What did Northern Virginia look like back in the day (60s, 70s, 80s)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I went to high school in the 80s in Manassas with the 3 walled classrooms. The walls were like a tall cubicle to the ceiling with glass panels at the top to let in more fluorescent light. The chalkboard was opposite the open end. If you sat near the open end, you could lean your chair back into the hallway and see people in the other classes. It was noisy and there were only these few tall thin windows along the perimeter that didn’t let in much natural light. Despite the lack of room doors it still felt like prison because you couldn’t see outside.

Can’t imagine what Manassas PW county was like back then. Was it still overtly rural/country? I sometimes hear older folks speak with a twang in restaurants/stores; Were they the norm back then? I imagine many more farms in the are.

Hardly any Hispanics in Manassas, like it is now. In fact, not many in VA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I went to high school in the 80s in Manassas with the 3 walled classrooms. The walls were like a tall cubicle to the ceiling with glass panels at the top to let in more fluorescent light. The chalkboard was opposite the open end. If you sat near the open end, you could lean your chair back into the hallway and see people in the other classes. It was noisy and there were only these few tall thin windows along the perimeter that didn’t let in much natural light. Despite the lack of room doors it still felt like prison because you couldn’t see outside.

Can’t imagine what Manassas PW county was like back then. Was it still overtly rural/country? I sometimes hear older folks speak with a twang in restaurants/stores; Were they the norm back then? I imagine many more farms in the are.

Hardly any Hispanics in Manassas, like it is now. In fact, not many in VA.

It was your typical southern city; Mainly whites with some blacks trickled in the mix. African Americans from Fairfax would be transported to PW County for school because FFx didn’t have an all black school.

[Anonymous]

My elementary school only had about a dozen Black kids. Some lived in very poor housing, down a gravel road with basic tar-paper shacks, that is now expensive land with McMansions in Fairfax County part of Alexandria. Some came to school dressed like they were going to church, really well-spoken.
There was one Asian girl (Philippina) who was quiet and sweet, one Hispanic kid who was violent and always beating up girls, including me.
We moved to Western Fairfax for MS/HS. Route 28 was just two lanes, one in each direction, flat and straight for miles. I heard there were drag races out there, but I did not drive yet.
I was in 4H and competed in horse-related stuff.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They wanted to build Dulles airport in Burke because there was so much undeveloped land. Let that sink in for awhile. The residents banded together and opposed that.

It was considered very modern and healthful to have classrooms without walls in the 70s. Eg orange hunt, lake Braddock. Literally as soon as they were built people realized this was stupid and impractical but it took many years to renovate.

There was no Fairfax county parkway until the 80s. Just a lot of 2 lane country roads. Plenty of farms and country folk who yes, had a very specific old nova accent and said things like “warshington”. But, there was a lot less traffic, too.
what do classrooms withou
Fairfax county had a budget surplus in the 90s from all the construction so all these county programming was free. The county employees also voted themselves massive pensions and built a glass and marble monument to themselves in the form of the Fairfax county government center.

Children took a test in 2nd grade to track them as smart or stupid—the “smart ones” were segregated into GT classes away from their base schools. Not sure if that is still a thing.

George Mason was the school you went to “if you dont want to go to NOVA”.

Wow! They did’t have the National Airport then?! And what do classrooms without walls look like?

Of course, we had National Airport! It was built in 1941.
The open classrooms were great for me. These were only for English, SS, and some math classes. It facilitated group work, sitting on the floor, and discussing things in a circle. If you sat in the back of the class, some kids would fire up a bowl. I am not kidding. I could see what was going on all over the big open spaces. I liked it and no issues with paying attention to the class. I think this would be a disaster for kids with ADHD.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I went to high school in the 80s in Manassas with the 3 walled classrooms. The walls were like a tall cubicle to the ceiling with glass panels at the top to let in more fluorescent light. The chalkboard was opposite the open end. If you sat near the open end, you could lean your chair back into the hallway and see people in the other classes. It was noisy and there were only these few tall thin windows along the perimeter that didn’t let in much natural light. Despite the lack of room doors it still felt like prison because you couldn’t see outside.

Can’t imagine what Manassas PW county was like back then. Was it still overtly rural/country? I sometimes hear older folks speak with a twang in restaurants/stores; Were they the norm back then? I imagine many more farms in the are.

