Center for Local History Blog

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Oral History: Remembering Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., in Arlington

A Crucial Leader of the Civil Rights Movement

Dr. Martin Luther King's leadership and message of nonviolent protest were essential to the steps made toward equality that culminated in legislation such as the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The following are a few memories from our collections, and from broader Arlington history, to reflect on Dr. King’s legacy as we celebrate Martin Luther King, Jr., day on Monday, January 17th.

Dr. King addresses the crowd at the August 28, 1963, March on Washington. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

1963 March on Washington

On Wednesday, Aug. 28, 1963, Dr. King led the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom — often referred to as “The March on Washington."

This was a massive peaceful protest with the aim to advocate and speak on the need for economic and civil rights for Black Americans, with more than 200,000 people attending to take a stand against inequality. The march culminated with Dr. King’s “I Have a Dream Speech” on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.

In the days leading up to the march, civil rights activists from across the country stayed at Lomax Fellowship Hall at the Lomax AME Zion Church in Arlington’s Green Valley neighborhood. Dr. King and his close friend and advisor, the Reverend Ralph Abernathy, spoke in the church’s parking lot the day before the start of the march.

In the following interview from our oral history collection, Marionne Walls-Fort discusses Dr. King’s visit to Lomax. Walls-Fort is the daughter of Reverend Arthur W. Walls, who was a pastor at Lomax from 1960-1976.

Lomax AME Zion Church (photo 1991)

Narrator: Marionne Walls-Fort
Interviewer: Judy Knudsen
Date: October 7, 2016

Marionne Walls-Fort: "My parents were very influential in keeping us together in the civil rights movement. In fact, Dr. Martin Luther King spoke in the back of Lomax. When he was coming, he was looking for a church in Virginia, and my father volunteered. So he did one of his speeches in the backyard, because there’s a large back area behind Lomax Church. We got to meet Dr. Martin Luther King, and of course, Jesse Jackson who also spoke at our church for equal rights.

Dad had the Poor People’s March, when they came [in 1968]—and they would travel from church to church—we had them to stay overnight in our church. So when Dad said we’re going to help, we’re going to help get these cots together, we’re going to help in feeding the poor, we did everything as a family. And that instilled in all of us a sense of service even today that was instilled in our hearts, and that’s what we grew up with."

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and Reverend Ralph Abernathy with members of the Lomax AME Zion Church and Father Ray from Our Lady Queen of Peace on August 27, 1963. This photo is from Record Group 328, comprising the archives of Lomax AME Zion Church which were donated to the Center for Local History in 2020.

In another oral history interview, Arlington resident Jackie Smith discusses attending the March on Washington along with other members of Our Lady Queen of Peace Roman Catholic Church, also located in Green Valley.

Narrator: Jackie Smith
Interviewer: Virginia Smith
Date: May 31, 2019

Virginia Smith: Tell me about the day you all went to the Martin Luther King March on Washington.

Jackie Smith: Okay. Well, I remember we went on the bus, the whole group, a busload of Our Lady Queen of Peace people.

VS: With Father Ray?

JS: Father Ray, I don't remember him being on the bus.

VS: But he went?

JS: But I think he did. My memories are of the crowds of people. And the fact that I was going to see Martin Luther King Jr. who I'd heard about and seen on TV and I really loved the man, you know, and what he had to say, you know, but me being a little small, petite person, I went down by the waiting pool and everything. I couldn't see anything. So I climbed up in a tree so I could see him. And I did. I got to see him and of course, heard the speech because they had the big loudspeakers and all of that.

VS: So everybody heard the speech.

JS: But that was one of the greatest days of my life to be able to see Dr. Martin Luther King.

VS: And you knew what he was saying was important?

JS: Absolutely, yeah, I was a teenager, so I knew what he was saying was important, especially for Black people. I was looking at it from that perspective, too.

VS: And the atmosphere in the crowd?

JS: People were elated. They were all kinds of signs and all. It was wonderful.

"Part of the crowd at the Lincoln Memorial."

These photos from the August 29, 1963, edition of the Northern Virginia Sun capture scenes from the March on Washington. The caption on the photo at right reads, “READY TO MARCH – Members of the Catholic Interracial Council of Northern Virginia are shown as they left to march in the Wednesday parade following mass at St. Agnes and Blessed Sacrament Catholic churches. Left to right are John Phoenix, first president of the group, Edward J. Kelly, Mrs. James J. Rigdon, David Lee Scott, and Bernard Wiesmann, present president of the group. (SUN Photo by Beryl D. Kneen)” Images courtesy of Virginia Chronicle.

A Community Mourns

On April 4, 1968, Dr. King was murdered on his hotel balcony in Memphis, Tennessee. Word reached the District of Columbia region around 8 p.m. that night, over the radio.

