Alexandria, Virginia

Alexandria is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 128,284. Located along the Western bank of the Potomac River, Alexandria is approximately six miles (9.6 km) south of downtown Washington, DC.

Like the rest of Northern Virginia, as well as southern Maryland, modern Alexandria has been shaped by its proximity to the nation's capital. It is largely populated by professionals working in the federal civil service, the U.S. military, or for one of the many private companies which contract to provide services to the federal government. The latter are known locally as beltway bandits, after the Capital Beltway, an interstate highway that circles Washington, D.C. One of Alexandria's largest employers is the U.S. Department of Defense. Others include the Institute for Defense Analyses and the Center for Naval Analyses. In 2005, the United States Patent and Trademark Office moved 7,100 employees from 18 separate buildings in nearby Crystal City into a new headquarters complex in the city.

Alexandria is home to numerous associations, charities, and non-profit organizations including the national headquarters of groups such as the Salvation Army. In 2005, Alexandria became one of the first cities of its size to offer free wireless internet access to some of its residents and visitors.

The historic center of Alexandria is known as Old Town. It is a major draw for tourists and those seeking nightlife. Like Old Town, many Alexandria neighborhoods are high-income suburbs of Washington D.C. A 2005 assessed-value study of homes and condominiums found that over 40 percent were in the highest bracket, worth $556,000 or more.

1 History
2 Geography
3 Neighborhoods
4 Demographics
5 Education
6 Recreation and sites of interest
7 Transportation
8 Sister cities
9 See also
10 References
11 External links

[edit] History

U.S. postage stamp honoring Alexandria's bicentennial in 1949

The first settlement was established in 1695. Around 1746, Captain Philip Alexander II (1704-1753) moved to what is south of present Duke Street in Alexandria. His estate, which consisted of 500 acres (202 ha), was bounded by Hunting Creek, Hooff’s Run, the Potomac River, and approximately the line of which would become Cameron Street. Since it was felt that the Potomac River was a good place for a prosperous town, there was a petition submitted to the Virginia legislature on November 1, 1748, that the “inhabitants of Fairfax (Co.) praying that a town may be established at Hunting Creek Warehouse on Potowmack River,” as Hugh West was the owner of the warehouse.

Since this was amidst his estate, Philip opposed the idea and strongly favored a site at the head of Great Hunting Creek. It has been said that in order to avoid a predicament the petitioners changed the name of the new town from Belle Haven to Alexandria, in honor of Philip’s family. As a result, Philip and his cousin Captain John Alexander (1711-1763) gave land to assist in the development of Alexandria, and are thus listed as the founders. This John was the son of Robert Alexander II (1688-1735). Lots were being sold for the town of Alexandria by July 1749, though it did not become incorporated until 1779.

In 1755, General Edward Braddock organized his fatal expedition against Fort Duquesne at Alexandria. In April of 1755, the governors of Virginia, Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, and Maryland met to determine upon concerted action against the French in America.

In March 1785, commissioners from Virginia and Maryland met in Alexandria to discuss the commercial relations of the two states, finishing their business at Mount Vernon on the March 28 with an agreement for freedom of trade and freedom of navigation of the Potomac River. The Maryland legislature, in ratifying this agreement on November 22, proposed a conference among representatives from all the states to consider the adoption of definite commercial regulations. This led to the calling of the Annapolis Convention of 1786, which in turn led to the calling of the Federal Convention of 1787.

Johnny Bull and the Alexandrians (1814) by William Charles mocked Alexandria citizens (kneeling at left, with hair standing on end) for not putting up more resistance to the British

In 1790, Alexandria was included in the area chosen by George Washington to become the District of Columbia. A portion of the City of Alexandria and all of today's Arlington County share the distinction of having been originally in Virginia, ceded to the U.S. Government to form the District of Columbia, and later retroceded to Virginia by the federal government in 1846, when the District was reduced in size to exclude the portion south of the Potomac River. The City of Alexandria was re-chartered in 1852.

During the War of 1812, Alexandria surrendered to a British fleet in 1814 without a fight. As agreed in the terms of surrender the British looted stores and warehouses of mainly flour, tobacco, cotton, wine, and sugar.^[1].

