East Falls Church

East Falls Church (HM11VQ)

Location: Arlington, VA 22205 Arlington County
Buy Virginia State flags at Flagstore.com!
Country: United States of America
Buy United States of America flags at Flagstore.com!

N 38° 53.212', W 77° 9.661'

  • 0 likes
  • 0 check ins
  • 0 favorites
  • 634 views
Inscription
In the 1700s, Falls Church began along two Indian trails and included large farms anchored by an Anglican church. Several taverns and inns served as resting spots for travelers on their way to or from Leesburg, Virginia. By the 1840s, Falls Church became a village and continued progressing with the completion of the Alexandria-Leesburg turnpike, which increased the opportunity for farmers to sell goods to larger markets. East Falls Church, which developed on the eastern redge of the village, was part of the land ceded to the federal government for the creation of Washington, D.C. in 1791, but returned to Virginia in 1847.

In 1859, the Alexandria, Loudoun, and Hampshire Railroad (later owned by the Washington and Old Dominion Railroad) completed the line from Alexandria to Leesburg with a station on the western edge of Falls Church. In the 1870s, the Washington and Ohio Railroad, the subsequent owners, constructed the East Falls Church station. The railroad provided access to the District of Columbia while insulating the community from the urban lower classes who could not afford the cost of commuting. One upper class residence, the Eastman-Fenwick House, was built in 1876 and is among several still standing in East Falls Church.

East Falls Church experienced another burst of development with the arrival of the Washington, Arlington, and Falls Church electric streetcar offering service from East Falls Church to Rosslyn in 1896. Within ten years, the streetcar offered a cheap, nine-mile route to the District of Columbia, and combined with low land and house prices, transformed the area into a bedroom commuter community. As a result, Isaac Crossman estate and other surrounding farmlands were subdivided into residential developments featuring frame houses. East Falls Church also developed into a vibrant commercial center offering a wide range of shops and services, including a post office, bank, lumber yards, hardware store, livery stable, pharmacy, grocery store, and restaurants.

In the 1930s, citizens of East Falls Church petitioned the courts for exclusion from the corporate limits of Falls Church and to be considered only a part of Arlington County. Falls Church officials protested, claiming the town would lose sixty percent of its business district, thirty percent of its land, and twenty percent of its population. In 1936, the Virginia Supreme Court ruled in favor of the citizens of East Falls Church, and the resultant separation created a new sense of eastward expansion towards Arlington. An influx of federal employees in the 1930s led to the subdivision of the remaining rural farmland between East Falls Church and the rest of Arlington.

A dramatic change to East Falls Church occurred in the 1970s and the 1980s. In order to support an expanding population and encourage a new commuter population in Northern Virginia, the historic business district of East Falls Church was leveled to make way for Interstate 66, though a small automotive and industrial area remained on either side of Lee Highway.

For additional information, visit the Arlington-East Falls Church Civic Association's website.
Details
HM NumberHM11VQ
Tags
Placed ByArlington, Virginia
Marker ConditionNo reports yet
Date Added Saturday, October 11th, 2014 at 4:14am PDT -07:00
Pictures
Sorry, but we don't have a picture of this historical marker yet. If you have a picture, please share it with us. It's simple to do. 1) Become a member. 2) Adopt this historical marker listing. 3) Upload the picture.
Locationbig map
UTM (WGS84 Datum)18S E 312566 N 4306441
Decimal Degrees38.88686667, -77.16101667
Degrees and Decimal MinutesN 38° 53.212', W 77° 9.661'
Degrees, Minutes and Seconds38° 53' 12.72" N, 77° 9' 39.66" W
Driving DirectionsGoogle Maps
Area Code(s)703, 571
Closest Postal AddressAt or near 2945-2947 Washington and Old Dominion Trail, Arlington VA 22205, US
Alternative Maps Google Maps, MapQuest, Bing Maps, Yahoo Maps, MSR Maps, OpenCycleMap, MyTopo Maps, OpenStreetMap

Is this marker missing? Are the coordinates wrong? Do you have additional information that you would like to share with us? If so, check in.

Nearby Markersshow on map
Check Ins  check in   |    all

Have you seen this marker? If so, check in and tell us about it.

Comments 0 comments

Maintenance Issues
  1. Is this marker part of a series?
  2. What historical period does the marker represent?
  3. What historical place does the marker represent?
  4. What type of marker is it?
  5. What class is the marker?
  6. What style is the marker?
  7. Does the marker have a number?
  8. What year was the marker erected?
  9. This marker needs at least one picture.
  10. Can this marker be seen from the road?
  11. Is the marker in the median?