On April 5, the day following King’s death, an interracial group of about 400 students at Wakefield High School held an all-day sit-in in memory of the civil rights leader. Student leaders planned the demonstration, which was led by about 40 Black students who started the vigil in the school’s gymnasium.

Instead of attending classes that day, the group gathered to remember Dr. King and his impact, and over the course of the day the group was joined by hundreds of their peers. An impromptu memorial service was held in the school auditorium, led by Reverend Walls. For the rest of the day the students gathered in the school’s courtyard to have disscussions and sing songs associated with the Civil Rights Movement including “We Shall Overcome” and “If I Had a Hammer.”

The front page of the Northern Virginia Sun on April 5, 1968, the day following the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Image courtesy of Virginia Chronicle.

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WETA’s Arlington History: “It is the Programming that Counts”

WETA — the Washington Education Television Foundation — is an iconic institution, capturing and broadcasting the news for more than a half-century. Though it covers topics spanning the globe, the channel's roots are in Arlington, where its headquarters are still located.

Pre-construction of The Village at Shirlington, 1988

This empty lot across from the Village at Shirlington would eventually be home to WETA's headquarters. Pictured here in 1988, the building was completed in 1989 and purchased by WETA in 1995.

Campbell Place, as it is known, has been home to WETA ever since. Pictured here in 2021, it is located at 3939 Campbell Avenue. A second WETA building is located nearby at 3620 South 27th Street.

WETA's first broadcast took place on October 2, 1961, after an eight-year effort to bring public television to the National Capital Region. After the FCC reserved television channels for noncommercial use in 1952, local publisher Willard Kiplinger organized and led the Greater Washington Educational Television Association to develop Channel 26, which had been set aside for the area. In 1956, Elizabeth Pfohl Campbell was brought on and began work as president in 1957. Campbell was a notable local educator; the first female School Board member in Virginia; and an activist who had worked to help desegregate Arlington’s schools. Campbell then served at WETA for over 40 years.

WETA originally operated out of Yorktown High School, with business offices located in the Campbells’ home. When Yorktown expanded, WETA later moved operations to American University and then Howard University men's gymnasium in 1965. When Howard began its own broadcasting station in 1972, WETA-TV and WETA-FM operations were scattered at locations throughout the region, including at L’Enfant plaza in the District and at North 19th Road in Arlington.

In 1983, WETA’s board of trustees voted to consolidate operations at the 3620 South Street location. The current WETA headquarters was constructed in 1989 and was purchased by WETA in 1995. It remains the company’s headquarters today.

Elizabeth Campbell, date unknown.

From WETA's records, one of Elizabeth Campbell's reflections on education and the WETA message follows: "Education opens doors. A life without education can be one of insularity and emptiness. Our schools and universities are vital resources, but it has been my belief for a very long time that television and radio can be powerful educators as well. However, television and radio are simply broadcast tools — it is the programming that counts. That's why public broadcasting is so important."

In 2007, the Arlington County Board renamed what had been 28th Street South to Campbell Avenue in honor of Elizabeth Campbell and her husband, Edmund Campbell, a prominent local attorney and activist who had also worked to desegregate Arlington Public Schools.

Oral History: Mary Cook Hackman

Politics, Parks and the Law

Oral histories are used to understand historical events, actors, and movements from the point of view of real people’s personal experiences.

Mary Cook Hackman (1911-2005) was a prolific leader in Arlington, with a decades-long career that took on multiple paths.

Hackman moved to Arlington in 1949, and quickly became involved in local civic affairs such as the desegregation of Arlington Public Schools. Over the years she also held positions including president of the Rock Springs Civic Association and later served as president of the Arlington Civic Association. She also took part in politics as a committee member for Arlingtonians for a Better County (ABC), and as a member of the 10th District Women’s Democratic Club.

Mary Cook Hackman, circa 1958.

Hackman later entered the newspaper industry, creating a rival publication to what was then Arlington’s main newspaper, the Daily Sun. This new publication was founded in 1956 by Hackman and Anne Crutcher, and early investors included County Board member David Krupsaw and local lawyer and activist Edmund Campbell (also one of the interviewers of the subsequent oral history interview). The resulting weekly newspaper was called the Arlington Citizen and was distributed via mail to subscribers. After the Arlington Citizen eventually shut down publication, Hackman wrote a weekly political column in the Northern Virginia Sun.

Narrator: Mary Cook Hackman
Interviewers: Edmund Campbell and Cas Cocklin
Date: September 28, 1992
Note: The audio for this interview is currently unavailable.

Edmund Campbell/Cas Cocklin: Mary Cook, you had no printing office, you had no printing facilities, you had no clerks, how did you get out a newspaper?