Hardly any Hispanics in Manassas, like it is now. In fact, not many in VA.

It was your typical southern city; Mainly whites with some blacks trickled in the mix. African Americans from Fairfax would be transported to PW County for school because FFx didn’t have an all black school.

Holy cow, what year was this?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In the 80’s, Arlington was mostly lower level government workers. The houses were small and unrenovated. Clarendon was a dump and deserted at night. I remember returning my cable box to the cable office there and thinking what a deserted creepy place it was. There was nothing upscale ant all until Bread & Circus (the predecessor to Whole Foods) moved in in the mid-90’s. There was a dirt field across the street that is now the Apple Store & Crate & Barrel where you could park if the grocery store lot was full.

This is why it’s ridiculous when people compare real estate prices in Arlington in the ‘80’s and ‘90’s to now. It was not even close to being the same neighborhood.

Clarendon in the late 70s and 80s was known as 'Little Saigon'. There were Viet owned businesses there and yes it was dumpy and deserted at night. I do remember Falls Camera had a shop there - back when home darkroom labs were a thing. The Viet refugees were pushed out to Eden Center once development happened.
I remember my mom taking us shopping at Parkington Mall, the predecessor to Ballston Mall, back when I was an elementary school kid. It was your basic suburban strip mall with a JC Penny, Danneman's Fabric Store, Park Lane hosiery shop.

But even during that sleepy suburban time the wheels were working to develop the neighborhoods along the Orange Line. Once the subway stations opened up, the neighborhoods were destined for change.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I went to high school in the 80s in Manassas with the 3 walled classrooms. The walls were like a tall cubicle to the ceiling with glass panels at the top to let in more fluorescent light. The chalkboard was opposite the open end. If you sat near the open end, you could lean your chair back into the hallway and see people in the other classes. It was noisy and there were only these few tall thin windows along the perimeter that didn’t let in much natural light. Despite the lack of room doors it still felt like prison because you couldn’t see outside.

Can’t imagine what Manassas PW county was like back then. Was it still overtly rural/country? I sometimes hear older folks speak with a twang in restaurants/stores; Were they the norm back then? I imagine many more farms in the are.

Hardly any Hispanics in Manassas, like it is now. In fact, not many in VA.

It was your typical southern city; Mainly whites with some blacks trickled in the mix. African Americans from Fairfax would be transported to PW County for school because FFx didn’t have an all black school.

Holy cow, what year was this?

During the 60s right before Virginia integrated. I believe in the final few years of segregation they built an all black school in Ffx, but it didn’t really mean much because it only lasted a few years. I remember Virginia was often in the news because governor Byrd threatened to shut schools down if they integrated; it was monumental when six black kids surrounded by armed guards walked into their all white school in Arlington.

[Anonymous]

Fairfax County was the ex-burbs until 2000s.

Change my mind.

[Anonymous]

I lived in Vienna in the late 50s and Arlington in the 60s and 70s. My mom took us to see Reston when they were building it as a planned community in the 60s. When we drove from Vienna to DC we passed through Tyson's Corner which was an intersection with a gas station and a big TV tower.

There is a fascinating book about Arlington in the area called Hall's Hill which is around Lee Hwy and Glebe Rd., I highly recommend it. https://hallshill.com/books-my-halls-hill-family/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I lived in Vienna in the late 50s and Arlington in the 60s and 70s. My mom took us to see Reston when they were building it as a planned community in the 60s. When we drove from Vienna to DC we passed through Tyson's Corner which was an intersection with a gas station and a big TV tower.

There is a fascinating book about Arlington in the area called Hall's Hill which is around Lee Hwy and Glebe Rd., I highly recommend it. https://hallshill.com/books-my-halls-hill-family/

What was Reston before it became a residential community? Was it just rural farmland?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I lived in Vienna in the late 50s and Arlington in the 60s and 70s. My mom took us to see Reston when they were building it as a planned community in the 60s. When we drove from Vienna to DC we passed through Tyson's Corner which was an intersection with a gas station and a big TV tower.

There is a fascinating book about Arlington in the area called Hall's Hill which is around Lee Hwy and Glebe Rd., I highly recommend it. https://hallshill.com/books-my-halls-hill-family/

What was Reston before it became a residential community? Was it just rural farmland?

