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Arlington Public Library

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A Coffee Shop’s Many Faces

Do the roof lines and windows of these buildings look familiar?

If you thought each of these photos is of the same building, then you are correct!

The building was modeled after the Clarendon trolley station, constructed in 1904 and pictured here circa 1910. The trolley station stood opposite to 3211 Wilson Boulevard at North Washington and Clarendon Boulevard. Arlington‘s trolley stations ran throughout the County beginning in the 1890s up until the Great Depression when they were unable to compete with the rise of the automobile.

One way to trace Arlington’s history is through its development. The changing use of this building has paralleled Clarendon’s role for Arlington residents—as a place of utility in the mid-20th Century; utility and leisure in the late-20th Century; and leisure and socialization in the last 20 years.

Can you match the photos to the businesses, and put them in order by date?

Photos:

  • Murkey Coffee
  • Northside Social
  • Hurt Cleaners
  • The Flea Market Store

Dates:

  • c. 1949
  • 1998
  • 2008
  • 2019

To see more items like these, or to learn more about Arlington's history, visit the Center for Local History on the first floor of the Central Library.

Do you have a question about this story, or a personal experience to share? 

Use this form to send a message to the Center for Local History.

Center For Local History - Blog Post Message Form

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The Shop: Arlington Public Library’s New Makerspace

The Shop is a space for beginning and advanced Makers, offering classes, one-on-one tutoring and open lab time.

The Shop is a collaborative, participatory and inclusive learning environment. We are devoted to fostering a supportive community where Library patrons can experiment, play and think outside the box. What will you create?

Shop Class Schedule

 

About Open Lab

Need help with a design, or want to learn to use a new tool?

Open Lab is a great time for working on personal or collaborative projects, getting feedback, or trying something new.

During Open Lab hours all of The Shop equipment is available for public use, and staff will be on hand to answer questions and to offer help. Requirements for participation in Open Lab are an active library card in good standing and a completed Maker User Agreement.

Please note: Shop equipment is free to use, but some materials fees may be applied for consumables used during Open Lab time.

 

Learn more about The Shop on the Library website.

Edmond C. Fleet, Community Swimming Pool Supporter

Edmond C. Fleet (1902-1983) was a civilian pastry chef for the United States Navy, who found significant ways to put his organizing talents to good use for the Nauck community.

Besides being a member of the local African-American Elks Lodge, Masonic Lodge, and Oddfellows, he was a co-founder of the Veteran’s Memorial Branch of the YMCA, located at 3440 22nd Street S, one block away from Macedonia Baptist Church.

Built in 1953, the Veteran’s Memorial YMCA served the “non-white” residents of the county. Located near Drew School, it naturally had a strong bond with neighborhood children, especially since the county’s Parks and Recreation system was still segregated.

In the late 1950s, this YMCA started a campaign to build a swimming pool as there were no pools in the County that would allow African-Americans in.

Front page of mailer asking for donations for construction of Veteran's Memorial YMCA pool.
Third page of mailer sent out to get contributions for construction of the Veteran's Memorial YMCA swimming pool.

This 1962 pledge brochure, which lists Fleet as a member of the Advisory Committee, details plans for the pool and asks for community support. Fleet put his money where his mouth was, and donated money to the YMCA and other organizations in which he was involved, including Mt. Zion Baptist Church where he was in the choir.

Fleet was involved in local politics too, hosting Lady Bird Johnson at his home for a Chuck Robb campaign event in 1977, when he ran for Lieutenant Governor of Virginia. (Chuck Robb is married to Lady Bird and President Johnson's daughter, Lynda Bird Johnson Robb.)

Lady Bird Johnson flanked by Edmond C. Fleet and an unidentified Robb supporter, 1977.

To learn more about Edmund C. Fleet and the Veteran’s Memorial YMCA, visit the Center for Local History on the first floor of the Central Library.

Do you have a question about this story, or a personal experience to share? 

Use this form to send a message to the Center for Local History.

Center For Local History - Blog Post Message Form

Do you have a question about this story, or a personal experience to share? Use this form to send a message to the Center for Local History.