Mary Cook Hackman: We found that there was somebody over in Georgetown, a printing company, and we hired them to do the printing. I don't remember what it cost but it was quite a lot. Anne and I would go over there every Wednesday morning with all of the typewritten pages that we wanted them to fit into this newspaper and then they would work on it a while and then we would say no, we want this story over to the left or up or down or something.

EC/CC: All your copy though, that you provided them was all written on the typewriter.

MCH: Yes, it was written by Anne or me.

EC/CC: On the typewriter.

MCH: Yes.

Article from the May 2, 1957, edition of the Evening Star. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress.

Hackman was later one of the two original members from Arlington on the Northern Virginia Regional Park Authority – a group that was authorized by the Virginia Assembly in order to oversee land purchases by local governments that would eventually become public land for regional parks. Hackman served on the Park Authority for 11 years and assisted with milestones including the purchase of the first regional park in Viriginia, in Fairfax in 1959, and early work to develop Four Mile Run as a park.

EC/CC: Any experiences that you had on the Park Authority?

MCH: One of the things that taught me a great deal was the chairman, Ira Gabrielson, who was internationally known as a conservationist. He and I, we didn't have any staff, we didn't have anybody. He and I would go to the various governing bodies and ask for money and so we were in Fairfax and he got up and went up to, the case was called and went up and stood at the podium and he was so dull and didn't seem to understand the questions. And I thought should I go stand with him and explain all of this but something told me, “No, don't do that.” So I sat and the Board voted four to three to give us what we've been asking for and I thought, “Well, I'd better drive Gabe home because he obviously isn't well.” So we got out in the parking lot and Gabe's eyes were twinkling like always and I said, "What was the matter with you in there?" and he said, "I learned long ago when you have a majority of the votes in your pocket, don't say anything interesting."

From left to right: Peggy Fisher, Dr. Kenneth Haggerty, and Northern Virginia Regional Park Board members Mary Cook Hackman and Dorothy Grotos in 1968.

However, Hackman’s career didn’t end here. Though she hadn’t attended college, she was accepted probationally to the American University School of Law to take classes. And while she wasn’t initially permitted to earn a law degree, the university offered her the certification to complete the Virginia Bar following her passage of the coursework. She later passed the courses and the bar, and was eventually awarded a law degree. After that, she opened her own law practice and practiced law for over 30 years, into her eighties.

EC/CC: You did take your Virginia Bar and passed.

MCH: Yes.

EC/CC: And then opened a law office.

MCH: Yes, because nobody hired women then. So I opened my own law office.

EC/CC: You've been practicing ever since?

MCH: Yes.

EC/CC: That was approximately when, when you opened that?

MCH: 1962.

The goal of the Arlington Voices project is to showcase the Center for Local History’s oral history collection in a publicly accessible and shareable way.

The Arlington Public Library began collecting oral histories of long-time residents in the 1970s, and since then the scope of the collection has expanded to capture the diverse voices of Arlington’s community. In 2016, staff members and volunteers recorded many additional hours of interviews, building the collection to 575 catalogued oral histories.

To browse our list of narrators indexed by interview subject, check out our community archive. To read a full transcript of an interview, make an appointment to visit the Center for Local History located at Central Library.

Shirlington’s Cinematic Past

Shirlington has long been a bustling shopping center in Arlington, and is home to the AMC Shirlington Cinema 7, one of four movie theaters in Arlington County.

The existing cinema at 2772 South Randolph Street is the second major theater to serve Shirlington’s movie-loving population, which began with the Shirlington Theatre nearby at 2800 South Randolph Street.

The Shirlington Theatre opened on January 31, 1946, and at the time was the County’s largest theater (and also was touted as possessing “the South’s largest screen”). The 980-seat cinema debuted with the film “Love Letters” and featured a pre-show performance by local composer Leon Brusiloff’s string ensemble.

Advertisement from the January 30, 1946, edition of the Evening Star announcing the debut of the Shirlington Theatre. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress

The theater was operated by the Alexandria Amusement Company and was part of a larger complex known as the “Shirlington Theatre Building,” which was home to other businesses including the Shirlington Radio Shop and various medical offices. In 1948, a notable addition to the Theatre Building was the Fairlington Library, which later became the Shirlington Library.

The Theatre Building was in turn part of the larger Shirlington Business Center, which until the 1960s was essentially segregated: Black patrons were allowed to shop, but were denied access to services such as eating at lunch counters or using leisure facilities like theaters. In June 1960, activists held a series of sit-ins at lunch counters around the County, including Lansburgh’s Colonial Room and Woolworth’s lunch counter in Shirlington. On June 22, Lansburgh's became the first Arlington lunch counter to desegregate, followed that same day by a number of other local restaurants. Arlington's theaters would not be desegregated until 1963, following protests led by civil rights leader Dorothy Hamm.

