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Arlington Public Library

Center for Local History Blog

Dedicated to collecting, preserving and sharing the history of the community.

The Ashton Heights Women’s Club

The Ashton Heights Women’s Club originally started as a sewing circle that met near the Clarendon area in 1923.

It only took a year for membership to increase so much that the members decided to establish a women’s club instead. Since there were 35 charter members of the club, the women decided they needed a permanent meeting place, and went to local real estate developer Ashton Jones. Jones not only provided a lot on N. Irving Street, near Pershing Drive, but also helped obtain a loan to purchase the lot and build a clubhouse. To show their appreciation, the new club named themselves after Jones and “his” neighborhood, becoming the Ashton Heights Women’s Club.

Over the years, the Ashton Heights Women’s Club gained recognition for their work in the community. They organized bake sales, pot-luck dinners and garage sales, and let local youth and church groups hold dances and socials in their building. They also sponsored youth scholarships.

In 1927, the club joined other women’s clubs in the county to form the Federation of Women’s Clubs of Arlington County, which later was affiliated with the Virginia Federation of Women’s Clubs and the national General Federation of Women’s Clubs. Scrapbook contests, where individual clubs created scrapbooks covering their activities in a given year, were sponsored by all three federations. The scrapbook above is for the 1940-1941 club year, and has a watercolor drawing of the clubhouse on the cover.

In 2005, the club, down to a handful of older members, disbanded and sold their property on N. Irving Street. Their scrapbooks and other records were donated to the Arlington Community Archives, along with a generous monetary donation to preserve ten of their scrapbooks. The scrapbooks selected for preservation all have hand-decorated pages and fancy lettering, making these scrapbooks not just chronicles of the Ashton Heights Women’s Club’s activities, but beautiful artifacts in their own right.

What About You?

Were you or someone you know a member of the Ashton Heights Women’s Club? Did you attend any of their events? What about other local women’s clubs? Let us know what you remember!

 

50 Years of Education, 50 Years of Good Friends

2006 marked the fiftieth anniversary of the first graduating class from Wakefield High School.
Originally built to house 2,000 students, an article in the December 1955 School Board Journal described the building as “an easily maintainable, functionally designed building that cleverly utilizes local materials.”

In the first PTA Bulletin (September 1953), the staff was described as follows:

77 members hold BA’s
33 members hold MA’s
2 members hold PhD’s

Average number of years experience in the profession: 6

The goal for the first PTA night was 1,000 members and those who wished to join were asked to “bring pencils, as well as the correct amount of money for dues – $1 for each family or 75 cents for an individual parent or teacher.”

The Virginia Room holds an almost complete run of Wakefield High School yearbooks, and the Community Archives holds PTA and school records, including student-created posters for the 1970-71 school year. The Virginia Room is also the official repository for the Arlington County School Board records.

Alumni and friends will be on hand for the Virginia Room’s “Arlington Reunion” program Friday, September 29, at 10 a.m. in the Central Library auditorium to share their memories of Wakefield. If you have stories to share come join us for the program!

What About You?

Did you go to Wakefield High School? Let us know what you remember!

 

Breaking Religious Barriers

Herman J. Obermayer, former owner of the Northern Virginia Sun and first openly Jewish member of the Washington Golf and Country Club in the twentieth century:

“I joined in ’77 so a year or so earlier I was contacted by two friends of mine who were prominent in the community who I knew who said would I like to become a member, that they thought it was about time to have a Jewish member and I could afford it and I was prominent and blah, blah.

“I said yes if there would not be a fight. It didn’t mean that much. . . But if they wanted me I thought it would add a dimension to my life and I’d be glad to if I wasn’t going to be in a fight.

“Within a month or two they contacted me and said there wouldn’t be. These friends of mine who shepherded me through reported that there was a single member of the board who was opposed to having a Jewish member and that most of the leaders felt very positively that it was time for Washington Golf and Country Club to have Jewish members and if I was willing to be a member they would like to have me.

