Chapter XXV

Until 1779 the Town of Alexandria had had no formal government, being managed by a Board of Trustees whose interest was primarily in the sale of land. In that year, however, the Town was incorporated by the General Assembly with provision for a Mayor, Council, and other officials. The charter[36] made no mention of boundaries except to give the town authorities jurisdiction over the territory within a half mile of the town limits. Another Act[37] adopted at the same session stated that lots had been laid off by John Alexander adjacent to the town in 1774 and sold with the stipulation that they be built on within two years. Because of the difficulty of obtaining building materials due to wartime conditions not all the purchasers had been able to meet this requirement. The Act extended the period within which building on these lots was required to two years

"after the end of the present war ... and the same are hereby
annexed to and made part of the said town of Alexandria."

[36] Hening, Vol. x, p. 172. "An Act for incorporating the town
of Alexandria in the County of Fairfax."

[37] Hening, Vol. x, p. 192. Acts of Assembly, 1779, Chapter
XXXI: "An Act to confirm certain sales and leases by the
trustees of the town of Alexandria and to enlarge said
town...."

The width and direction of the streets to be laid off in the area surrounding the Town was regulated by an Act of 1785,[38] but this did not extend the actual town limits. The area affected was described as:

"Beginning at Great Hunting Creek and running parallel with Fairfax
street to four mile run or creek so as to intersect King street
when extended one mile west of the courthouse, thence eastwardly
down the said creek or run to its confluence with the Potomac
river, thence southwardly down the said river to the mouth of Great
Hunting Creek...."

[38] Acts of Assembly, October 1785, Chapter XCI. Hening, Vol.
xii, p. 205.

In the next year, however, the Legislature provided

"That the limits of the town of Alexandria shall extend to and
include as well the lots formerly composing the said town, as those
adjoining thereto which have been and are improved."[39]

[39] Acts of Assembly, October 1786, Chapter LXXIII. Hening,
Vol. xii, p. 362.

The town was still growing, and ten years later the General Assembly again extended its legal limits.

"Whereas several additions of lots contiguous to the town of
Alexandria have been laid off by the proprietors of the land in
lots of half an acre each extending to the north that range of lots
upon the north side of a street called Montgomery; upon the south,
to the line of the District of Columbia [this line had been
surveyed but Alexandria had not yet been incorporated in the
District] upon the west, to a range of lots upon the west side of
West street, and upon the east to the river Patowmac; that many of
the lots in those additions have already been built upon, and many
more will so be improved; and whereas it has been represented to
the General Assembly that the inhabitants residing on said lots are
not subject to the regulations made and established for the orderly
government of the town and for the preservation of the health of
the inhabitants, by the prevention and removal of nuisances, upon
which their property and well being does very much depend:

"1. _Be it Therefore Enacted_: That each and every lot or part
of a lot within the aforesaid limits, on which at this time is
built a dwelling house of at least 16 feet square, or equal thereto
in size, with a brick or stone chimney and that each and every lot
within said limits which shall hereafter be so built upon, shall be
incorporated with the said town of Alexandria and considered as
part thereof."[40]

[40] Acts of Assembly, November 1796, Chapter 32. Shepherd,
Vol. ii, p. 41.

The following year this Act was amended[41] to include unimproved lots since their development was being hindered by the exclusion. These were the boundaries of the Town when it became part of the District of Columbia. They remained unchanged for nearly half a century thereafter. The charter for the town adopted by the Congress on February 25, 1804,[42] specified that the limits should be those prescribed by the Acts of Virginia. The jurisdiction of the town officials, however, was extended to the

"house lately built in the vicinity of the town for the accommodation
of the poor and others"

and over the ten acres of ground surrounding the poor house. This is at what is now Monroe Street and Jefferson Davis Highway. Although the Charter was amended several times while Alexandria was in the District, no changes were made in the Town boundaries.

[41] Acts of Assembly, December 1797, Chapter 60. Shepherd,
Vol. ii, p. 122.

[42] U.S. _Stat. at Large_, Vol. 2, p. 255.

