhart, and Oliver Wendell Holmes. Known for its lovely gardens and views, it was also one of the first places in Arlington where racially mixed groups could meet. Gertrude Crocker, who started the restaurant, was active in women's issues throughout her life and started the restaurant so she could be independent and her own "boss."

When Mrs. Crocker leased, and later sold, the business to Gertrude Allison, it became known for a period as Allison's Little Tea House.

The Virginia Room's Oral History Project includes an interview with Ellen C. Puterbaugh, daughter of Gertrude Crocker, and the Arlington Community Archives has a photograph collection, PG 215, of images of the Little Tea House dating primarily from the 1920s.

What About You?
Do you remember the Little Tea House? Did you ever eat there? Let us know what you remember!

A House Fit For A King

2006-12-26T11:54:00.000-08:00

In 1888, John Walter Clark, originally of New Jersey, bought a plot of land in the Clarendon area on what is now Lee Highway. On it, he built the Fort Strong Villa, near the remnants of Fort Strong, a 21-room mansion that was one of the biggest homes in Arlington County. Clark owned the White House, a well-known gambling house in Rosslyn, and made loans to local merchants and land owners; eventually, large portions of Rosslyn, then known as the bad part of town, ended up in his hands.

Situated at 2627 Lee Highway, Clark used his fortune to make his home truly grand. Annoyed by the dust and dirt of what was then called the Georgetown and Fairfax Turnpike, he lined the road from Rosslyn to his driveway with crushed oyster shells, an early form of paving. Clark frequently held large banquets at his home (with the help of a dumbwaiter installed in the house) and had a separate building on the current Cleveland Street for his retinue of servants.

John Walter Clark died in 1914, and his widow sold Fort Strong Villa to another family in 1921. The property eventually became a fancy guest house for people looking to escape downtown Washington during the summer. However, the property was demolished in 1968. The Virginia Room, however, holds several photographs of Fort Strong Villa and you can read more about it in Eleanor Templeman's book "Arlington Heritage."

What About You?
What do you remember about Fort Strong Villa, or Rosslyn before 1960? Let us know what you remember!

The Dudley Family Home

2006-12-19T11:53:00.000-08:00

The Dudley family owned a large home and the land that is now Cherrydale Library and the surrounding area. Besides this house on Military Road, the Dudley's owned a summer home in Piney Point, North Carolina. Their photograph collection in the Arlington Community Archives shows many views of the house, the extended family, businesses in Cherrydale along what is now Lee Highway, and even a Shriner's Convention in Washington, DC.

What About You?
Do you remember the Dudley house? What are your memories of Cherrydale? Let us know what you remember!

Where Are We?

2006-12-12T11:51:00.000-08:00

The Virginia Room needs your help again! The photograph above was taken around 1937. The signpost on the far right reads "Clarendon" in the center and "Ballston" on the bottom, but we have not identified the road or neighborhood where this photograph was taken. The original photograph is here in the Virginia Room at the Central Library, if you are interested in taking a closer look.

The Virginia Room holds many photographs where the people and places are unknown. The staff always welcomes input on these unidentified works.

What About You?
Do you recognize this intersection? Do you have old photographs of a similar location? Let us know what you remember!

The Rucker Legacy

2006-12-05T11:49:00.000-08:00

For a century the company called Rucker Reality has been part of the Arlington business community. The company was founded in 1906 by George H. Rucker who was the county clerk of Alexandria County from 1899 until his death in 1919. Rucker and his wife Elizabeth began purchasing land in the county in 1899, and by 1906 they had acquired a large tract that he filed for subdividing as "Rucker's Addition to Clarendon." That same year Rucker started an insurance business and was a founding officer of Virginia Real Estate Title Company. By 1909, the company had grown and he asked two of his brothers-in-law, Ashton C. Jones and N.A. Rees to join him in the business.

When George Rucker died suddenly in 1919, at the height of his business career, Ashton Jones replaced Rucker in managing the business and in 1920 created the subdivision Ashton Heights. The company was also involved in developing many areas such as Lee Heights, Cherrydale, Tara-Leeway Heights, Ballston and the Westover Shopping Center.

Over the years the company diversified and eventually became the George H. Rucker Realty Corporation. Today, all ownership shares of the privately held company are still owned entirely by descendents of the founders, except for some stock option incentive shares held by the company president and CEO. The Virginia Room holds copies of many important Rucker Realty documents and has some photos of their Clarendon offices.

