THE TWENTIETH CENTURY COURTHOUSE
The twentieth century brought Fairfax County more than a new
constitutional framework; it brought a new outlook and spirit.
Something of this spirit was reflected in the following quotation from
a short history and prospectus of the County published by the County
Board of Supervisors in 1907:
Verily, Fairfax County, old in its history, and hoary in its
traditions, is throbbing with a new life and enterprise. Only
yesterday were her advantages and possibilities appreciated; yet,
today she is attracting settlers from all parts of the Union, and
even from foreign countries. Certainly no other section extends a
more cordial welcome and more attractive inducements to the
investor and home-seeker.[113]
If this statement seemed perhaps a bit too eager, it was at least
hopeful and optimistic in contrast to the spirit that had prevailed
during the long years of reconstruction. It expressed a feeling of
confidence that came from having weathered the depression which
followed the Panic of 1893 better than many parts of the country.[114]
[Illustration: "The Tavern," across Little River Turnpike from the
courthouse. Photo by Helen Hill Miller, 1932.]
[Illustration: The courthouse about 1907.]
One reason for this was Fairfax County's expanding contacts with the
city of Washington, chiefly by having become a supplier of its dairy
and truck garden produce, and by becoming the residential area for
increasing numbers of employees of the Federal governmental
establishment. These elements of the economy of Northern Virginia
offered more resistance to the depression of the 1890's than was
possible in the areas of south and central Virginia which depended on
cotton and tobacco.
In turn, it was the development of rapid railroad service, both steam
and electric, that made both of these developments possible at this
time. The critical importance of this transportation was recognized by
the County Supervisors' publication:
The eastern part of the county is in the immediate vicinity of the
cities of Washington and Alexandria; while all sections of it are
within a few hours' drive of these cities. In addition to the
accessibility of these cities by roadways, three steam and three
electric railways connect the county with Washington. The greatest
trunk lines north and south traverse Fairfax County. Through
trains on the Pennsylvania, Southern, Chesapeake and Ohio, Norfolk
and Western, Seaboard Air Line, and the Atlantic Coast Line, are
hourly passing through this county, affording convenient and
direct connection with all parts of the country. Every section of
the county is within easy reach of some one of these roads; and
with their double track facilities, and consequent excellent local
accommodations, great activity in suburban home building is
observed on every hand. Especially is this true along the lines of
the electric railways, where numerous villages are springing into
existence.
The proximity and accessibility to Washington, the most
magnificent city in the world, together with the splendid natural
advantages of Fairfax, must inevitably make the county rich,
populous and great.[115]
The heydays of the steam and electric railroads in Northern Virginia
were followed in the 1920's by improvement and expansion of the road
system.[116] As the number of automobiles increased--and their
prevalence was forecast by designation of present Lee Highway as the
initial segment of the first transcontinental highway running westward
from the zero milestone on the ellipse in Washington--the paving of
roads became a major concern of local communities. Both free public
highways and toll turnpikes built by subscription and bond issues were
undertaken in Fairfax County. Even after the County elected to turn
over its roadbuilding to the state under the Byrd Road Act in 1932,
the County's leaders continued to have a deep interest in the
increased population growth that roads and railroads made possible.
Increased population brought increased needs for various new public
services. Shortly after the first State Board of Health was
established in Virginia in 1900, the counties of the State established
local boards. The Chairman of the Board of County Supervisors
automatically became Chairman of the Health Board in this early
experiment in public health services.[117] The machinery for raising
revenue was made more efficient by redrawing the division of labor
between the commissioner of revenue and the county treasurer.
Most far-reaching in the long run, however, was the enactment in 1920
of state legislation giving counties the option of adopting various
managerial forms of government if they so desired. Fairfax County
exercised this option in 1951 by adopting the County Executive form of
government.[118]
Under this form of county government, the Board of Supervisors
remained the sole legislative authority of the County, but the
executive functions were placed under the supervision of a new
officer, the county executive. The county executive, as well as all
boards and commissions responsible for special services and
administrative functions, were appointed by the Board of Supervisors,
and served either for specified terms or at the pleasure of the Board.
The Supervisors continued to be elected by the County's voters, each
from one of the magisterial districts. This method of election was
adopted deliberately as a means of maintaining a balance of political
representation of the western and southern parts of the County, which
still were rural in their economic and social orientation, and the
north, east and central areas of the County, which had been
intensively developed as part of the suburbs of Washington and
Alexandria.
The involvement of the public in county government was seen in many
forms. Service on county boards and commissions was one. Also, as
newcomers poured into the county seeking homes, the neighborhoods and
communities formed civic organizations or citizens associations to
provide means for group action on problems of common concern. Parallel
to these groups, others, such as Parent-Teachers Associations, formed
to deal with school-related problems which were both inside and
outside the scope of governmental services in the field of education.
These forms of citizen involvement in public affairs--prompted partly
by the sheer size of the new demands for service and partly because
the newcomers to Fairfax County came from areas where wide
participation in local government was taken for granted--had a
profound effect on the County's historic outlook on public affairs. No
longer was it accepted that certain families or individuals held among
themselves the privileges, powers and obligations of governing. This
tradition, symbolized by the gentlemen justices of colonial times and
the nineteenth century, was replaced by a new system where political
leadership was established through service in the community and
verified by the ability to win in competition at the polls.