The Shirlington Theatre closed in 1957 and the building was demolished the following year to make way for the construction of a 150,000-square-foot Lansburgh’s department store, which operated in Arlington until the company went defunct in 1973.

Notice in the January 9, 1948, edition of the Sun about the opening of the Fairlington Library, which was located in the Shirlington Theater building. Image courtesy of Virginia Chronicle.

A July 8, 1947, article in the Arlington Daily shows local firefighters using the Shirlington Theatre as a training location.
Seven acres of land in the adjacent County Property Yard mentioned here were sold to the corporation for parking purposes after the theater was demolished. Image courtesy of Virginia Chronicle.

Shirlington Cinema 7 opened on December 18, 1987, once again bringing film to the South Arlington area. The 6-screen theater was operated by Circle Theatres, a popular local cinema chain that had been founded in 1957 by two law students at George Washington University.

The same year the Shirlington Cinema opened, Circle Cinemas was bought out by Cineplex Odeon, which later managed the Shirlington location. Subsequent mergers led to the theater being referred to as the “Shirlington Loews Cinema” and in 2006 it formally became an AMC theater.

Shirlington movie theater, advertising Jane Eyre, Flirting with Disaster, Fargo, Sense and Sensibility, and the Postman. 1996, 1 negative, b&w, 35mm.

Shirlington Cinema 7 at 2772 South Randolph Street in 1996.

AMC Shirlington Cinema 7 in 2021.

In 2015, the theater underwent a major renovation that included an expansion of its concessions and a reduction of its seating capacity in favor of the reclining chairs now popular in today’s cinemas. The theater is pictured here in 1996, with films including “Sense and Sensibility” and “Fargo” displayed on the marquee.

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Arlington’s Courthouse: A Tale in Three Acts

A Central Landmark of Local Government

Arlington’s Courthouse has served the community in many ways for over 170 years.

Arlington’s first courthouse was technically not even in Arlington: from 1847 to 1920, Arlington was a part of Alexandria, and the Alexandria Courthouse (which served what is now the Arlington area) was located at North Columbus Street and Queen Street.

However, due to the long distances people would have to travel from the present-day-Arlington area to get to that courthouse, a new site for a County courthouse was selected in Fort Myer Heights, on the Civil War site of Fort Woodbury.

Arlington County Courthouse, date unknown.

This building, which was designed by Albert Goenner, debuted for public use in 1898. The Victorian-style structure was instantly recognizable with its imposing 75-foot clocktower (though a clock was never installed).

Electricity was added around 1913 and adjoining wings were gradually constructed as Arlington’s population grew in the early decades of the 20th century.

The original Arlington County Courthouse, circa 1898, the year it was built.

A bird's-eye view of the Courthouse, featuring one of the later additions to the building.

Due to increasing demands as Arlington continued to grow, the 1898 building was torn down in 1960 and replaced by a more modern building. The seven-story tower was dedicated the following year and joined the existing additions and renovated wings, but the original Victorian-style edifice was fully replaced.

In 1990, a fire broke out in the Courthouse, causing damage and exposing asbestos in the facilities. After decontamination, the 1960s-era building served the County until 1995, when the present-day Courthouse building was completed at a site across the street at 1425 North Courthouse Road (pictured in 2021 in slide three).

The façade of Arlington's second Courthouse, pictured in 1972.

The current County Courthouse at 1425 North Courthouse Road., pictured in 2021

The old courthouse location was used by the fire department for training exercises until 1997, when it was demolished in a controlled implosion. That site is now a parking lot adjacent from the current Courthouse and detention center facility.

You can learn more about the Arlington Courthouse in these articles from the Arlington Historical Magazine, published by the Arlington Historical Society:

A History of the Arlington County Courthouse, by Jeanne Rose
Albert Goenner: The Forgotten Architect of Arlington's First Courthouse, by Willard J. Webb
Symbols of Justice from the Three Courthouses of Arlington, by George W. Dodge

Oral History: Don Tenoso

Arlington-based Native American artist and educator

Arlington Voices the Oral History Collection

Oral histories are used to understand historical events, actors, and movements from the point of view of real people’s personal experiences.

Artist Don Tenoso is a prolific creator, known for his Lakota-style dollmaking that depicts Sioux culture. Tenoso came to the Washington, D.C., area in 1991 as the first artist-in-residence at the Smithsonian’s Natural History Museum, where he created new pieces and led demonstrations for the public.

Don Tenoso, Sioux Doll-maker and Puppeteer.

Don Tenoso, circa 1990 at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. Image courtesy of the Smithsonian Institution Archives.

