Home to one of the earliest church congregations in Arlington County, the unique history of Walker Chapel is that of...

  Home to one of the earliest church congregations in Arlington County, the unique history of Walker Chapel is that...

In 1949, Arlington established a formal Department of Recreation for the rapidly growing and developing county. However, the classes, clubs,...

Reserve Hill and George Saegmuller George Nicholas Saegmuller was a native of Germany who came to live in Washington in...

Lyonhurst, or Missionhurst as it is now known, is a Spanish Mission-style stucco house originally built in 1907 as a...

  And now we bring you the last part of the Library Director’s annual “Don’t Touch That Dial” holiday-music blog...

This week we bring you the Library Director’s annual “Don’t Touch That Dial” holiday-music blog post, designed to chase the...

  This week we bring you the Library Director’s annual “Don’t Touch That Dial” holiday-music blog post, designed to chase...

Arlington and Fairfax have a football rivalry that goes back many years! The insert to the game program for the...

With Halloween lurking just around the corner, it seems only appropriate that we should rummage through some of Arlington’s own...

One of the busiest areas of Arlington can be found in Clarendon, where Washington Boulevard, Wilson Boulevard and Clarendon Boulevard...

Summer’s here. . . I’m for that. Got my rubber sandals, got my straw hat. Schools out for summer. Schools...

The Reed-Westover facility, new home of the Westover Branch Library, has been awarded Gold Certification in the Leadership in Energy...

  According to an article in the American Business Review in December 1929, Ruby Lee Minar was the “most successful...

Watch video of the full program on vimeo. The Real Deal arrived last night in Arlington. It wasn’t the Beatles...

Rixey Mansion, now part of Marymount University, stands on the site of Mary Ann Hall’s country house.   Mary Ann...

Arlington Reads 2010: Know What You Eat Here’s a little bit of last night’s Arlington Reads Community Book Discussion of...

The Arlington Years Thoughts From County Native and Arlington Public Library Director, Diane Kresh The last several days of wintery...

Of the two Shreve family cemeteries in Arlington, the Southern-Shreve cemetery could possibly lay claim to having a more unique...

  Here we come a caroling-’tis the season to be seasonal. It’s that most wonderful time of the year for...

The Arlington Years Thoughts From County Native and Arlington Public Library Director, Diane Kresh It was announced at today’s County...

Progressive rock… I’m sure that some of you still have a few King Crimson, Yes, Moody Blues, or Emerson, Lake, &...

                The new Westover Branch Library opened October 31, 2009, at the corner...

Swimming in Arlington The young girls above are enjoying a rarity in Arlington County: swimming in an outdoor pool. Although...

The Arlington Years Thoughts from County Native and Arlington Public Library Director, Diane Kresh Greetings Readers, We wanted to let...

The Arlington Years Thoughts from County Native and Arlington Public Library Director, Diane Kresh More details to come but we’ve...

The Arlington Years Thoughts from County Native and Arlington Public Library Director, Diane Kresh Sad news today about someone who...

Arlington Reads 2009 Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court On April 30, Library Director Diane Kresh and Arlington...

Quarries for Washington Arlington is not known for its vibrant Italian community, but actually at one time there was a...

From School to Historical Society Driving along Arlington Ridge Road you pass an old two-story brick building with a bell...

Over the years, Arlington County has seen many residences and buildings rise and fall, but few can claim to have...

The Arlington Years Thoughts from County Native and Arlington Public Library Director, Diane Kresh As submitted to the County Board,...

The Arlington Years Thoughts from County Native and Arlington Public Library Director, Diane Kresh Hello, The following is based on...

The Arlington Years Thoughts from County Native and Arlington Public Library Director, Diane KreshDear friends,As we adjust to the new...

UFOs in Arlington!   Arlington’s X-Files, Pt. 1 At some time in our lives, most of us have seen something...

The Arlington Years Thoughts from County Native and Arlington Public Library Director, Diane Kresh Fifty years ago today teen pop...

The Arlington Years Thoughts from County Native and Arlington Public Library Director, Diane Kresh Visit Flickr for more of my...

Remembering Ellen Bozman When Arlingtonians attend a Neighborhood Day celebration, shop at retail stores built in high-rises across the street...

The Arlington Years Thoughts from County Native and Arlington Public Library Director, Diane Kresh Yesterday was the King’s birthday. He...

The Arlington Years Thoughts from County Native and Arlington Public Library Director, Diane Kresh Several weeks ago I had the...

Do you hear what I hear? As another holiday season has us in the grip (or gripe), I am reminded...

The commercial area now known as Ballston was called Parkington from the 1950s into the 1980s. The name referred to...

The Arlington Years Thoughts from County Native and Arlington Public Library Director, Diane Kresh A capacity crowd was treated Dec....

Oral histories are a vibrant and personal part of the Virginia Room’s collection. Here, Barbara Ball Savage, a W &...

July 2, 2019 update: Staff from the Center for Local History were recently contacted by a former firefighter who was...