Here is an excerpt from the Wikipedia article on Reston, there is a lot more info if you're interested that continues the history into the mid 60s and on:

Wiehle's heirs eventually sold the land, which changed hands several times before being purchased by the A. Smith Bowman family, who built a bourbon distillery on the site. By 1947, the Bowmans had acquired the former Dunn tract south of the railroad, for total holdings of over 7,000 acres (2,800 ha). In 1961, Robert E. Simon used funds from his family's recent sale of Carnegie Hall to buy most of the land, except for 60 acres (240,000 m2) on which the Bowman distillery continued to operate until 1987.

Simon officially launched Reston on April 10, 1964 (his 50th birthday) and named the community using his initials. He laid out seven "guiding principles" that would stress quality of life and serve as the foundation for its future development. His goal was for Restonians to live, work, and play in their own community, with common grounds and scenic beauty shared equally regardless of income level, thereby building a stronger sense of community ties. The initial motto of the community, as articulated by Simon, was "Work, Play, Live" (or, as more often was memorialized onto Reston merchandise, "Live, Work, Play.")

Simon's seven principles are:

The town should provide a variety of leisure opportunities, including a wide range of cultural and recreational facilities as well as an environment for privacy;
Residents would be able to remain in the community throughout their lives, with a range of housing meeting a variety of needs and incomes;
The focal point of all planning would be on the importance and dignity of the individual and would take precedence for large-scale concepts;
Reston residents would be able to live and work in the same community;
Commercial, cultural, and recreational facilities would be available to residents immediately, not years later;
Beauty, both structural and natural, is a necessity and should be fostered; and
Reston should be a financial success.
Simon envisioned Reston as a model for clustered residential development, also known as conservation development, which puts a premium on the preservation of open space, landscapes, and wildlife habitats. Indeed, Reston was the first 20th-century private community in the U.S. to explicitly incorporate natural preservation in its planning (Greenbelt, Maryland, was a publicly supported community).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Fairfax County was the ex-burbs until 2000s.

Change my mind.

I grew up in Fairfax County in the 90s and thought that everything past Tysons was farmland.

[Anonymous]

Went to high school in Arlington in the late 80s. My family and I shopped at Tyson’s on weekends but we never ever drove further down Rt 7. We knew Rt 7 continued on from Tyson’s but just had no reason to beyond that point. I saw Tyson’s II being built and my best friend moved to Herndon. We both joked that she was moving to the boondocks.

In early 2000, I moved back into the area and had to look for housing in Ashburn, way pass Tyson’s, way pass Herndon/Reston. Now I live in Leesburg. Go figure.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I went to high school in the 80s in Manassas with the 3 walled classrooms. The walls were like a tall cubicle to the ceiling with glass panels at the top to let in more fluorescent light. The chalkboard was opposite the open end. If you sat near the open end, you could lean your chair back into the hallway and see people in the other classes. It was noisy and there were only these few tall thin windows along the perimeter that didn’t let in much natural light. Despite the lack of room doors it still felt like prison because you couldn’t see outside.

Can’t imagine what Manassas PW county was like back then. Was it still overtly rural/country? I sometimes hear older folks speak with a twang in restaurants/stores; Were they the norm back then? I imagine many more farms in the are.

Hardly any Hispanics in Manassas, like it is now. In fact, not many in VA.

It was your typical southern city; Mainly whites with some blacks trickled in the mix. African Americans from Fairfax would be transported to PW County for school because FFx didn’t have an all black school.

Holy cow, what year was this?

During the 60s right before Virginia integrated. I believe in the final few years of segregation they built an all black school in Ffx, but it didn’t really mean much because it only lasted a few years. I remember Virginia was often in the news because governor Byrd threatened to shut schools down if they integrated; it was monumental when six black kids surrounded by armed guards walked into their all white school in Arlington.

Luther Jackson MS used to be the all-black Luther Jackson HS. I think it meant a lot to the kids who went there, particularly considering how far they’d had to travel for a high school education before it opened.

[Anonymous]

I lived near Woodson HS in the 70s and 80s and there was a house 2 blocks away where they had a horse in a small pasture. This was right off of Little River Turnpike. We used to feed it apples.

Tyson’s mall was surrounded by fields and a few strip malls.

It was very white until I’d say the early 80s when Vietnamese started moving in and then Koreans. I remember when I66 was new and it had no traffic.

Restaurants were few and far between. Like Bobs