“I had the particularly gratifying experience of having seven or eight sponsoring letters from people when they heard this was coming up wanted to get involved in supporting us. I’d like to believe it was because we were so charming but I really believe its because they really thought it was time for Washington Golf and Country Club not to be known as a place that excluded Jews. And we have now belonged 26 or 27 years and I have never had a single question about anything. In the meantime I indicated that I hoped I wouldn’t be a token, that they would take in other Jews. I didn’t make any conditions. Within a very few years they took in several.”

The image above was taken from a Franklin Survey map book of Arlington, published in 1935. The quote above is from our oral history collection, which you can find in the library catalog. Survey and plat map books, and oral history tapes and transcripts are available in the Virginia Room.

 

What About You?
What do you remember about Washington Golf and Country Club? What are your experiences with the Jewish community in Arlington? Let us know what you remember!

 

"The Magazine"

The history of your neighborhood, churches, civil war forts and other historic sites in Arlington.

AHS covert

Did you know that in earlier times Arlington County was part of the District of Columbia?

When and why did Arlington adopt the county manager form of government?

When did Sears’ mail-order houses first appear in Arlington?

The “Arlington Historical Magazine” will help you answer these questions and discover other interesting facts about the history of Arlington County. Published annually since October 1957 by the Arlington Historical Society, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary this fall, the Magazine is a wonderful resource for researchers and history enthusiasts.

Issues typically feature writings about the history of buildings, roads, railways, airports, Civil War camps and forts, and civic leaders in Arlington, or feature recollections of longtime Arlingtonians. Illustrations, sketches, maps and photographs often support the research and add to the reader’s education and enjoyment. Articles submitted to this journal of scholarly research are evaluated by an editorial board.

The Virginia Room has a complete run of the Magazine, with an index created by staff.

 

 What About You?

Have you attended a Historical Society function, or visited their home on Arlington Ridge Road? Let us know what you remember!

 

School Days at Stewart Elementary

Stewart school

Stewart Elementary School, erected in 1938, was located at 2400 N. Underwood Street, and named for Charles E. Stewart, a noted civic leader of East Falls Church.

It was rare to name a school in Arlington for a living person, but an exception was made in Mr. Stewart’s case. At the school’s dedication, Dr. Henry Knowles of the East Falls Church Citizens Association, said “. . . this school was not named for Mr. Stewart so much for what he did as for what he is. . . this school was named for character.”

In 1953 Tuckahoe Elementary School was built nearby at 6550 N. 26th Street. Third and fourth graders stayed at the old Stewart school while kindergartners, 1st, 2nd, 5th and 6th graders attended Tuckahoe. Students of both schools visited the library, attended assemblies and had hot lunches at Tuckahoe. In 1971, Stewart school was given to the Recreation Department. Today, the former site of Stewart School is Charles E. Stewart Park with a multi-use field, playground basketball court, gazebo and wooded grassy area.

 

What About You?
Did you go to Stewart or Tuckahoe Elementary? Did you use Stewart when it belonged to the Recreation Department? Let us know what you remember!

 

The Flying Machine

In 1908, Orville Wright arrived in Arlington to show his “flying machine” to military officers at Fort Myer.

The army had requested bids for a plane that could hold two men and fly for at least one hour for observation and reconnaissance purposes. Orville and his brother Wilbur built the machine and Orville brought it to Fort Myer for a demonstration. Orville made several flights in the first two weeks of September, setting new endurance records and impressing his audience, which included interested members of the public. However, on his last flight on the 17th, the plane crashed. Wright was injured and Lt. Thomas E. Selfridge was killed. The Selfridge Gate of Arlington National Cemetery now stands near the crash site.

Despite the crash, the US Army was interested in Wright’s machine. The brothers made improvements to the plane when it was repaired, and did a new round of flights at Fort Myer during the summer of 1909. The new machine was bought by the Army and called Signal Corps Airplane No. 1.

Silent film footage of a 1908 flight have been recently found at Fort Myer. The Virginia Room holds maps and reports documenting Fort Myer at the start of the 20th century.

What About You?

Were you or a family member stationed at Fort Meyer? Did you ever attend one of their public events? Let us know what you remember!

 

Ready, Set, GO!!!!!

The Optimist Club

For many years after its inception in 1946, the Optimist Club of Arlington sponsored a kids coaster car race in the summer.