Tenoso was born in Riverside, California, and is a member of the Hunkpapa, one of the seven bands of the Teton Lakota Nation and part of the Sioux-speaking indigenous population. Tenoso’s mother was born on the Standing Rock reservation in South Dakota, and he is a descendant of One Bull and Sitting Bull. His father was in the U.S. military during Tenoso’s early life and the family often moved around the country and abroad.

The following interview excerpts are from a 2008 oral history with Tenoso. At the time of this interview, he had lived in Arlington for about 14 years. In the full interview, which can be accessed in print at the Center for Local History, Tenoso also discusses his family and lineage, as well as tribal traditions and the Lakota language.

Don Tenoso, circa 2005. Image courtesy of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, where Tenoso was the university’s first artist-in-residence at the Native American House.

Narrator: Don Tenoso
Interviewer: Tom Dickinson
Date: January 23, 2008
Note: The audio for this interview is currently unavailable.

Don Tenoso: I was the first artist-in-residence in the Natural History Museum. Prior to that they had brought me in for a three-day doll demonstration where they had taken one of the glass cases out of one of the Native halls there in Natural History at Smithsonian and by different artists coming in. Me, a Sioux doll maker, was invited to come up and do that. I guess they had spent like nine months trying to find me. I started dollmaking back in the seventies.

Anyway, in the eighties, ‘86 or so, ‘87, there was an article in American Indian Art magazine that was published about dolls. In ‘86 I believe it was, I had a one-man show down in Andrew Park, Oklahoma and they collected the International Crafts Board for four of my dolls.

So one of them got in that article and then the director over at education in the outreach program saw the doll and they said they wanted to find that guy.

Don Tenoso circa 1991 outside of the National Museum of Natural History with some of his works of art. The doll beside Tenoso is called “Iktorni,” or “trickster doll.” Image courtesy of the Smithsonian Institution Archives.

Leather holster created by Tenoso in 2006, covered in a beadwork design. Image courtesy of the British Museum, where the piece is held.

Tom Dickinson: How did you get started doing this [art practice]?

DT: Actually I started when I was in New York. I went out there because I heard that C. W. Post [campus of Long Island University] had a scholarship for Natives who wanted it to be teachers. It turns out they didn’t so I went to the American Indian Community House there in New York.

Actually, backpedal a little bit. I was born in Riverside, California in 1960. In ‘63 we were in France. We were there when de Gaulle kicked us out. So my earliest memories are there when the French high school kids were throwing rocks at us on the playground. They would stone our bus. I remember flying out of there and the U.S. piling up all these brand new, big boxes and stuff and just setting them on fire. Big old wrecking balls smashing holes into runways as you flew out. I also got to see some whales as we flew, that’s how low they went across the ocean. You can see the spouts and little tails going across.

So from there we go to Oklahoma City, so I got to meet all these Natives. They used to call it Indian Territory which is sort of a penal colony for Native Americans starting back through Trail of Tears, Andrew Jackson and all of that stuff.

From there we went and lived in Rapid [City] back where my grandma lived, lot of relatives in Rapid City, South Dakota, in the Black Hills which is our sacred area, which actually by federal courts is still our property. But they offered us $10 million or $100 million or something but we still don’t take it. Because our sacred Wind Cave is there and that’s one of our origin stories. We came from there. The thing about Wind Cave you stand there one hour of the day and it blows your hair back.

So geologists say, “Yeah, there’s probably an underground stream - they haven’t found it yet - flowing and air displacement and that’s causing your hair to go that way.” The only thing is you come back some hours later, same day, and now it’s sucking your hair into the cave. “I guess there’s a tilting rock or something under there that messes with it.” We say that’s Mother Earth breathing, that’s where she breathes from.

Learn more: View a program from the 1992 exhibit Contemporary Plains Indian Dolls, which took place at the Southern Plains Indian Museum and Crafts Center in Anadarko, Oklahoma. The exhibit featured a piece by Don Tenoso (“Gourd Clain Dancer,” figure 10).

This interview was conducted as part of The Many Faces of Arlington oral history project, which sought to document the County’s diverse population as a reflection on the 400th anniversary of the settlement of Jamestown by English colonizers.

The goal of the Arlington Voices project is to showcase the Center for Local History’s oral history collection in a publicly accessible and shareable way.

To browse our list of narrators indexed by interview subject, check out our community archive. To read a full transcript of an interview, visit the Center for Local History located at Central Library.

Oral History: J. Walter Tejada

Community Activist; Arlington County Board Member from 2003 - 2015

Oral histories are used to understand historical events, actors, and movements from the point of view of real people’s personal experiences.

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Walter Tejada’s County Board portrait, circa 2007.

In 2003, J. Walter Tejada became the first person of Latin American heritage to be elected to the Arlington County Board, or to any governing body in Northern Virginia.