What About You?
Did you or your family have dealings with Rucker Realty? Let us know what you remember!

Keeping the County Healthy

2006-11-28T11:39:00.000-08:00

The Department of Health began operating in 1919 and is still functioning today as the Arlington County Department of Human Services. In 1919, the Arlington County Department of Health was one of the first full-time county departments for health services in the nation. Unique for this type of county service, the Department received most of its funding from private rather than public resources.

The Department of Health was organized to improve the county's state of public health by enforcing laws regulating sanitation and disease. Over the years, the Department evolved into a social agency serving the community and enhancing the quality of life through many local social programs.

Researchers interested in the early development and organization of municipal health systems and health care services should find this collection (RG 21) from the library's Community Archives very valuable. The photograph above, a well house inspection from 1942, is from that collection. Information about RG 21 can be found in the library catalog and a full finding aid is available in the Virginia Room.

What About You?
What do you remember about the Health Department? How did you interact with them? Let us know what you remember!

Home Cooking

2006-11-21T11:33:00.000-08:00

The first observance of Thanksgiving in America actually took place in Virginia. However, it was religious in nature and involved no form of feasting. On December 4, 1619, a group of 38 English settlers arrived at Berkeley Plantation on the James River, in the area of what is now known as Charles City, Virginia. The charter of the group required that the day of arrival be observed yearly "as a day of Thanksgiving to God." (In the fall of 1621, the first Thanksgiving in New England was celebrated in Plymouth, Massachusetts and involved much feasting which lasted for three days.)

Today, of course, feasting is very much a part of the holiday. For your Thanksgiving dinner you might enjoy the following recipes from The Virginia House-wife by Mary Randolph, 1824, using the traditional sweet potato.

Sweet Potato Pudding:

Boil one pound of sweet potatoes very tender, rub them while hot through a colander, add six eggs, well beaten, three quarters of a pound of powdered sugar, three quarters of butter, and some grated nutmeg and lemon-peel, with a glass of brandy; put a paste in the dish, and when the pudding is done, sprinkle the top with sugar, and cover it with bits of citron.

Sweet Potato Buns:

Boil and mash a potato, rub into it as much flour as will make it like bread, add spice and sugar to your taste, with a spoonful of yeast; when it has risen well, work in a piece of butter; bake it in small rolls, to be eaten hot with butter.

The photograph above is of a children's cooking class sponsored by Arlington's Department of Recreation and Parks.

What About You?
What do you remember about Thanksgiving in Arlington? What was on your table? Let us know what you remember!

All Aboard

2006-11-14T11:32:00.000-08:00

Much as it is today, finding the best and most efficient methods of getting from one location to another was a vital concern to the residents of Arlington over 100 years ago. The Washington-Virginia Railway and the Washington and Old Dominion Railway traversed Northern Virginia and the District of Columbia, providing passengers with a variety of options that could take them to their desired location via any number of routes. Whether one chose to travel as far as Bluemont on the Washington and Old Dominion Railway, or opt instead for more localized transport via the Mount Vernon Line, passengers were offered a wide range of alternatives.

The photograph above is of the Clarendon train station, ca. 1918. It was located at the hub of commercial Clarendon, at the intersection of Fairfax Drive and Wilson Boulevard. The station building still stands today at Clarendon Circle. The Virginia Room holds many photographs of trains, trolleys and the stations they served, as well as railroad maps showing track routes and stops.

From their inception in 1892, peaking in the 1920's, through to their eventual decline in the 1940's, these routes were of vital importance to the communities they served and continue to trace paths not only of travel and transport, but of a history and heritage that is vital to an understanding of the development and growth of Arlington.

What About You?
What are your memories of rail, train, and trolley travel in Arlington? Let us know what you remember!

Cracking the Code

2006-11-07T11:31:00.000-08:00

Arlington Hall, located at Route 50 and George Mason Drive, was a girls finishing school founded in 1927. The school suffered financial problems in the 1930s, and finally became a non-profit institution in 1940. In 1942 the facility faced condemnation and was taken over by the Secretary of War under the Second War Powers Act. The property was deemed essential for the war effort, and the school became the headquarters of the Army Signal Corps, later the Intelligence and Security Command; at this time it became known as Arlington Hall Station.