The new dimensions of government's role necessitated finding more
space for the county's offices. The clerk's office, which
historically had been the focal point for the County's continuing
administrative functions, ceased to be able to contain all the
County's offices as early as the 1920's. An additional building was
authorized, but delays in financing and construction postponed its
completion until 1934.[119] However, by 1940 this building was so
crowded that both its attic and basement had been converted to office
space, and many County agencies were using additional rented space in
non-County buildings.
Plans were developed in the early-1940's for a major addition to the
courthouse building. Delays were encountered, first because of the
shortages of materials and manpower during the years of World War II,
and then because of problems of funding this work amid other urgent
demands for tax revenue. Ultimately, both shortages were relieved, and
work was begun on the central block and south wing of the courthouse
as they appear today.[120] The jail section and wing containing the
clerk's records of land transactions and court proceedings were added
to the building in 1956.[121]
As the County's need for space to house its governmental offices
continued to grow through the 1960's, some consideration was given to
moving the courthouse to a new location.[122] The transformation of
Fairfax from a town into a city in 1961 added a complicating factor to
this issue for it meant that technically the County had no control
over the land on which its seat of government stood. The City of
Fairfax, however, was anxious to keep the center of County government
in its existing location, and offered to condemn sufficient land for
the County's building needs.[123]
The seat of county government remained at Fairfax, but the courthouse
square no longer sufficed to contain the complex of buildings
involved. By 1969 construction had been completed on a County
Governmental Center, later named the Massey Building, to honor Carlton
Massey, the first County Executive, who served from 1952 to 1971. A
separate building was erected nearby for the County Police Department,
and plans were made for other buildings in the future.[124]
[Illustration: Rear view of the Fairfax County courthouse complex.
Photo by the Office of Public Affairs, about 1972.]
[Illustration: View of the Fairfax County Courthouse, the Massey
Building, and downtown Fairfax. Photo by Bernie Boston, 1976.]
Overshadowing the old courthouse tract, the new center of government
nevertheless preserves the evidence of the past by continuing use of
the original (north) section of the courthouse building and its 1953
addition, all in an architectural style reminiscent of the colonial
period in Virginia. The presence of the past combine with a sense of
the present and the future to make the Fairfax County Courthouse both
a symbol and a functioning seat of a county government which in the
year 1976 had been in existence for more than two centuries.
NOTES FOR CHAPTER VI
[113] Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, _Industrial and Historical
Sketch of Fairfax County, Virginia_, (Fairfax: County Board of
Supervisors, 1907), p. 5.
[114] Allen W. Moger, "The Rebuilding of the Old Dominion,"
(Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Columbia University, 1940), pp.
95-96.
[115] Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, _Industrial and Historical
Sketch_, pp. 5-6.
[116] The campaign to improve Virginia's roads had been waged since
the 1890's. See, for example, the rhetoric and argument in favor of
road improvements set forth in the _Programme of the Virginia Good
Roads Convention_, (Roanoke: Stone Printing, Co., 1894) held in
Richmond in October 1894. As to the effects of the rise of automotive
travel, see Fairfax County Chamber of Commerce, _Historic, Progressive
Fairfax County in Old Virginia_, (Alexandria: Newell-Cole, 1928), pp.
20-21, containing a road map of the county's hard-surfaced roads and
unimproved roads in 1928.
[117] Porter, _County Government_, p. 291.
[118] Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, _Annual Report, 1969_, p.
6.
[119] Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, Minute Book, v. 5, 318,
William Deming was the architect of this project. As with previous
expansions of the clerk's office, the old building was torn down and
the bricks re-used in the new building.
[120] Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, Minute Book, v. 5, 318; v.
9 (1939-40), 501; v. 10 (1941-42), 175; v. 12 (1949-50), 4; v. 18
(1950-51), 497; v. 20 (1953), 519.
[121] Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, Minute Book, v. 30 (1960),
pp. 418-23.
[122] Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, Minute Book, v. 32, 264-65
notes that Reston offered 50 acres for the use of the courthouse, and
Tyson's Corner and the intersection of Routes 495 and 50 also were
considered. See also, _Ibid._, v. 39 (1964), 117.
[123] Fairfax County Deed Book, B-2, pp. 373-376; 503-504. The
courthouse commissioners were Charles Little, David Stuart, William
Payne, James Wren, and George Minor.
[124] Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, Minute Book, v. 36, 313; v.
39, 544. On April 7, 1965 the Board of Supervisors voted to construct
a new office building and authorize a referendum for a $5,500,000 bond
issue for this project. The bonds were approved by the voters, and the
building was built on a 35-acre tract belonging to Mary Ambler, which
was condemned by the city and then purchased by the county from the
condemnor. The architect for the project was William Vosbeck, and the
contractor was the Blake Construction Company, Fairfax County Board of
Supervisors, _Annual Report_, 1968, p. 4.