Tejada served as County Board Chair in 2008 and 2013.

Tejada was born in El Salvador and immigrated to the United States at age 13, first settling with his family in Brooklyn, New York, and later moving to Trenton, New Jersey. After attending college and playing soccer at Keystone Junior College and Mercer College, he eventually moved to Arlington in 1987.

Tejada got his start as an activist and organizer after witnessing inequities faced by members of the Latinx community. He initially worked in groups addressing fair housing, job opportunities, and the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC). He also helped to establish a Salvadoran festival in Arlington, starting in 1995, focusing on Salvadoran culture.

The front page of El Pregonero, the official Spanish-language newspaper of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington, D.C., on March 13, 2003, following Tejada’s election to the County Board.

In 2003, Tejada was elected to the Arlington County Board in a special election following the death of Board member Charles P. Monroe. Tejada defeated longtime GOP activist Mike W. Clancy in the contest.

During his time on the board, Tejada continued to advocate for immigrant and Spanish-speaking communities, and served on numerous task forces and groups, including as chair on the governor’s Latino Advisory Commission.

J. Walter Tejada speaking at the National Rally for Citizenship on the West Lawn of the Capitol on April 10, 2013. Image courtesy of C-SPAN.

From left to right: County Board members J. Walter Tejada, John Vihstadt, Jay Fisette, Mary Hynes and Libby Garvey in 2014.

Since his time in County government, he was appointed to the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority Board of Directors and is president of the Virginia Latino Leaders Council.

In the following oral history interview, conducted prior to his election to the County Board, Tejada discusses his childhood, coming to Arlington, and his early work in activism. In these excerpts from the interview, he discusses first impressions of the County and his work with LULAC’S Council 4609, which encompasses Arlington.

This interview is available in full at the Center for Local History. Note: The audio for this interview is currently not available.

Narrator: J. Walter Tejada

Interviewer: Ingrid Kauffman

Date: October 27, 2000

J. Walter Tejada: One of the things I saw when I lived in DC - actually, one of the first things I recognized was that - actually since I started visiting Robin [Liten-Tejada] when she went to school here -- is that DC had a much larger Latino population than New Jersey, and I liked that. Remember, I mentioned that when we lived in New York there weren't that many Salvadorans at all, even when we lived in New Jersey, there was one person that was Salvadoran, and he lived like 10 miles away. It was odd that I came here and suddenly there was a Salvadoran population.

Ingrid Kauffman: What year was that?

WT: 1987. I thought, “this is great.” There were some restaurants; I hadn't eaten pupusas for years, which is one of my favorite Salvadoran dishes, just like almost every day. I saw this and it really piqued my interest. In fact, it was a determining point why I ended up moving here, when we were talking about what we were going to do with our lives. I'd come to visit and see all this and I liked that. The climate here, so many people from different backgrounds, different perspectives and accents, cultural activities - to me, it was like a paradise for these activities. When I was working in D.C. I also saw that the Latino community was really - first of all, there was no political power. Then - the community - not all but certainly a good portion of the community finds itself in a very tough socio-economic situation.

WT: Three things [LULAC Council 4609] did were voter registration, citizenship, and leadership development. That part I liked because it made it so broad for different things. I decided I was going to be involved in that aspect, because we would promote meetings, forums, community forums, where elected officials or public officials would meet with the community to address issues of concern with the community, sort of like putting a little bridge into what needed - the issues of importance. I started, and I would go to places and grab chairs, move them around, set up the coffee machine, make sure donuts were there.

We did forums on gang prevention activities, the educational system in Arlington, how it was being responsive to Latinos or not. We've done forums in the business community - what opportunities there could be to incorporate Latinos into the business world. We did citizenship workshops where we published that on a certain day people could come in with all their material that we would specify, like passport, proof of where they lived, proof where they worked, birth certificates for their kids, and helped them fill out these applications in order to apply to become citizens. We would have lawyer friends who would come and volunteer in these workshops so that we can help people.

The goal of the Arlington Voices project is to showcase the Center for Local History’s oral history collection in a publicly accessible and shareable way.

Remembering September 11 with Photos of First Responders

The Center for Local History has recently digitized many additional photographs from the Community Archives taken at the Pentagon at the time of September 11, 2001, by Mike Defina, a fire captain with the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority Fire and Rescue Department.

Some of the National Airport personnel prior to being deployed to the Pentagon attack site on the morning of September 12. From left to right: CCT Mike Fetsko, Deputy Fire Marshal David Norris, Captain John Durrer, Paramedic Captain David Testa, Captain Mike Defino, Tech. Ralph Cornell, Paramedic Mike Murphy, Tech. Troy Hutchinson, Tech. Paul Purcell, Fire Fighter Delcan Hickey, Fire Fighter Nick Buongiorne (kneeling). 2001, 1 print, col., 8 x 10 in..