After the retrocession of "the county and town of Alexandria" (v.s., p. 13) not only were the boundaries changed, but the Town was chartered as a City. Section 22 of the new charter[43] provided:

"The line of the City of Alexandria shall be extended on the north
and west as follows: Beginning in the Potomac River at a point
distant northerly in the direction of Fairfax Street four hundred
nineteen feet and two inches from the north line of the present
corporate limits of the town of Alexandria in said river, and
running thence westerly, parallel with said north line, to a point
at which it would intersect the present western line if extended
north four hundred nineteen feet and ten inches; thence
southwesterly with the present western line but the said city
council shall have authority to make such police and sanitary
regulations of the territory reaching ten feet west of the western
bank of Hooff's or Mushpot Run; then parallel to and at that
distance from said run to the line dividing Alexandria from Fairfax
county; then southeasterly with said dividing line to the present
southwest corner of the said town of Alexandria."

[43] Acts of Assembly, 1852, Chapter 358, p. 241.

The next year the Charter was amended,[44] again altering the boundaries:

"Beginning in the Potomac river at a point distant northwardly in
the direction of Fairfax street four hundred and nineteen feet and
two inches from the present north line of the corporate limits of
the town in said river, and running westerly parallel to said north
line to intersect the west line of said limits produced northwardly
four hundred and nineteen feet and two inches; thence southwardly
with said west line produced to the northwest corner of the said
limits; thence eastwardly with the said north line into the river;
then northwardly to the beginning: Beginning again at the
intersection of the northwestern line of said limits with the north
line of Cameron street; then southwardly with said western line, to
the county line; then northwardly with the county line to the point
where it intersects the brick wall on the south side of the Little
River Turnpike road; then northwardly by a straight line to the
east corner of John Hooff's lot on the south side of King street
extended; then crossing King street extended to the west corner of
the lot of the late Col. Francis Peyton; then with the west line of
said lot and the course thereof to the north line of Cameron street
extended; then by a straight line to the beginning."

[44] Acts of Assembly, 1853, Chapter 484. Adopted February 18,
1853.

The next addition came in 1858[45] when the boundaries were described as:

"Beginning in the Potomac River, at a point distant northerly, in
the direction of Fairfax Street five hundred and ninety five feet
and nine inches from the north line of Montgomery street, as now
established in said city, and extended into said river; and running
thence westerly and parallel with said north line to a point at
which this course will intersect a line one hundred twenty three
feet and five inches west of and running parallel to the western
line of West street as now established, when extended; thence
southerly parallel with West street, to the north line of Cameron
street as now established; thence westerly in the direction of the
north line of Cameron street extended, to a point in a line with
the west line of the lot of the late Francis Peyton, on which he
resided; thence southerly, parallel with West street, to the south
line of King street, extended; thence in a straight line to a point
in the line dividing the county of Fairfax and Alexandria from each
other, ten feet west of Hoof's Run; thence southerly, parallel to,
and distant 10 feet from Hoof's Run to the middle of Hunting Creek
thence with the middle of Hunting Creek into the Potomac River;
then up the said river to the beginning."

[45] Acts of Assembly, 1858, Chapter 270. Enacted April 2,
1858.

This line remained in effect until January 27, 1865, when an amendment to the charter[46] withdrew from the jurisdiction of the city all the territory in Fairfax county (bounded by the old District line, Hooff's Run and Hunting Creek) which had been added to the town by the charter of 1858. The next year, on January 25, 1866, the General Assembly rescinded this action and restored the boundaries of 1858.[47] A further change occurred in this area on February 20, 1871, when the last part of the description was changed to read:

"... to a point in the line dividing the county of Fairfax and
Alexandria from each other, ten feet west of Hooff's Run; thence
southerly with the said line into the Potomac River; thence up said
river to the beginning."[48]

[46] Acts of Assembly 1865/66, Chapter IX.

[47] Acts of Assembly 1866/67, Chapter 152.

[48] Acts of Assembly 1871, Chapter 73. The frequent and rapid
changes in this boundary appear to have been related to the
complexion of the electorate in the affected area and the
varying political sentiments of the immediate post Civil War
and Reconstruction periods.

A major change occurred on May 1, 1870, when the City of Alexandria was excluded from the County. This came about through the implementation of an Act of the Assembly[49] following the adoption of a new Virginia Constitution in 1869. In delineating the magisterial districts into which counties were to be divided it was provided that "no part of any town or city having a separate organization, or a population of five thousand or more inhabitants, shall be embraced." Alexandria was such a city and thereafter was independent of as well as outside of the County.