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Rediscover Brandymore Castle

Want to Hike to the Local "Castle"?

An easy walk within Madison Manor Park, off the paved bicycle/pedestrian path next to I-66, stands a quartz outcrop of rock near the border between current City of Falls Church and Arlington.

Photo take 2018, Arlington County Historic Preservation Program

In 1649, Charles II, King of England, Scotland, and Ireland, granted seven Englishmen all the land between the Potomac and Rappahannock rivers as a proprietary colony - despite being in exile and not having the power to do so. The grant was known as the Northern Neck land grant as it encompassed 5,282,000 acres of Virginia’s Northern Neck. This land had previously been (and partially still inhabited by) the Monacan Indian Nation, the Doeg, the Mannahoac, and the Powhatan, among other groups, and had been transferred without their permission.

Surveyor Charles Broadwater had travelled from Surrey in England, to Virginia several times in the six years prior to finally settling in the area in 1716. He and his wife Elizabeth Semmes West had two children. He immediately became very involved with the community, building a wharf near Great Hunt Creek (now Alexandria) and becoming a vestryman for Truro parish (largely in southern Fairfax County.)

On January 15, 1724, Charles received one of the Northern Neck land grant parcels NN-A-113, a 151-acre tract straddling the line between Fairfax and what is now Arlington. This was only a small part of his land holdings; between 1724-1726 he owned 2,089 acres.

Land grant to Charles Broadwater with Brandymore Castle noted as a wayfinding marker, courtesy of the Library of Virginia, Virginia Land Office Patents and Grants, Grants A 1722-1726

Landowners were required to fulfill a number of requirements to ‘perfect’ or take complete claim of the grant, including paying taxes, surveying the property boundaries, and constructing a building. Virginia was still only minimally developed, with hundreds of acres with barely a sign of European presence, so memorable natural elements in the landscape were important wayfinders for surveyors and early settlers.  The earliest named record of the quartz outcrop near the border between current City of Falls Church and Arlington is by Charles Broadwater himself, who described it in 1724.

The origin of the name is unknown- there is no Brandymore in Surrey, and Charles Broadwater made no reference to how he settled on the name, or who had named it before him. However, the name stuck not only in his notations, but also in official land records. Brandymore Castle went on to be mentioned in five other Northern Neck land grants as a key landmark in the earliest proprietary land surveys of Virginia.

In 1986, Arlington County’s Historical Affairs and Landmark Review Board (HALRB) recommended that the County Board designate Brandymore Castle as a local historic district to recognize its role in and representation of early settlement in Arlington.

The limestone outcrop has changed over the centuries as it has weathered almost 300 years since it was first seen by Charles Broadwater. It stands as a tangible reminder of the natural beauty that once dominated a rural landscape. This oft-forgotten stone outcrop was once a beacon for hundreds of acres of undisturbed forest.

In 2001 one of the larger stones was defaced by vandals. This required specialized cleaning with environmentally safe methods on the part of the Arlington County Parks Department. Because regular cleaning agents can be extremely harmful to the stone, and the runoff would have been toxic to the natural environment around it, the stone had to be sandblasted and then hand cleaned with water.

If you visit today, you’ll notice that even now one of the stones is noticeably brighter than the rest!

large boulder painted bright blue

Photo taken 2001, Arlington County Historic Preservation Program

In the area and want to hike up to visit? It’s a fairly easy walk within Madison Manor Park off the paved bicycle/pedestrian path next to I-66.

Open in Google Maps

References

Wise, Donald A. “Some Eighteenth Century Family Profiles, Part 1”, Arlington Historical Society Magazine, Vol. 6, No. 1, October 1977.

“About the Virginia Land Office Patents and Grants/Northern Neck Grant and Surveys”, Library of Virginia, accessed December 5, 2018 http://www.lva.virginia.gov/public/guides/opac/lonnabout.htm.

Moxam, Robert M., “The Re-Discovery of Brandymore Castle”, Arlington Historical Society Magazine, Vol. 5, No. 1, October 1973.

"Preservation Today: Rediscovering Arlington" is a partnership between the Arlington Public Library and the Arlington County Historic Preservation Program.

