A Virginia Village   By: Charles Alexander Stewart

Reprinted by the Centennial Committee of the Falls Church Village Preservation and Improvement Society

April 1985.

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" Celebrating Our Centennial Year "

1885 1985

President Sue Bachtel

Vice President Rowland Bowers

Treasurer Delores Cannon

Recording Secretary June Douglas

Corresponding Secretary Vivian Norfleet

Immediate Past President Col. Merl M. Moore

Elected Directors Louis & Sue Olom Mary Bowers Charles A. Hobbie Howard & Betty Hughes Melton Robert & Susan Wayland B.J. & Judith Segel Harry Cannon Florence Murphy Dick & Betty Allan Jerry Blystone Kenneth & Melena Huffman Harold & Ida Silverstein Raymond & Marie Stewart Martha Vinograd James M. Boren

Honorary Life Members Ruby and Mel Bolster Leath B. Bracken Mrs. Edgar D. Brooke Mrs. Meres G. Brown Major General and Mrs. William Carter Elizabeth Graham (Mrs. John A.) Miss Helen MacGregor Mrs. Charles G. Manly Mrs. Paul Schlager Louise Shepard (Mrs. Ernest) Mrs. Calvin W. Smith Lorraine Williams (Mrs. Fonda) Pat Wollenberg (Mrs. Roger)

Falls Church Village Preservation & Improvement Society

Dear Friends,

The Falls Church Village Preservation and Improvement Society (VPIS) is pleased to be able to reprint A Virginia Village by Charles A. Stewart as part of its Centennial observance in 1985. We are especially grateful to the Mary Riley Styles Public Library of Falls Church for permission to use their copy of A Virginia Village for the reproduction.

A Virginia Village provides a snapshot of Falls Church at the turn of the century, at a time when the predecessor of VPIS, the Village Improvement Society (VIS) (pp. 16 18), was in full swing. Thus it is a fitting backdrop to our year of special activities.

As you will note, many of the buildings and settings in the 1904 edition have been lost or altered in the past 80 years. To make the book more useful and enjoyable to current readers, we have added a Foreword, Comments on the Structures Pictured, a Name and Street Index, and a biographical sketch and photograph of the author. The new information is not all inclusive and we invite you to cross reference your reading with the other sources listed in the Foreword.

The Society is indebted to several of its members who worked long and hard to made this edition possible. In particular, we would like to thank the chairman of the project, Colonel Merl M. Moore (a former VPIS President); Mr. Edmund F. Becker, who wrote the Foreword; Mr. Henry H. Douglas, who as usual is an indispensable resource on the history of Falls Church; and Mr. Richard T. Allan, whose editing skills were invaluable.

We hope this 1985 edition will become a cherished reminder of The Society's 100th anniversary and a valuable edition to your personal library. Sincerely,

President

Rowland Bowers Vice President

Harold Silverstein Chairman, Centennial Committee

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ABOUT THE FALLS CHURCH VILLAGE PRESERVATION AND IMPROVEMENT SOCIETY

In 1985, its Centennial Year, the Falls Church Village Preservation and Improvement Society comprises over 750 citizens and businesses dedicated to improving the quality of life in Falls Church.

The Society recognizes that it is the inheritor of the civic purposes and activities of the Village Improvement Society (VIS) of Falls Church established in 1885 and which group was modeled after the famous Laurel Hill Association of Stockbridge, Massachusetts, and that VPIS' purposes, objectives and activities represent a continuum of the earlier organized and volunteer civic organization and effort to improve and preserve the historic tradition, residential character, quality of life and appearance of Falls Church, Virginia.

The values articulated by the founders in 1885 have not changed to the present:

to preserve the historic and predominantly single family detached residential and village character of Falls Church;

to preserve its historic structures and landmarks;

to promote architectural harmony and aesthetic values;

to beautify the community by planting trees, flowers, and shrubs; and