Arlington Hall Station was one of only two primary cryptography operations in the United States during World War II, concentrating mostly on Japanese codes. Along with the Pentagon and other war agencies, Arlington Hall Station provided employment for many women who came to the area looking for work, as you can see in the photograph above.

In the post-war years, Arlington Hall Station continued to do work dealing with espionage and diplomacy. It housed a large portion of the Defense Intelligence Agency, founded in 1961, and today the National Foreign Affairs Training Center and the Army National Guard Readiness Center operate out of Arlington Hall. The Arlington Community Archives holds materials pertaining to the site, including histories and photographs, and holds several yearbooks and other documents dating to Arlington Hall's time as a girls school.

What About You?
What do you remember about Arlington Hall? What was Arlington like during World War II? Let us know what you remember!

"Voting Here"

2006-10-31T11:30:00.000-08:00

In 1957, there were 46,206 registered voters in Arlington County, and there were 37 election precincts. 25 years before, when the first County Board members were elected under the current County Manager system of government on November 3rd, 1931, only 6,700 people voted in 11 districts around the county.

How did Arlingtonians vote in the 1950s? Voting machines! The photograph above shows county employees moving voting machines in August, 1956. The Public Buildings Division of the Department of Public Service had 32 employees during the 1956/1957 financial year. Besides caring for all county buildings, except public schools, the unit handled the maintenance, set up and storage for all 110 of the county's voting machines.

The information here can be found in the 1956/1957 Arlington County Annual Report. These reports, found in the Virginia Room, give statistics and descriptions of all departments of the county government from the 1940s into the 1980s. They provide a wonderful snapshot of Arlington County for any given year.

What About You?
Do you remember elections in Arlington? What was it like to vote? Let us know what you remember!

Halloween Party!

2006-10-24T11:29:00.000-07:00

From an oral history with Tally Bowman, speaking of a neighborhood woman who was a member of the Women's Christian Temperance Union who gave "interesting" Halloween parties:

"She used to give Halloween parties to all the children in the neighborhood and show them these movies on people drunk…they were silent movies. And these men [in the films] would get their paychecks and go to a saloon, you know, and then go out…and our kids had never seen anything like that and…this was trying to teach them not to do this sort of thing I guess. And it was a couple of Halloweens before we found out. She had lots of cookies and lots of punch, that's the only thing [the kids] would talk about . . .

"Then one year a friend of Mrs. Bowman's said to her, 'Well, you know what happened at our house last night?' Bill, her oldest boy…about seven years old…her husband was late coming home…he was a lawyer in the government and he had real high job over there. She said, 'Well, I wonder what happened to Daddy?' And he said, 'Well, maybe he stopped by the saloon and got some beers.' And she said, 'Where did you get that from?' So on questioning him and feeding him some ice cream and cake, she found out that he found it out over there at the Halloween party!

"When the neighbor who had been giving the 'parties' was confronted she thought what happened was great, but she quit giving the parties because she refused to give up showing the movies, and her 'secret' was out! Everyone, however, according to Mrs. Bowman, had a good laugh over it!"

The quote above is from our oral history collection, which you can find in the library catalog. Oral history tapes and transcripts are available in the Virginia Room.

What About You?
What kind of Halloween parties did you attend in Arlington? What was trick-or-treating like? Let us know what you remember!

Arlington's "Down Town"

2006-10-17T11:27:00.000-07:00

In 1900 when Clarendon was established as a village, it consisted of 25 acres intersected by Wilson Boulevard and bounded by Jackson Street on the west and Highland and Herndon Streets on the east.

An electric trolley line furnished transportation, and the Clarendon Citizens Association organized a firefighting force in 1909.

By the 1940's, when this photograph was taken, Clarendon was Arlington's "downtown" area, the place to shop, with not only Yeatman's Hardware, pictured in the upper right, but also a Sears, J.C. Penney's and Woolworth's in the main Wilson Boulevard corridor. This photograph is where Wilson Boulevard merges with N. Hartford and N. Highland Streets.

What About You?
What was Clarendon like in the 1940s and 1950s? How has it changed over the years? Let us know what you remember!

We've Been Published!