Preservation Today: Rediscovering Arlington
Stories from Arlington’s Historic Preservation Program

Arlington’s heritage is a diverse fabric, where people, places, and moments are knitted together into the physical and social landscape of the County.

Arlington County’s Historic Preservation Program is dedicated to protecting this heritage and inspiring placemaking by uncovering and recognizing all these elements in Arlington’s history.

To learn more about historic sites in Arlington, visit the Arlington County Historic Preservation Program.

Cherrydale Parking Lot Closed Tuesday, April 9

The Cherrydale Branch Library parking lot will be closed for re-striping on Tuesday, April 9.

We apologize for any inconvenience this will cause. Street access and street parking to the Library will not be affected.

Cherrydale parking lot

What To Read While You’re Waiting for “The Library Book”

On Monday, April 22, we hosted journalist Susan Orlean, author of "The Library Book," for Arlington Reads 2019.

Susan Orlean described learning about the 1986 LA Public Library fire during a visit to the library. Her guide took a big sniff of a library book and said, "You can still smell the smoke." She had never heard about the fire, but she immediately knew someone should write about it.

packed crowd on the 2nd floor

It turned out that person was her, and that book became "The Library Book." You can watch the video of Susan Orlean's Arlington Reads 2019 talk on youtube.

And if you're on hold to read "The Library Book," we recommend these six great nonfiction books while you wait.

All photos by Josh Brick, who holds the copyright.

1945: The Arlington War Memorial Association Plans a “Living Memorial”

Have you heard of “living memorials”? A popular concept after World War II, they resonated with Depression-era and war time slogans and values such as “better living,” and intersected with the interest in urban planning that intensified during World War II.

In July 1945, Arlington County residents formed the Arlington War Memorial Association. The purpose of the organization was to “establish and maintain a useful memorial to the veterans of the present war and of all wars of our nation.”

The Arlington War Memorial Association aimed to build a living memorial—a memorial that would honor the sacrifice of Arlington citizens who served in a war, but also that would “become the heartbeat of the county contributing to everyone’s wellbeing.” They planned to do this by building a community center on Lee Boulevard, much like the one depicted in these images from a promotional flyer advertising Potomac Engineering Corporation's services for planning and building a living war memorial.

The Arlington War Memorial Association’s efforts ultimately failed. But you can learn more about their plans, and see these images in person, at the Center for Local History.

To see more items like these, or to learn more about Arlington's history, visit the Center for Local History on the first floor of the Central Library.

Do you have a question about this story, or a personal experience to share? 

Use this form to send a message to the Center for Local History.

Center For Local History - Blog Post Message Form

Do you have a question about this story, or a personal experience to share? Use this form to send a message to the Center for Local History.

"*" indicates required fields

Share Your Story

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

New Way to Suggest Items for the Library Collection

Now you can make a suggestion for the Library collection, from inside your Library account. You can also track the status of your suggestions from a handy dashboard.

It is our goal to respond to every request placed through the form within 5 business days. Due to the volume of suggestions, that may not always be possible.

The Library welcomes suggestions for new materials, and purchases items recommended by patrons whenever possible. Individual purchase decisions will be guided by the Library's selection policy and availability of funds.

How to Make a Materials Suggestion

Log into your Library account and click on Materials Request in the left sidebar. A valid Arlington library card is required.

Guidelines:

  • Patrons may suggest 60 items per year, and have up to 5 active requests open at any time.
  • Title or author suggestions are welcome.
  • Provide as much information as possible. Include reviews or sources if available.

How to Track Your Suggestions

Log into your Library account and click on Materials Request in the left sidebar.

View your requests:

  • Click on the Details button to the right of each request to view its status.
  • Please note: If you submitted Materials Purchase Requests prior to April 1, 2019, you will not see them reflected in your Library account.

How the Materials Suggestion Process Works

  • While every suggestion will be considered, the Library can not buy every suggested title.
  • Library staff do not place holds at the time of request. If a title suggested for addition to the collection is approved, the responsibility is on the patron to place their own holds.
  • The Library is unable to respond to Materials suggestions outside of this form (email, phone call, etc.).



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