National Airport personnel deployed to the Pentagon Sept. 12, 2001. L to R: CCT Mike Fetsko, Deputy Fire Marshal David Norris, Captain John Durrer, Paramedic Captain David Testa, Captain Mike Defino, Tech. Ralph Cornell, Paramedic Mike Murphy, Tech. Troy Hutchinson, Tech. Paul Purcell, Firefighter. Photo: Mike Defina.

These images are just a few of the Community Archives collection Records Related to the September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attacks on the Pentagon, which is made up of textual materials, photographs, some memorabilia, and audio-visual materials. The bulk of the collection dates from 2001-2002 and features photographs of the aftermath and days after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack on the Pentagon. (Note: some of these photos may contain sensitive or disturbing material).

That morning a westbound plane took off from Dulles airport, was hijacked by terrorists and crashed into the Pentagon. One hundred and eighty-nine people died in the crash, including the 64 passengers on Flight 77. On the same morning two more hijacked planes were flown into the World Trade Center in New York City, and a fourth hijacked plane crashed in rural Pennsylvania. Nearly 3,000 people died in the tragedy, changing both the country and Arlington forever.

Firefighters and first responders from Arlington County, Fort Myer, and Reagan National Airport were essential in coordinating the Pentagon rescue and response, arriving within minutes of the plane crash.

Arlington County Fire Department took the lead, establishing an Incident Command System across the region to respond to the emergency. Firefighters were able to get the fire under control on the first day, but it took three days to fully extinguish.

Fire fighters taking a much-needed break at the National Airport fire station at 10 p.m. on September 11, after a daylong rescue effort at the Pentagon. Photo credit: Mike Defina.

The images in this collection depict both the horrific nature of the crash and Pentagon fires, the resilience and bravery of the first responders, and many spontaneous memorial events.

Fire fighters display a large American flag on the front of the National Airport fire station, two days after the 9/11 attack on the Pentagon. 2001, 1 print, col., 4 x 6 in..

Firefighters display a large American flag on the front of the National Airport fire station, two days after the 9/11 attack on the Pentagon. Photo: Mike Defina.

The two foam units, along with their crews, that were on the original call to the Pentagon on September 11, parked in front of the American flag displayed on the front of the National Airport fire station. Photo: Mike Defina.

A memorial of flags, flowers, and signs near the Pentagon following the September 11 terrorist attack. Photo: Mike Defina.

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Additional physical materials in the collection are held in the Arlington Community Archives for research use, including many thank-you cards written by school children to the firefighters of the Arlington Fire Department, County Manager Ron Carlee's papers used during the response, after-action reports, ephemera from memorial services, and VHS tape recordings of memorial events.

While these additional items have yet to be digitized, those who wish to research them may use the online finding aid to determine which boxes or folders would be useful and/or contact the Center for Local History to make a research consultation appointment.

Oral histories from the five-year anniversary of September 11, 2001 are also available online in the Center for Local History's digitized Community Archive.

Members of the Arlington County Fire Department posing with children in front of a mural created to thank them for their service. 2001, 1 print, col., 8 x 10 in..

Arlington County Fire Department members pose with children in front of a mural created to thank them for their service. Photo: Mike Defina.

Do you have Arlington materials related to the events September 11, 2001 that you would like to donate?

The Center for Local History (CLH) collects, preserves, and shares historical documents that tell the history of Arlington County, its citizens, organizations, businesses, and social issues. Learn about how you can help to build Arlington's community history on the CLH Donation webpage.

Oral History: Buckingham Florist

Interview with Neil Bassin

Oral histories are used to understand historical events, actors, and movements from the point of view of real people’s personal experiences.

Arlington has a lengthy history of legacy floral shops, and among those was Buckingham Florist, a mainstay of the Buckingham neighborhood for almost 80 years.

Buckingham Florist was founded by Myer and Jean Bassin in Arlington in 1942, and the couple later opened a second location in Coral Hills, Maryland. The business did floral arrangements for a variety of events and venues, with the nearby Arlington National Cemetery among their primary sites of business.

At one point, Buckingham Florist was the primary supplier of flowers for the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. The shop’s federal connections didn’t stop there, however: one of the shop’s floral designers, Elmer “Rusty” Young, went on to serve as a florist in the White House in the Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon administrations. Young was appointed the first White House Chief Floral Designer by Jacqueline Kennedy, and continued in that position throughout the rest of his career.

Buckingham Florist, right, in 1996.