From 1828 to 1836,^[2] Alexandria was home to the Franklin & Armfield Slave Market, one of the largest slave trading companies in the country. By the 1830s, they were sending more than 1,000 slaves annually from Alexandria to their Natchez, Mississippi, and New Orleans markets to help meet the demand for slaves in Mississippi and surrounding states.^[3] Later owned by Price, Birch & Co., the slave pen became a jail under Union occupation.^[4]

The City of Alexandria became independent of Alexandria County in 1870. The remaining portion of Alexandria County changed its name to Arlington County in 1920, which ended years of confusion.

[edit] Return to Virginia

Over time, a movement grew to separate Alexandria from the District of Columbia. As competition grew with the port of Georgetown and the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal fostered development on the north side of the Potomac River, the city's economy stagnated. In addition, many in Alexandria hoped to benefit from land sales and increased business from the federal government, which had no need for the land south of the river. Also, its residents had lost representation and the right to vote at any level of government.

Alexandria was also an important port and market in the slave trade, and there were increasing talk of the abolition of slavery in the national capital. Alexandria's economy would suffer greatly if slavery were outlawed. At the same time, there was an active abolition movement in Virginia, and the state's General Assembly was closely divided on the question of slavery (resulting in the formation of West Virginia some years later by the most anti-slavery counties). Alexandria and Alexandria County would provide two new pro-slavery representatives.

After a referendum, voters petitioned Congress and Virginia to return the area to Virginia. The area was retroceded to Virginia on July 9, 1846.^[5]

[edit] American Civil War

At the opening of the American Civil War, the city was occupied by Federal troops until the end of the war, making it the longest held city during the war. Fort Ward, built for the defense of Washington, DC, was located within the boundaries of modern Alexandria.^[6]

Great excitement throughout the North was caused by the killing of Colonel Elmer E. Ellsworth on May 24, 1861, by Captain James W. Jackson, a hotel proprietor, from whose building Ellsworth had removed a Confederate flag. After the establishment of the state of West Virginia in 1863 and until the close of the war, Alexandria was the seat of what was known as the "Alexandria Government." Also, buildings at Virginia Theological Seminary and at Episcopal High School served as hospitals for union troops. Bullets, belt clips, and other artifacts from the civil war have been found in the area today.

[edit] 20th century

In 1930, Alexandria annexed the Town of Potomac. That town, adjacent to Potomac Yard, had been laid out beginning in the late 19th century and incorporated in 1908.

[edit] Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 39.9 km² (15.4 mi²). 39.3 km² (15.2 mi²) of it is land and 0.6 km² (0.2 mi²) of it is water. The total area is 1.49% water. Alexandria is bounded on the east by the Potomac River, on the north and northwest by Arlington County, and on the south by Fairfax County. The western portions of the city were annexed from those two entities beginning in the 1930s.

The addressing system in Alexandria is not uniform and reflects the consolidation of several originally separate communities into a single city. In Old Town Alexandria, building numbers are assigned north and south from King Street and west (only) from the Potomac River. In the areas formerly in the Town of Potomac, such as Del Ray and St. Elmo, building numbers are assigned east and west from Commonwealth Avenue and north (only) from King Street. In the western parts of the city, building numbers are assigned north and south from Duke Street.

The ZIP code prefix 223 uniquely identifies the Alexandria postal area. However, the Alexandria postal area extends well into Fairfax County and includes more addresses outside of the city than inside of it. Delivery areas have ZIP codes 22301 through 22312, 22314, and 22315, with other ZIP codes in use for post office boxes and large mailers. ZIP codes are not assigned in any particular geographic order.

[edit] Neighborhoods

[edit] Old Town

Old Town Alexandria, viewed from the west, as seen from the observation deck of the George Washington Masonic National Memorial. King Street Station is in the foreground and the Potomac River is in the background

Old Town, in the eastern and southeastern areas of Alexandria and on the Potomac River, is the oldest section of the city, originally laid out in 1749, and is a historic district. Old Town is chiefly known for its historic town houses, art galleries, antique shops, and restaurants. To the northern limits of Old Town, it is a diverse area that includes a moderately sized public housing project, known by its inhabitants as "The 'Berg", which has been slated for demolition slash development within the next ten years. Old Town is laid out on a grid plan of substantially square blocks.