[49] Acts of Assembly, 1869-70, Chapter 39.

There were no further legislative changes in the boundaries of the City of Alexandria after 1871. In 1915, however, the Supreme Court of Appeals of Virginia, reversed a decision of the Circuit Court of Alexandria County given on January 13, 1913. The City Council of Alexandria had sought to annex adjoining territory from both Fairfax and Alexandria counties and had been opposed by the authorities of those counties who had been upheld by the Circuit Court. The Order of the Supreme Court of Appeals[50] transferred 866 acres from Arlington and 450 acres from Fairfax to Alexandria.

[50] Alexandria County, _Deed Book 146_, p. 387. See Appendix.
Cf. also, C. B. Rose, Jr., "Annexation of a Portion of
Arlington County by the City of Alexandria in 1915," _The
Arlington Historical Magazine_, pp. 22-36, Vol. 2, No. 4
(1964). For a discussion of the judicial process of annexation,
cf. Bain, _Annexation in Virginia_.

This annexation took effect on April 1, 1915. Once more thereafter Arlington County--as it became known after 1920[51]--was to lose territory to the City of Alexandria. This was in 1929 when a decision of the Supreme Court of Appeals[52] rendered May 4, 1929, found in favor of the City of Alexandria which had begun annexation proceedings in December 1927.

[51] Acts of Assembly, 1920, Chapter 241.

[52] Arlington County, _Common Law Order Book 12_, p. 293.
Also, _Deed Book 306_, p. 300.

The Court held that "it is necessary and expedient that the corporate limits of the City of Alexandria should be extended" and that "the territory to be annexed from Arlington County is a reasonably compact body of land and contains no land which is not adapted to city improvement, and the Court being also of the opinion that no land is included which the City will not need in the reasonably near future for development ..."

The Court ordered the annexation[53] to take effect on December 31, 1929. The line thus established remained in effect until January 1, 1966.

[53] See Appendix.

This was the last annexation of territory from Arlington County. A special provision of the Act[54] establishing the County Manager plan of government, adopted by Arlington in 1930, effective January 1, 1932, prevents the annexation of any _part_ of the County (but permits annexation of the _entire_ County after referendum). In 1938, as a further precaution, the legislative delegation representing Arlington County succeeded in having the General Assembly enact a law[55] which prohibits the annexation of territory from any county which would result in reducing the area of that county to less than 60 square miles of highland. Since Arlington has less than 26 square miles, this Act effectively checks any further such encroachments upon its territory.

[54] Acts of Assembly, 1930, Chapter 167; Cf. also, _Code of
Virginia, 1950_, Title 15.1, Sec. 692.

[55] Acts of Assembly, 1938, Chapter 22; Cf. also, _Code of
Virginia, 1950_, Title 15.1, Sec. 1056.

Development on both sides of the 1929 boundary line, construction of streets and notably of the Henry G. Shirley Memorial Highway--and especially changes in the channel of Four Mile Run--eventually brought dissatisfaction with that line. In 1962, the Arlington and Alexandria legislative delegations secured enactment by the General Assembly of an Act[56] permitting an adjustment in the boundary to be concluded by mutual agreement between the governing bodies of the County and the City, the agreement to be recorded in the Clerk's Office of both jurisdictions.

[56] Acts of Assembly, 1962, Chapter 314.

Negotiations began after the area affected had been surveyed and the private property which might be the subject of exchange had been appraised. Impetus was given by the need of Arlington for land in connection with enlargement of the County sewage treatment facilities; this land, although on the North side of Four Mile Run fell in Alexandria. Finally, the Arlington County Board gave approval in principle to a draft proposal on April 10, 1965,[57] and on April 13, 1965, the Alexandria City Council followed suit. A public hearing was held on May 5, 1965, but final action was deferred pending refinement of the proposal. In December 1965, the final agreement was recorded[58] and the transfer of certain publicly owned property approved by the Circuit Court. The net gain to Arlington's area was 167 acres.

[57] Arlington County Board Minute Book XXI, p. 54.