2006-10-10T11:26:00.000-07:00

Zachary Schrag, an assistant professor of history at George Mason University, used materials in the Virginia Room and the Arlington Community Archives while writing The Great Society Subway: A History of the Washington Metro. The book is a general history of the Washington metro system, and believes the system grew out of the Great Society beliefs of the 1960s and 1970s. Above is a diagram used in the book, which can be found in the Virginia Room's vertical file. This set of folders holds clippings, brochures and other ephemera on a wide variety of subjects about Arlington and the state of Virginia. The Virginia Room also holds many county publications from throughout the 20th century, covering topics such as population, finances, community planning and education, which also helped with the author's research.

Congratulations to Mr. Schrag on the publication of his book!

What About You?
What you do remember about the creation of the Washington Metro? What was traveling in the area like before it? Let us know what you remember!

The Ashton Heights Women's Club

2006-10-03T11:23:00.000-07:00

The Ashton Heights Women's Club originally started as a sewing circle that met near the Clarendon area in 1923. It only took a year for membership to increase so much that the members decided to establish a women's club instead. Since there were 35 charter members of the club, the women decided they needed a permanent meeting place, and went to local real estate developer Ashton Jones. Jones not only provided a lot on N. Irving Street, near Pershing Drive, but also helped obtain a loan to purchase the lot and build a clubhouse. To show their appreciation, the new club named themselves after Jones and "his" neighborhood, becoming the Ashton Heights Women's Club. Over the years, the Ashton Heights Women's Club gained recognition for their work in the community. They organized bake sales, pot-luck dinners and garage sales, and let local youth and church groups hold dances and socials in their building. They also sponsored youth scholarships.

In 1927, the club joined other women's clubs in the county to form the Federation of Women's Clubs of Arlington County, which later was affiliated with the Virginia Federation of Women's Clubs and the national General Federation of Women's Clubs. Scrapbook contests, where individual clubs created scrapbooks covering their activities in a given year, were sponsored by all three federations. The scrapbook above is for the 1940-1941 club year, and has a watercolor drawing of the clubhouse on the cover.

In 2005, the club, down to a handful of older members, disbanded and sold their property on N. Irving Street. Their scrapbooks and other records were donated to the Arlington Community Archives, along with a generous monetary donation to preserve ten of their scrapbooks. The scrapbooks selected for preservation all have hand-decorated pages and fancy lettering, making these scrapbooks not just chronicles of the Ashton Heights Women's Club's activities, but beautiful artifacts in their own right.

What About You?
Were you or someone you know a member of the Ashton Heights Women's Club? Did you attend any of their events? What about other local women's clubs? Let us know what you remember!

50 Years of Education, 50 Years of Good Friends

2006-09-26T11:21:00.000-07:00

2006 is the fiftieth anniversary of the first graduating class from Wakefield High School. Originally built to house 2,000 students, an article in the December 1955 School Board Journal described the building as "an easily maintainable, functionally designed building that cleverly utilizes local materials."

In the first PTA Bulletin (September 1953), the staff was described as follows:

77 members hold BA's
33 members hold MA's
2 members hold PhD's

Average number of years experience in the profession: 6

The goal for the first PTA night was 1,000 members and those who wished to join were asked to "bring pencils, as well as the correct amount of money for dues - $1 for each family or 75 cents for an individual parent or teacher."

The Virginia Room holds an almost complete run of Wakefield High School yearbooks, and the Community Archives holds PTA and school records, including student-created posters for the 1970-71 school year. The Virginia Room is also the official repository for the Arlington County School Board records.

Alumni and friends will be on hand for the Virginia Room's "Arlington Reunion" program Friday, September 29, at 10 a.m. in the Central Library auditorium to share their memories of
Wakefield. If you have stories to share come join us for the program!

What About You?
Did you go to Wakefield High School? Let us know what you remember!

Breaking Barriers

2006-09-19T11:19:00.000-07:00

Herman J. Obermayer, former owner of the Northern Virginia Sun and first openly Jewish member of the Washington Golf and Country Club in the twentieth century:

"I joined in '77 so a year or so earlier I was contacted by two friends of mine who were prominent in the community who I knew who said would I like to become a member, that they thought it was about time to have a Jewish member and I could afford it and I was prominent and blah, blah.

"I said yes if there would not be a fight. It didn't mean that much. . . But if they wanted me I thought it would add a dimension to my life and I'd be glad to if I wasn't going to be in a fight.