The Arlington Years Thoughts from County Native and Arlington Public Library Director, Diane Kresh On a brisk and clear September...

The ruins of Abingdon Plantation sit on a hill by a roadway in busy Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. The...

CLH Archive Post: Shelley Mann, an Olympic gold and silver medalist in the 1956 games in Melbourne, Australia, was a...

Arlington Beach and Amusement Park opened May 30, 1923, on the Potomac River in the vicinity of the Long Bridge...

Ayers’ Variety & Hardware in Westover is a unique store; their specialty is everything. From screws to toys to lawn...

On May 24, 1861, Union troops came over the river to Arlington. At the time, Alonzo Hayes, Jr., lived with...

Ellis Radio and Television Cleffie L. Ellis was born in Warren County, N.C. and moved to the Washington area in...

As an example of Arlington’s gradual change from a rural to an urban county, a milk can is used to...

The photo above is of an unidentified industrial area of Arlington flooded by the Potomac River. If you look carefully,...

Excerpt from Oral History with Walter DeGroot   Boy Scouts today are still working on merit badges, and Eagle projects,...

  The first outdoor recreation area in Arlington was developed at Arlington Spring on the banks of the Potomac near...

The Evans Autorailer was a unique gasoline powered bus with retractable flanged pilot wheels with the ability to run on...

WWII brought much growth and development to Arlington. But as one can see from this photo of the interchange of...

Among the many stately and historic homes located in Arlington County, the Rixey Mansion deserves a special mention. Set on...

Clay deposits on the shore of the Potomac supported a considerable brick making industry in Arlington until well into the...

The long standing heavy metal group Pentagram may never have had a best selling album or inked a lucrative contract...

Excerpt from Oral History with Sally B. Loving Football program Washington-Lee High School is currently undergoing a major renovation ,...

The library could hold 100,000 volumes, although, at the time of opening, the library could only fill one-third of the...

After the Beatles launched the “British Invasion” of the 1960s, it seemed like every town in America soon had any...

The Barcroft Mill not only provided wheat and corn meal to local residents, but also helped to shape and define...

The Buckingham Theatre Built by the developers of the Buckingham Community in 1939, The Buckingham, as it was known, was...

The area known as Spy Hill may not be the largest neighborhood in Arlington, but it certainly can claim to...

Starting in 1902, residents of the Fort Myer Heights area clamored for a school to serve their area. The School Board...

Dairy farming in Arlington? Why yes, Virginia, there once was such a thing. In fact, Arlington was home to a...

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...

Whenever the subject of air travel or airports in Arlington is raised, it is perhaps inevitable that talk of National...

Do you recognize this scene? This photograph was taken by Eleanor Lee Templeman, author of “Northern Virginia Heritage” and “Arlington Heritage,”...

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

In 1900, Congress transferred 400 acres of land along the Potomac near Ft. Myer to the Department of Agriculture in...

Arlington has never had a shortage of unique local eateries and for many, one of the most memorable was the...

After a 14-year stint at what was affectionately known to many as “The Garage,” Signature Theatre has settled into its...

February marks the 45th anniversary of John Glenn’s space orbit. He was one of America’s original seven Mercury astronauts and orbited...

Excerpt from Oral History with Floyd Hawkins Mr. Floyd A. Hawkins, Sr. was born in 1895, and first moved with...

School Integration in Arlington When four African American students, seventh graders Gloria Thompson, Ronald Diskins, Lance Newman and Michael Jones...

Funded by a bond referendum in 1961, the Westover Branch Library, seen here in the 1970s, was opened to the...

Updated by the Center for Local History on 3/26/2018. If the phrases “chicken box for two” or “pantry pack” sound...

Although you may think a ticket stub, sign, receipt or postcard is something that you use and then throw away,...

While they may seem quaint or even primitive by modern standards, upon their completion in 1913, the Navy’s Radio Station...

The Little Tea House Restaurant, located on Arlington Ridge Road, opened in 1920 and remained there until 1963 when it...

In 1888, John Walter Clark, originally of New Jersey, bought a plot of land in the Clarendon area on what...

We Need Your Help! Do you recognize this intersection? This photograph above was taken around 1937. The signpost on the...

For a century the company called Rucker Reality has been part of the Arlington business community. The company was founded...

In 1919, the Arlington County Department of Health was one of the first full-time county departments for health services in...

The first observance of Thanksgiving in America actually took place in Virginia. A children’s cooking class sponsored by Arlington’s Department...

Finding the best way to get from one location to another was as much of a concern to Arlington residents...

Arlington Hall, located at Route 50 and George Mason Drive, was a girls finishing school founded in 1927. The school...

In 1957, there were 46,206 registered voters in Arlington County, and there were 37 election precincts. 25 years before, when...

Oral History Excerpt with Tally Bowman Speaking of a neighborhood woman who was a member of the Women’s Christian Temperance...

Clarendon in the 1940s In 1900 when Clarendon was established as a village, it consisted of 25 acres intersected by...