Skip to main content

School Days in Annandale

From the Annandale Recorder, Volume 1, Number 2, 1 September 1955, comes a look back at a flurry of building activity in local schools.

Newcomers to Annandale will hardly remember the tenseness of the school situation a few years ago, when Quonset huts with their inadequate space and heating accommodations, half-day sessions, long and wearying bus rides, rented rooms in neighboring churches, and inadequate recreational equipment were the lot of the children of this community.


Quonset huts (pictured in the lower image from the Annandale Reporter) were an invention of the World War II era, when the U.S. Navy needed cheap, lightweight, and easily assembled structures. Instead of trailers, as we might expect to see during a school renovation today, these half-round, corrugated metal buildings were the closest option to pre-fab classrooms available at the time. After the war, the remaining buildings, declared military surplus, found another temporary life serving schoolchildren in Fairfax County as temporary learning centers.

The article goes on to state that, by the end of 1955, eight elementary schools would be in operation: "Annandale, Belvedere, Lincolnia, Masonville, Wakefield Forest, Weyanoke, Woodburn, James Lee, and Luther Jackson." Another new school "is planned for colored students, to be called the Lillian Carey School," and was expected to open in 1956. Although the image quality in the newspaper is not the best, the school pictured in the top insert may be either the Annandale Elementary School or the Masonville Elementary School.

🏫 Looking at the list of elementary schools in Fairfax County, the count as of January 2024 is 142. From this list, it appears Belvedere, Wakefield Forest, Weyanoke, and Woodburn are still in use as elementary schools. What happened to the other buildings? FCPS has done an amazing job highlighting the history of their closed schools:

  • Annandale: The building still exists and is in use as ACCA Child Development Center.
  • Lincolnia: The building still exists, but in 1983 the property was declared surplus. It has been repurposed into a senior center.
  • Masonville: The original school of this name was partially destroyed by fire, and the remainder of the building was demolished. The site is now in use as Mason Crest Elementary School.
  • James Lee: The building went through several phases of use, including time as overflow classrooms and administrative offices, before its current use as a community center.
  • Luther Jackson: This building still exists, and was included in the original list perhaps through confusion or its use as overflow classrooms. The building was a high school at the time of the article. Today, it is the Luther Jackson Middle School.
  • Lillian Carey: This school still exists. Today, the building goes by the name Bailey's Community Center.

Enjoy these posts? Support me on Ko-fi.


Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Fratricide in Clarke County: Part Two

When last we left the Little Family in Clarke County, Clinton Little had been murdered, his mother had been wounded, Oscar and Lycurgus were in jail in Berryville awaiting their trial, and Columbus claimed it was all a giant accident of boyhood exuberance ( Staunton Vindicator , Shepherdstown Register ). The postmortem and coroner's inquest determined Clinton's death was a case of premeditated homicide.  Medical Updates Reports on the seriousness of the mother's injury varied, ranging from minor since no bone was broken and no artery was severed, though several sources reported that she developed erysipelas , or a bacterial infection in the skin, which was seen as potentially serious ( Shepherdstown Register , Staunton Vindicator , Virginia Herald ). It appears this was successfully resolved, however, and she came to no lasting harm. Columbus and Gilbert were allegedly hit on the head with a pistol during the struggle in the dining room but suffered no more than bruises fr...
Post a Comment
Read more

A Valentine Romance

This story appeared in the Charlotte Gazette, Feb. 28, 1895 after being picked up from the New York Ledger (at a time when comic valentines were common but beginning to wane). The author, J.L. Harbour, appears to be a prolific late 19th century to early 20th century writer. By one account , he had written over 600 short stories by 1902. A sketch of his life written the same year states, "He began to send original stories, such as brought to view and tended to correct life's inharmonies, lapses and weaknesses, to eastern journals, and among others to the Youth's Companion , whose editors recognized his gift even in its immaturity."  This short work appears to have been written before he became widely known for "Papa and the Boy" and "The Mourning Veil," but it provides a glimpse of his writing style and sensibilities in humor and character studies. Like many other authors we have investigated here, his work has generally been forgotten by today...
Post a Comment
Read more

A Peace-Offering, a Valentine Story

This short story, aimed at young readers, appeared in the West Virginia Argus on February 27, 1885 . The credit line attributes this tale to Frances B. Currie, and the story was reprinted from the N. Y. Examiner. She appears to have been a frequent contributor to Frank Leslie's publications , but unlike J. L. Harbour, no biography has been found yet to shed more light on her life and output.  Since this story should also be out of copyright in the US, we have reprinted the entire story for your enjoyment. A PEACE-OFFERING.  A Valentine Story with a Moral, for Young Readers.  Margery Wright was not a beauty. Even the most charitable person in the world could not admit that she had the smallest claim to such a title. The boys in the Delving Seminary said that Margery had a "squat” figure and a “pug" nose. They also alluded to her mouth in a way that brought angry tears into her eyes. They said it opened like a pair of oyster-tongs. These young gentlemen had lived for twelve...
Post a Comment
Read more