Market Square in Old Town is the oldest continuously operating marketplace in the United States and was once the site of the second-largest slave market in the U.S. Today it contains a large fountain and extensive landscaping, as well as a farmers' market each Saturday morning.

[edit] Arlandria

Also known as Little Chirilagua this area is well known as a bustling enclave for Salvadorean, along with Uruguayan immigrants. Centered around Mount Vernon Avenue and West Glebe Road, it is home to nearly twenty Hispanic owned bakeries, resturants, salons, and bookstores.

[edit] Del Ray

The area to the northwest of Old Town, formerly in the separate town of Potomac, is popularly known as Del Ray, although that name properly belongs to one of many communities (including Hume, Mount Ida, and Saint Elmo) in that area. The communities of Del Ray and St. Elmo originated in early 1894, when developer Charles Wood organized them on a grid pattern of streets running north-south and east-west? Del Ray originally contained six east-west streets and five north-south. All were identical in width, except Mt. Vernon Avenue, which was approximately twenty feet wider. St. Elmo, a smaller tract, was laid out in a similar pattern, but with only four east-west streets and one running north-south.

By 1900, Del Ray contained approximately 130 persons, and St. Elmo 55. In 1908, the tracts of Del Ray, St. Elmo, Mt. Ida, and Hume were incorporated into the town of Potomac, which by 1910 had a population of 599; by 1920 it contained 1,000; and by 1928 it had 2,355 residents.

The 254 acres comprising Del Ray were sold to Charles Wood in 1894 for the sum of $38,900, while St. Elmo, made up of 39 acres, was purchased for $15,314.

The community, while diverse, has experienced substantial gentrification since redevelopment began in Potomac Yard in the mid-1990s. The area has future development plans for condominium, park, and a fire station with affordable housing on upper floors.

[edit] West End

Alexandria's West End includes areas annexed in the 1950s. It is the most typically suburban part of Alexandria, with a street hierarchy of winding roads and culs-de-sac. The section of Duke Street in the West End is known for a high-density residential area known to locals as the "Condo Canyon" and for its concentration of both strip and enclosed shopping malls. In more recent years, parts of Alexandria's West End, has seen an influx of immigrants from Ethiopia, Eritrea, Pakistan, who settle in the areas surrounding Seminary Road west of I-395.

[edit] Demographics

As of the census^GR2 of 2000, there were 128,283 people, 61,889 households, and 27,726 families residing in the city. The population density was 3,262.9/km² (8,452.0/mi²). There were 64,251 housing units at an average density of 1,634.2/km² (4,233.2/mi²). The racial makeup of the city was 59.79% White, 22.54% African American, 0.28% Native American, 5.65% Asian, 0.09% Pacific Islander, 7.38% from other races, and 4.27% from two or more races. 14.72% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.

There were 61,889 households out of which 18.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 32.2% were married couples living together, 9.2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 55.2% were non-families. 43.4% of all households were made up of individuals and 6.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.04 and the average family size was 2.87.

In the city the population was spread out with 16.8% under the age of 18, 9.2% from 18 to 24, 43.5% from 25 to 44, 21.5% from 45 to 64, and 9.0% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 34 years. For every 100 females there were 93.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 91.7 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $56,054, and the median income for a family was $67,023. Males had a median income of $47,514 versus $41,254 for females. The per capita income for the city was $37,645. 8.9% of the population and 6.8% of families were below the poverty line. 13.9% of those under the age of 18 and 9.0% of those 65 and older were living below the poverty line.

[edit] Education

The city is served by the Alexandria City Public Schools system and by the Alexandria campus of Northern Virginia Community College. The largest seminary in the Episcopal Church, Virginia Theological Seminary, is located on Seminary Road. Virginia Tech's Alexandria Architecture Center is located on Prince Street in Old Town, offering graduate programs in Urban Affairs and Planning, Public and International Affairs, as well as Architecture. Also, Virginia Commonwealth University operates a Northern Virginia branch of its School of Social Work in Alexandria.

