Places – Falls Church
Turn of the century town boosters imagined Falls Church as a quaint village with suburban amenities, all within commuting distance of Washington, D.C. As such, local leaders and residents promoted the uniqueness of their community and implemented policies that rewrote the landscape along racial lines. A 1903 exposé in the Washington Times characterized Falls Church as a “quaint suburb,” a “picturesque town” and a “pretty Virginia village.” 1 Over two decades later, a promotional brochure described Falls Church as “a pleasant town… with tree-shaded streets and broad lawns giving it a comfortable home-like appearance.” 2 What resulted from this vision and its implementation was a town that catered primarily to white, middle-class families, pushing out almost all African Americans and leaving little room for low-income residents. 3
Located over six miles from Washington, D.C., Falls Church first worked to support the development of new transportation technologies to make commuting a possibility. In 1859, the Alexandria, Loudoun and Hampshire Railroad provided rail service to and from Falls Church, with plans to expand westward. The Civil War interrupted train service, but the town’s first commuters, mostly white civil servants and farmers, appeared by the 1870s. 4 While streetcars and later buses and automobiles led to suburban development, Falls Church’s white leadership and residents continued to view the community as a small-town.
The intersection of Broad and Washington Streets in Falls Church, Virginia, 1907 (left); Elliot Store in Falls Church, 1920 (right). Notice the electrical lines in both photographs. Railroad and streetcar tracks also flanked the Elliot Store. Courtesy, City of Falls Church.
Falls Church’s first subdivisions catered to commuters, having been developed in the northern section of the town in close proximity to both its railroad and streetcar lines. In 1890, for instance, developers used the railroad as a selling point in Sherwood, Falls Church’s first major subdivision. 5 The majority of Falls Church’s development, however, occurred in the early twentieth century prior to World War II. 6 These subdivisions were located along an expanding network of roads, with the expectation that potential homeowners would commute to work by bus or automobile. By the 1920s, developers also used race-based covenants, which, at the time, the real estate industry argued would protect home values. 7 Southgate, bifurcated by the boundary with Fairfax County, provided small lots to Black residents and was one of the few African American subdivisions in Northern Virginia created by a white developer. 8
Falls Church’s leaders also worked to implement housing and land use policies to control development. Some strategies used were extraordinary. For instance, the town’s state representative convinced Virginia’s General Assembly in 1890 to retrocede to Fairfax County the portion of Falls Church territory where most of it’s Black residents lived . 9 Twenty-five years later, Falls Church passed a segregation district ordinance that gave local officials the power to decide where Black and white residents could rent or own a home. Black residents protested and ultimately a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Buchanan vs. Warley (1917) made such segregation districts illegal. 10
By the 1920s and 1930s, Falls Church also turned to restrictive covenants and land use zoning, similar to other jurisdictions throughout the United States. In 1922, Henry C. Birge, a local realtor and developer, inserted restrictive covenants into the deeds or his new subdivision, Woodland. 11 Located near the train and streetcar stations, Woodland was to be a middle-class, “Caucasian-only” subdivision. At least twenty-four subdivisions constructed in Falls Church between the 1920s and 1950s included similar language. 12
A land use zoning ordinance, first passed in 1934, empowered the town council to designate areas of commercial, industrial, and residential land use. A report issued prior to the ordinance’s passage noted that white residents wanted town leaders to protect Falls Church’s “community of homes” with its “trees, large building lots, and attractive residential streets.” They feared that without some kind of governmental oversight, “manufacturing or commercial plants” would be erected in residential neighborhoods. When the town council approved its land use zoning ordinance, it prioritized single family lots, favoring development of such for white, middle-class families. 13
Advertisement for the Ellison Heights Subdivision, a small portion of which is located in present-day Fairfax County, Evening Star , 1921. Notice Falls Church’s bucolic description along with its suburban amenities, including churches, schools, and public transportation. The middle of the advertisement includes the phrase, “Restricted to the Caucasian Race.” Courtesy, Chronicling America, Library of Congress.
The result of these policies and practices, combined with the vision of white leaders and residents, meant that Falls Church primarily catered to one demographic group during the first half of the twentieth century: white, middle-class families . Data from the 1950 U.S. Census shows that only 1.8% of Falls Church’s population identified as African American. In contrast, the overall average percentage of African Americans in the state was around 22%. 14
It would require substantial changes in the way that Falls Church operated if it wanted to become an inclusive community.
In their own words…
Read excerpts from oral histories to learn more about how Falls Church residents remember their community.
1 Falls Church, Va., Washington’s Quaint Suburb,” Washington Times June 28, 1903.
2 The Hills of Northern Virginia (Washington, D.C.: Northern Virginia Bureau, 1926), Charlie Clark Center for Local History, Arlington Public Library.
3 Background for Planning: Falls Church Virginia Master Plan Report, vol. 1 (Richmond, VA: Tarrant and Alten Consulting City Planners Associated Background 1954).
4 “Falls Church,” The Daily State Journal (Alexandria, VA), Jan. 22, 1874.
5 Architectural Survey and Assessment of the City of Falls Church (Falls Church, VA: Traceries, April 1996), 30, 42.
6 Nan Netherton, et al., Fairfax County, Virginia: A History (Fairfax, VA: Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, 1978), 438, 460, 489, 569.
7 National Association of Real Estate Boards, Code of Ethics, 17th Annual Convention, Chicago, IL, June 6, 1924.
8 Fairfax Deed Q-10-120 (1910), Fairfax Circuit Court Historic Records Center, City of Fairfax, VA.
9 “Fairfax Democrats,” Alexandria Gazette Sept. 12, 1889; [no title], Alexandria Gazette January 14, 1890; “Legislative,” Alexandria Gazette Jan. 31, 1890; “Legislative,” Alexandria Gazette February 21, 1890.
10 Anne L. Mercer, “Tinner Hill and Segregation Ordinance of 1915,” George Washington University Paper, May 3, 2000, Special Collections, Mary Riley Styles Public Library, Falls Church, VA.
11 Fairfax Deed A-9-1 (1922), Fairfax Circuit Court Historic Records Center, City of Fairfax, VA.
12 For a list of affected subdivisions, click here.
13 Falls Church Town Minutes, July 11, 1932, Nov. 12, 1934; Mary Riley Styles Public Library, Falls Church, VA.
14 Census of Population: 1950, Characteristics of the Population, Virginia, part 46, vol. 2 (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1952), 46-65, 46-116.