"Within a month or two they contacted me and said there wouldn't be. These friends of mine who shepherded me through reported that there was a single member of the board who was opposed to having a Jewish member and that most of the leaders felt very positively that it was time for Washington Golf and Country Club to have Jewish members and if I was willing to be a member they would like to have me.

"I had the particularly gratifying experience of having seven or eight sponsoring letters from people when they heard this was coming up wanted to get involved in supporting us. I'd like to believe it was because we were so charming but I really believe its because they really thought it was time for Washington Golf and Country Club not to be known as a place that excluded Jews. And we have now belonged 26 or 27 years and I have never had a single question about anything. In the meantime I indicated that I hoped I wouldn't be a token, that they would take in other Jews. I didn't make any conditions. Within a very few years they took in several."

The image above was taken from a Franklin Survey map book of Arlington, published in 1935. The quote above is from our oral history collection, which you can find in the library catalog. Survey and plat map books, and oral history tapes and transcripts are available in the Virginia Room.

What About You?
What do you remember about Washington Golf and Country Club? What are your experiences with the Jewish community in Arlington? Let us know what you remember!

"The Magazine"

2006-09-12T11:14:00.000-07:00

Interested in reading about the history of your neighborhood, churches, civil war forts and other historic sites in Arlington? Did you know that in earlier times Arlington County was part of the District of Columbia? When and why did Arlington adopt the county manager form of government? When did Sears' mail-order houses first appear in Arlington?

The Arlington Historical Magazine will help you answer these questions and discover other interesting facts about the history of Arlington County. Published annually since October 1957 by the Arlington Historical Society, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary this fall, the Magazine is a wonderful resource for researchers and history enthusiasts. Issues typically feature writings about the history of buildings, roads, railways, airports, Civil War camps and forts, and civic leaders in Arlington, or feature recollections of longtime Arlingtonians. Illustrations, sketches, maps and photographs often support the research and add to the reader's education and enjoyment. Articles submitted to this journal of scholarly research are evaluated by an editorial board. The Virginia Room has a complete run of the Magazine, with an index created by staff.

What About You?
Have you attended a Historical Society function, or visited their home on Arlington Ridge Road? Let us know what you remember!

School Days

2006-09-05T11:13:00.000-07:00

Stewart Elementary School, erected in 1938, was located at 2400 N. Underwood Street, and named for Charles E. Stewart, a noted civic leader of East Falls Church. It was rare to name a school in Arlington for a living person, but an exception was made in Mr. Stewart's case. At the school's dedication, Dr. Henry Knowles of the East Falls Church Citizens Association, said ". . . this school was not named for Mr. Stewart so much for what he did as for what he is. . . this school was named for character."

In 1953 Tuckahoe Elementary School was built nearby at 6550 N. 26th Street. Third and fourth graders stayed at the old Stewart school while kindergartners, 1st, 2nd, 5th and 6th graders attended Tuckahoe. Students of both schools visited the library, attended assemblies and had hot lunches at Tuckahoe. In 1971, Stewart school was given to the Recreation Department. Today, the former site of Stewart School is Charles E. Stewart Park with a multi-use field, playground basketball court, gazebo and wooded grassy area.

What About You?
Did you go to Stewart or Tuckahoe Elementary? Did you use Stewart when it belonged to the Recreation Department? Let us know what you remember!

The Flying Machine

2006-08-31T11:12:00.000-07:00

In 1908, Orville Wright arrived in Arlington to show his "flying machine" to military officers at Fort Myer. The army had requested bids for a plane that could hold two men and fly for at least one hour for observation and reconnaissance purposes. Orville and his brother Wilbur built the machine and Orville brought it to Fort Myer for a demonstration. Orville made several flights in the first two weeks of September, setting new endurance records and impressing his audience, which included interested members of the public. However, on his last flight on the 17th, the plane crashed. Wright was injured and Lt. Thomas E. Selfridge was killed. The Selfridge Gate of Arlington National Cemetery now stands near the crash site.

Despite the crash, the US Army was interested in Wright's machine. The brothers made improvements to the plane when it was repaired, and did a new round of flights at Fort Myer during the summer of 1909. The new machine was bought by the Army and called Signal Corps Airplane No. 1.

Silent film footage of a 1908 flight have been recently found at Fort Myer. The Virginia Room holds maps and reports documenting Fort Myer at the start of the 20th century.