Alexandria is home to several well known private schools, such as Episcopal High School, Bishop Ireton High School, and St. Stephen's and St. Agnes School. Students and faculty from the Thornton Friends School of Maryland, which closed its Virginia Campus in June 2006, have formed the new Alexandria Friends School to maintain Alexandria's tradition of Quaker education.

Alexandria's public high school, T.C. Williams, and its legendary former football coach, Herman Boone, were featured in the 2000 motion picture Remember the Titans.

[edit] Recreation and sites of interest

Alexandria has a distributed park system with approximately 950 acres (384 ha) spread across 70 major parks and 30 recreation centers, of which Chinquapin is one the largest. Chinquapin offers facilities for swimming, tennis, racquetball, and other sports. The city also organizes several sports leagues throughout the year including volleyball, softball and basketball.

The city is unusual in that Cameron Run Regional Park includes a water park with a wave pool and water slides, as well as a miniature golf course and batting cages — facilities usually operated by private companies. A portion of the Mount Vernon Trail, a popular bike path, runs through Old Town near the Potomac River. There is also a line of parks stretching along the Alexandria waterfront from end to end which is largely unbroken.

Landmarks within the city include the George Washington Masonic National Memorial (also known as the Masonic Temple), Christ Church, Gadsby's Tavern, Grace Episcopal Church, John Carlyle House, Little Theatre, Lee-Fendall House, City Hall, Market Square, the Jones Point Lighthouse, the south cornerstone of the original District of Columbia, Robert E. Lee's boyhood home, the Torpedo Factory art studio complex, and the Virginia Theological Seminary. Other sites of interests in the city include Green Spring Gardens Park, Pope-Leighey House, River Farm, and Southside 815.

[edit] Transportation

Alexandria is bisected north and south by Virginia State Route 7, known in most of the city as the major thoroughfare of King Street. Interstate 95/495 (the Capital Beltway), including the Woodrow Wilson Bridge over the Potomac River, approximately parallels the city's southern boundary with Fairfax County. Interstate 395 crosses through the western part of the city. Other major routes include U.S. Route 1 (named Jefferson Davis Highway, and Patrick and Henry Streets after Patrick Henry), the George Washington Memorial Parkway, and Duke Street (State Route 236).

Alexandria is located just south of Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Arlington County. As with other Washington suburbs, Alexandria is also served by Washington Dulles International Airport in Chantilly and by Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport near Baltimore, Maryland.

Alexandria Union Station, the city's historic train station, is served by both Amtrak intercity and Virginia Railway Express regional rail service. The station is directly adjacent to the King Street Metrorail station, at the convergence of the Blue and Yellow Lines. Three other Metrorail stations that lie within the city limits are Braddock Road, Van Dorn Street, and Eisenhower Avenue.

The traditional boundary between Old Town and the latterly annexed sections of the city followed the railway now owned by CSX Transportation.

The city government operates its own mass transit system, the DASH bus, connecting points of interest with local transit hubs. Metrobus also serves Alexandria.

[edit] Sister cities

Alexandria has four sister cities, as designated by Sister Cities International, Inc. (SCI):

[edit] See also

List of Famous People from the Washington Metropolitan Area

[edit] References

This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.

^ Discovering the Decades: 1810s. Alexandria Archaeology Museum.
^ Self-Guided Walking Tour Black Historic Sites. Alexandria Black History Museum.
^ Jim Barnett and H. Clark Burkett (2004). "The Forks of the Road Slave Market at Natchez". Mississippi History Now.
^ Photographs of African Americans During the Civil War: A List of Images in the Civil War Photograph Collection. Library of Congress (May 20, 2004).
^ Get to know D.C. - Frequently Asked Questions About Washington, D.C.. History Society of Washington D.C..
^ Fort Ward Museum. City of Alexandria.

[edit] External links

Maps and aerial photos Coordinates: 38.816242° -77.071282°
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