The shop moved to its long-term location at 301 North Glebe Road in the bustling Buckingham Shopping Center in the mid-1950s, having previously been located on the south side of Glebe. Myer and Jean Bassin’s son Neil Bassin ran Buckingham Florist throughout the latter half of the 20^th century. He sold the shop in the mid-2000s, and the Buckingham storefront closed permanently in 2017.

In this oral history interview, Neil Bassin (1932-2019) discusses the legacy of the business and how the shop supplied its flowers. The interview in full goes on to discuss other topics, such as changes in the floral industry and the business environment of Buckingham throughout the 20^th century.

Narrator: Neil Bassin
Interviewer: Virginia Smith
Date: May 14, 2012

Photos of the Bassin family from the February 8, 1965, issue of the Northern Virginia Sun. Image courtesy of Virginia Chronicle.

Neil Bassin: In most aspects of the florist business, we were very successful because of the location we were in. People knew us. And that’s, I would say, the major factor in why our business was so successful, until the people met me or my mother, or you know. And just personal business, where the people knew us. I mean, we had people when they were born. We had them when they were married, and we had them when they died because the business is over sixty years.

Virginia Smith: That’s a nice legacy, isn’t it? Sixty years of business.

NB: Yeah, it’s a long time.

VS: Tell me who your suppliers were of flowers.

NB: Well, lots. Mostly, downtown florists, wholesalers. And when I first got in, it was downtown wholesalers. They were all—

VS: Is that the name of it? Downtown—?

NB: No.

VS: Oh, multiple—?

NB: They were mostly around one block downtown.

VS: Where was that block?

NB: It was between Fourteenth and Thirteenth on the street before K Street. K Street was a park in those days.

VS: Yes.

NB: Like a little park. And then down Fourteenth Street, on the right was Schaffer’s Retail Florist.

VS: Okay, but Shaffer was a wholesaler also—

NB: Then, Shaffer was a wholesaler. McCallum Sauber was a wholesaler, and they were really instrumental in helping us get in business because my uncle sort of knew the owners. And they did help us. My uncle was very artistic, and he was a big help in getting us into the business. But, there were Paul’s Wholesale Florist and Goody Brothers.

VS: Oh, I know that name.

NB: And around the corner was District Wholesale, and Flowers Incorporated, which was also a wholesale florist. And so they were all in one area until they sold that block and razed that block, where they all moved out and spread out.

Advertisement for Buckingham Florist in the Washington, D.C., Yellow Pages in 1960. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress.

Elmer “Rusty” Young, Chief Floral Designer at the White House, prepares an arrangement in the Floral Room, August 28, 1963. Young was previously a floral designer at Buckingham Florist. Image courtesy of the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library of Museum.

The goal of the Arlington Voices project is to showcase the Center for Local History’s oral history collection in a publicly accessible and shareable way.

Washington Golf and Country Club

The Washington Golf and Country Club is considered the oldest golf club in Virginia, and its course now comprises 88 acres of land just off of Glebe Road in North Arlington.

The Washington Golf and Country Club, taken in the late 1930s. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress.

The club was incorporated in 1894 by members of the Metropolitan Club, though evidence exists that it was first organized in 1892. The Club was a social and literary group founded by employees of the Treasury Department and whose members were of the elite echelons of Washington society, including Senators, ambassadors, and other men in high government positions.

This was around the time when golf was becoming a major recreational craze. The 9-hole golf course was built on a 165-acre tract leased from the Hoover family, just north of Rosslyn. The Hoover family home became the de facto clubhouse for the golfers. It was noted that a man named Jackson also lived and worked on the property that became the golf course. Jackson had been enslaved by the Hoover family and later became their servant and then a servant at the golf club.

The Washington Golf Club in the 1920s at the Rixey property.

The golf club adhered to a strict set of rules, including regulation dress and a ban on gambling on the premises. An annual fee was between $15-$20, and by 1897 there were nearly 200 members. About 30 women had joined the club by 1898, though they would play on “ladies’ links.”

The club was disbanded in 1907 when the property owners decided to develop the land, and the following year it was incorporated under a new name, the Washington Country Club. Between 1908 and 1920 the club and a now-18-hole course were located at the property of Admiral Rixey, the then-United States Surgeon General.

This property also included tennis courts. Theodore Roosevelt and Howard Taft were honorary members, and Woodrow Wilson was also an active member, leading it to be known as the “Playground of Presidents.”

A man identified as A.W. Howard plays at the Washington Golf Club, circa 1925. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress.

In 1915 the club’s name was changed to its current iteration as the Washington Golf and Country Club. In 1936 a fire destroyed the clubhouse and the club’s records, though it was rebuilt on the same foundations by 1937. In 1958, another new clubhouse was built, and the current clubhouse was completed in 2006.

Want to learn more about golf history in the region? Check out Golf and Civil Rights in Washington, DC.

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.

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