What About You?
Were you or a family member stationed at Fort Meyer? Did you ever attend one of their public events? Let us know what you remember!

Ready, Set, GO!!!!!

2006-08-22T11:11:00.000-07:00

For many years after its inception in 1946, the Optimist Club of Arlington sponsored a kids coaster car race in the summer. The race shown here took place on August 19, 1950. All the participants received a t-shirt, and many went home with ribbons, but it is unknown if the boys built their own cars, or where exactly the race took place.

Optimist Clubs are local groups under the mantle of Optimist International that serve youth by providing scholarships and activities that promote good citizenship and good character. Today, the Arlington Optimist Club holds essay and oratorical contests, has a large Christmas tree sale, and sponsors many youth sports teams.

The photograph above comes from a collection put together for a 50th anniversary publication. Many photos of the Arlington Optimist Club's membership and activities, as well as newsletters, directories and other archival material, can be found in the Arlington Community Archives. Finding aids to the collection can be found in the Virginia Room.

What About You?
Are you or a family member an Optimist? Did you participate or attend in any Optimist Club-sponsored activities, such as the coaster car race? Let us know what you remember!

Floating Repairs

2006-08-15T11:09:00.000-07:00

The photograph above shows members of Arlington's Department of Public Works repairing the Chain Bridge water main in 1987. Today, the Department of Environmental Services (DES) would be doing these repairs. DES looks after the county's transportation system, its environment, and its capital investment, providing maintenance and daily operations. This organizational change took place in 2004.

There are four water mains in the Chain Bridge area. Three pipes, built in the 1920s and the 1940s, are attached to the bridge itself. A fourth pipe, 48" in diameter and made of pre-stressed concrete, was built underneath the Potomac river bottom in 1967. This pipe is probably what is being repaired in the photograph. The Chain Bridge mains provide water for a large portion of the County. When a newly replaced above-ground main burst on March 12, 2006, over 100,000 residents were affected.

The Virginia Room holds many photographs depicting the day-to-day work of Arlington employees. It also holds some water and sewage records from the old Department of Public Works, dating from the 1920s to the 1980s.

What About You?
Do you remember losing your water in March 2006? How about losing water or electricity at other times? How did Arlington employees help you? Let us know what you remember!

The Virginia Room Needs Help!

2006-08-08T11:08:00.000-07:00

The Virginia Rooms holds dozens of photographs with unidentified people and places. The photograph above is one of those. Taken probably in the late 1970s or 1980s, it is of several homes along an unknown street in Arlington. There are clues that the houses could be located in the Courtlands or Colonial Terrace neighborhoods, but we are not sure. If the homes in this photograph are familiar to you, please contact the Virginia Room.

What About You?
Do you recognize anything in this photograph? What do you remember about the Courtlands and Colonial Terrace neighborhoods? Let us know what you remember!

Arlington Gardens: the 1930s and the 1980s

2006-08-01T11:05:00.000-07:00

The 1930s
Barbara Ball Savage grew up at the Glebe House (listed on the National Register of Historic Places). Her father was Frank Ball, Sr., who served as both Commonwealth Attorney and State Senator for many years. This quote is from her oral history. The recording and transcription are available in the Virginia Room.

"Oh, Daddy always had a big vegetable garden and then he would get in some contest with somebody down at the courthouse, who was going to have the first tomato by the 4th of July, who was going to have the first ear of corn. And this kidding went on all the time over the garden. But it sure tasted good. And he would tell Mother to get the kettle boiling and then he'd go out and pull the corn. There wasn't five minutes between the time it was pulled and it was in the water. Which kept the sweetness.

Oh, we had a big vegetable garden. I can remember my brother Frank talking about how they used dynamite to break up the soil --- it was such hard clay there – to plant the trees in the orchard. And in the summer, I never had applesauce that wasn't homemade applesauce until I was married. . . I make damson preserves because that's what my mother and grandmother made. And they used to go out to Vienna to get the Damsons. They'd send Frank out on the little train, the trolley that went out to Vienna. And he'd come home with two buckets of Damsons and then my mother would make Damson preserves for the winter."

The 1980s
The Arlington County Fair, which celebrated its 30th anniversary in 2006, gives awards for exemplary flowers, fruits and vegetables grown in home gardens. The photograph above, taken by County Photographer Debbie Ernst, shows a young winner at the 1986 fair. Gardening is alive and well in Arlington!