The race pictured shown here took place on August 19, 1950. All the participants received a t-shirt, and many went home with ribbons, but it is unknown if the boys built their own cars, or where exactly the race took place.

Optimist Clubs are local groups under the mantle of Optimist International that serve youth by providing scholarships and activities that promote good citizenship and good character. Today, the Arlington Optimist Club holds essay and oratorical contests, has a large Christmas tree sale, and sponsors many youth sports teams.

The photograph above comes from a collection put together for a 50th anniversary publication. Many photos of the Arlington Optimist Club’s membership and activities, as well as newsletters, directories and other archival material, can be found in the Arlington Community Archives. Finding aids to the collection can be found in the Virginia Room.

What About You?

Are you or a family member an Optimist? Did you participate or attend in any Optimist Club-sponsored activities, such as the coaster car race? Let us know what you remember!

 

Floating Repairs

 

The photograph above shows members of Arlington’s Department of Public Works repairing the Chain Bridge water main in 1987.

Today, the Department of Environmental Services (DES) would be doing these repairs. DES looks after the county’s transportation system, its environment, and its capital investment, providing maintenance and daily operations. This organizational change took place in 2004.

There are four water mains in the Chain Bridge area. Three pipes, built in the 1920s and the 1940s, are attached to the bridge itself. A fourth pipe, 48″ in diameter and made of pre-stressed concrete, was built underneath the Potomac river bottom in 1967. This pipe is probably what is being repaired in the photograph. The Chain Bridge mains provide water for a large portion of the County. When a newly replaced above-ground main burst on March 12, 2006, over 100,000 residents were affected.

The Virginia Room holds many photographs depicting the day-to-day work of Arlington employees. It also holds some water and sewage records from the old Department of Public Works, dating from the 1920s to the 1980s.

What About You?
Do you remember losing your water in March 2006? How about losing water or electricity at other times? How did Arlington employees help you? Let us know what you remember!

 

The Virginia Room Needs Help!

The Virginia Rooms holds dozens of photographs with unidentified people and places…

This photo is just one.

Taken probably in the late 1970s or 1980s, it is of several homes along an unknown street in Arlington. There are clues that the houses could be located in the Courtlands or Colonial Terrace neighborhoods, but we are not sure. If the homes in this photograph are familiar to you, please contact the Virginia Room.

What About You?

Do you recognize anything in this photograph? What do you remember about the Courtlands and Colonial Terrace neighborhoods? Let us know what you remember!

 

Arlington Gardens: the 1930s

Oral History with Barbara Ball Savage

Eggplant

A young winner at the 1986 Arlington County fair, photographed by County Photographer Debbie Ernst.

Barbara Ball Savage grew up at the Glebe House (listed on the National Register of Historic Places).

Her father was Frank Ball, Sr., who served as both Commonwealth Attorney and State Senator for many years. This quote is from her oral history. The recording and transcription are available in the Virginia Room.

The 1930s

“Oh, Daddy always had a big vegetable garden and then he would get in some contest with somebody down at the courthouse, who was going to have the first tomato by the 4th of July, who was going to have the first ear of corn. And this kidding went on all the time over the garden. But it sure tasted good. And he would tell Mother to get the kettle boiling and then he’d go out and pull the corn. There wasn’t five minutes between the time it was pulled and it was in the water. Which kept the sweetness. Oh, we had a big vegetable garden. I can remember my brother Frank talking about how they used dynamite to break up the soil — it was such hard clay there – to plant the trees in the orchard. And in the summer, I never had applesauce that wasn’t homemade applesauce until I was married. . . I make damson preserves because that’s what my mother and grandmother made. And they used to go out to Vienna to get the Damsons. They’d send Frank out on the little train, the trolley that went out to Vienna. And he’d come home with two buckets of Damsons and then my mother would make Damson preserves for the winter.”

The 1980s

The Arlington County Fair, which celebrated its 30th anniversary in 2006, gives awards for exemplary flowers, fruits and vegetables grown in home gardens. The photograph above, taken by County Photographer Debbie Ernst, shows a young winner at the 1986 fair. Gardening is alive and well in Arlington!

What About You?

Did you cultivate a garden in your yard? Where did you and your family go to get fresh produce? Let us know!

 



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