Center for Local History Blog

After the Beatles launched the “British Invasion” of the 1960s, it seemed like every town in America soon had any number of aspiring rockers forming their own garage bands and Arlington was no exception.

Although usually regarded as a Washington D.C. band, local heroes The Cherry People had very strong connections to Arlington. The core of the band was the Grimes brothers, Chris and Doug, and Edwin Lionel “Punky” Meadows, who formed the Intruders in 1964 in Washington, D.C. A year later they moved to Arlington and became The English Setters and released three 45s. By the summer of ’67 they changed their name again, to The Cherry People, and began to play regularly in area nightclubs and WPGC-sponsored dances at Washington-Lee High School.

After a trip to New York, the band landed a contract with the Heritage Records label, and spent the entire fall of 1967 recording an album in New York City. The band soon found their songs were compromised by their record label, which added strings and horns in an attempt to promote a more pop sound. A devastating live band known for explosive guitar playing reminiscent of Jimi Hendrix, the album was released in May 1968, but its bubblegum-pop sound failed to represent what the Cherry People were really all about.

Though the band soldiered on, they never regained the focus and momentum of their early days, finally calling it quits in 1975. Guitarist “Punky” Meadows later achieved a degree of fame with the 70s hard rock band, Angel. The Cherry People’s album has recently been reissued on CD by the Collectibles label.

What about you?

Do you remember the Cherry People? Let us know what you remember!

J.E.B. Stuart Homes

The J.E.B. Stuart homes were one of several federally funded projects that built low-cost WWII housing with a minimum of amenities.

Built in the southern part of the county, they were constructed without regard to Arlington County building and zoning regulations. Segregated according to race, as was the custom at that time, the George Pickett, Shirley, J.E.B. Stuart and Jubal Early homes were for whites. The George Washington Carver and Paul Dunbar home were for blacks. The homes were built on concrete slabs without basements and heated by coal stoves. Tenants were selected on the basis of need. Residents of the Stuart homes, pictured above, and the other developments were for people employed by the rapidly-growing federal government during the war years; Arlington County in general had a significant upsurge in population during the 1930s and 1940s.

After the war, those who could afford to moved out of the homes and the properties gradually deteriorated. The federal government wanted to dispose of the projects and offered them to the County to be used for low income families living in sub-standard housing. However, the County decided against the offer as acceptance would have entailed the establishment of a local Housing Authority, a proposal which was very controversial at the time. As a result, the homes that had been built to a higher, more permanent standard were sold to tenants and the others were razed.

What About You?

Do you remember the J.E.B. Stuart homes and similar housing? What were the war years like in Arlington? Let us know what you remember!

Whenever the subject of air travel or airports in Arlington is raised, it is perhaps inevitable that talk of National Airport will dominate any discussion. A glance through decades past, however, reveals the interesting story of Hoover Airport, Arlington’s first airfield.

Located in a pasture at the south end of the 14th Street Bridge on land now chiefly occupied by the Pentagon, Hoover Airport opened in 1926. Curiously enough, the following year saw another airport, Washington Airport, open virtually next door to Hoover on grounds previously housing a race track and horse show. After four years, the two combined services and became a single enterprise operating under the name Hoover Airport.

Diminutive even by 1930 standards, Hoover Airport had a single 2,400 foot runway which was intersected at mid-point by a road which had to be chained off by guards when the aircraft were landing or taking off. As advances were rapidly being made in the field of aviation, the shortcomings of Hoover Airport soon became apparent. In 1938, ground was broken at Gravelly Point, located at the Potomac’s edge where the Abingdon estate had been, and by 1941, Washington National Airport was open for business and Hoover Airport was no more.

What About You?

What are your memories regarding air travel from and to Arlington? Let us know what you remember!

Around this time each year, the cry of “Play Ball!” heralds the start of another season of baseball.

While the Washington Senators, Baltimore Orioles, and now the Washington Nationals dominate most local discussions concerning America’s Pastime, there is a fascinating, if unheralded, aspect of baseball that took root decades ago in Arlington’s African-American community. The earliest team, dating back to 1910, the Old Virginia Blues, played each Sunday on a field in East Arlington near Arlington Junction.

The two best known teams, the Virginia White Sox and the Green Valley Black Sox, started playing ball in the 1930’s and helped to provide a gathering place for local residents and families to socialize. Starting around May 30th of each year, weekends would see teams competing at a ball field situated near High View Park, on land which is now occupied by the Virginia Hospital Center, near George Mason Drive and Lee Highway. After the land was purchased for development, the teams folded, lacking a place to play.

What About You?

Did you have a family member, or, perhaps know anyone that played for the Virginia White Sox or the Green Valley Black Sox? Let us know what you remember!

In 1900, Congress transferred 400 acres of land along the Potomac near Ft. Myer to the Department of Agriculture in order to create an experimental farm for plant testing and the improvement of plants and methods of cultivation.

The area had been neglected for many years and even the top soil had been taken for the National Cemetery. Over the years a number of interesting activities and experiments took place at the farm:

• Americans on governmental or private missions abroad were encouraged to send foreign plants home to see if they would help improve domestic plants. The farm naturalized over 100,000 types of foreign plants for domestic use; soybeans are one of the best known crops to be introduced this way.
• When a plant disease threatened to wipe out the domestic sugarcane industry in the 1920s, the Farm led the way in developing immunity to this blight which ultimately resulted in the rebuilding of the sugarcane industry.
• One of the more unusual examples of the Farm’s experiments involved grasses for golf greens. Before WWI the country’s golf courses were almost entirely dependent on German grown seed for their grasses. When the supply was cut off by the war, golf courses throughout the country contributed funds for experiments at Arlington to develop new domestic varieties.

With the development of Arlington National Cemetery and the construction of Memorial Bridge there was pressure to relocate the farm.

In 1932 much of the farm’s work was shifted to Beltsville, MD, and by 1941 the remainder of the property had been transferred to the War Department for use in the National Defense Program.

What About You?

Do you recall the Arlington experimental farm? Let us know what you remember!