What About You?
Did you cultivate a garden in your yard? Where did you and your family go to get fresh produce? Let us know!

THE WEENIE BEENIE

2006-07-25T11:04:00.000-07:00

Did you know that the Weenie Beenie hotdog stand, located at the intersection of Shirlington Road and S. Four Mile Run Drive, was originally owned by pool hustler William "Weenie Beenie"
Staton, who died in 2006? Bill Staton was a world renowned pool player and an inaugural member of the One Pocket Hall of Fame. The start-up money for the purchase of the first hotdog stand was the result of a gambling trip to Arkansas in 1960 where he won the $27,000 which in turn became the seed money for this Arlington institution. Originally one of several, the Arlington site is the only one remaining. The stand was notable enough to be the title of song by the Foo Fighters, fronted by Dave Grohl, who grew up in South Arlington and Alexandria.

Staton performed trick shots in several movies, including "The Color of Money," and is also credited with giving "Minnesota Fats" his name. When he appeared on the television show "I've Got a Secret" his secret was that he could sink all balls on the table with one shot, considered quite a feat in the early 1960's. Staton also started Jack & Jill Cue Clubs, family oriented pool establishments, one of which operated 24 hours a day in Arlington for 14 years until Bill retired to Myrtle Beach, SC in 1981.

What About You?
What do you remember about going to the Weenie Beenie at Shirlington Road? Do you remember the other locations? How about playing pool in Arlington, especially at the Jack& Jill Cue Club? If you remember, let us know!

A GENEROUS DONATION

2006-07-18T11:01:00.000-07:00

The Virginia Room recently received a wonderful donation of two 1936 Sanborn atlases of Arlington. Thanks to the generosity of Eric Dobson and two other anonymous donors, these maps are now available to visitors to the Virginia Room.

Sanborn maps are greatly prized by researchers. As they were originally designed for fire insurance assessment, they are color-coded and relate the location and use of buildings, as well as the materials employed in their construction. In addition, they indicate which city/county utilities, such as water and fire service, were available, the width and names of streets, and house and block numbers. As such they are a wonderful source of information regarding the structure and use of buildings in American communities.

The Virginia Room is greatly indebted to these three generous benefactors!
To see these as well as numerous other maps: topographic, street, survey, neighborhood, etc. visit the Virginia Room at the Central Library.

What About You?
Do you or any of your family members own old maps of Arlington? Do you remember when your house got new utilities, or if you changed addresses without moving your home? If you do, let us know!

RIDING THE SHOOT-THE-CHUTES

2006-07-11T10:57:00.000-07:00

Luna Park was an amusement park that opened in Arlington (then known as Alexandria County) in 1906. It was situated along Four Mile Run at South Glebe Road and South Eads St., where the county's water pollution plant is now located. Brochures described it as "A Fairyland of Amusement Overlooking the Beautiful Potomac" and "an architectural fashion plate." It offered many attractions, including rides, a "shoot the chutes," a ballroom, band stand, a Temple of Mystery, moving picture theater, and even slot machines!

The exact date the park closed is not known, but some years later a fire did extensive damage to the park, and the owner dismantled it around 1915.

The Virginia Room owns a Sanborn fire insurance map (see detail above) of Luna Park, which shows the locations and sizes of its buildings. There are also several photographs in the Community Archives of Luna Park's attractions.

What About You?
What kinds of fairs and amusement parks have you attended in Arlington? Has a family member ever told you about their trip to Luna Park? If so, let us know!

LET'S PLAY BALL!!!

2006-06-30T10:23:00.000-07:00

Above is a 13-and-under boys baseball team sponsored by Arlington County's Negro Recreation Section. From 1948 to 1962, the Department of Recreation and Parks had a Negro Recreation Section headed by Earnest C. Johnson. The section sponsored sports teams, classes in dance and other arts, and put on children's theater performances. It also held pageants, parades and other all-ages events. In 1962, the county's recreational activities and parks desegregated, but Johnson stayed with the department for many years afterwards. Johnson collected photographs of his time leading the Negro Recreation Section, and they were donated to the Virginia Room in 2001.

What About You?
Did you participate in any of the activities sponsored by the Negro Recreation Section? Do you remember Earnest Johnson? If you did, let us know!