[58] Alexandria _Deed Book_, 641, p. 188 (December 21, 1965);
Arlington _Deed Book_, 1609, p. 453 (December 23, 1965);
Arlington _Common Law Order Book_ 85, p. 197. For the
description of the new boundary, see Appendix.

This procedure for rectifying boundaries between a County and a City is highly unusual in the Virginia experience.

_Arlington's Boundary with the District of Columbia_

No definite effort was made at the time of the recession of Alexandria County to Virginia to draw a boundary line between the County and the remaining portion of the District of Columbia. As noted above, the various acts bringing about the recession referred only to "the territory heretofore ceded by the Commonwealth of Virginia." The actual boundary was of small moment at the time.

Toward the end of the 19th Century, however, the United States Government acquired lands on the Virginia shore of the Potomac largely through the purchase of the Arlington estate. As the 20th Century progressed, roads (notably the Mount Vernon Boulevard and later the George Washington Memorial Parkway) were constructed, bridges and bridge approaches built and, eventually, the Federal Government undertook to construct the National Airport at Gravelly Point below Alexander's Island. A suit[59] over government activity in making a land fill raised questions as to the exact location of the boundary--and indeed as to whether Alexander's Island really was an island or was a peninsula. This case, decided by the U.S. Supreme Court on May 4, 1931, set the boundary line between the District of Columbia and Virginia at the high water mark of the Potomac on the Virginia shore as it existed in 1791.

[59] _Washington Airport_ vs. _Smoot Sand and Gravel Corp_.,
283 U.S. 348. Cf. also, _Marine Railroad and Coal Co_. v.
_U.S._, 257 U.S. 47.

But where had that high water mark been? There had been no survey at the time; the shore line had never been marked; and even had it been, the passage of time had made many changes in the river front.[60] A Commission was established[61] to deal with this question. The instructions to this Commission were to take into consideration the decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States, the findings and report of the Maryland-Virginia Commission of 1877[62] and the Maryland-Virginia compact of 1785.[63]

[60] This indefinite boundary line "lies in many places some
distance from the Potomac River." _Report No. 895_, H.R., 78th
Congress, 1st Session.

[61] 48 U.S. Stat. 453; Virginia Acts of Assembly, 1932, p.
485.

[62] _Code of Virginia, 1950_, Title 7.1, Sec. 7. This
Commission dealt only with the boundary below Jones Point but
chose _low water mark_ as the line. The pertinent words of
the agreement (ratified by Virginia in 1878) are: "The low
water mark on the Potomac to which Virginia has a right in the
soil, is to be measured ... from low-water mark at one headland
to low water at another, without following indentations, bays,
creeks, inlets, or affluent rivers. Virginia is entitled not
only to full dominion over the soil to low water mark on the
south shore of the Potomac, but has a right to such use of the
river...." Interpretation of this agreement took many years and
it was 1930 before the line actually was surveyed and
monumented.

[63] _Code of Virginia, 1950_, Title 7.1, Sec. 7. Cf. also
page 9 above.

The Commission accumulated a large volume of testimony and exhibits and completed its report[64] in 1935. It found that the "fair and proper boundary is the low water mark on the Virginia shore running from headland to headland across creeks and inlets." It pointed out that inasmuch as the mark of 1791 could not be determined the low water mark should be accepted as of this day. It suggested that an exception be made at Roaches Run where the line should run 150 feet west of and parallel to the west line of the Mount Vernon Boulevard.

[64] Report of District of Columbia--Virginia Boundary
Commission, 74th Congress, 2nd Session, _House Document_ 374.

Several bills[65] were introduced into Congress to give effect to the decision of the Commission but none was enacted at this time. The completion of the Airport and the Pentagon Building gave urgency to the problem: conflicts of jurisdiction hampered law enforcement and complicated the question of tax collection. Moreover, Virginia was anxious to insure that the liquor control laws of the State and not those of the District of Columbia should be in effect at the National Airport. In 1942, the General Assembly had adopted an Act[66] covering the boundary question, on the assumption that the bill then pending in Congress would be passed. Disagreement over the details of the jurisdiction to be ceded and accepted by Virginia and the United States Government prevented passage of a Federal Act until 1945 when Public Law 208 was enacted by the 79th Congress. This was followed by an Act[67] of the Virginia General Assembly repealing the 1942 Act and ratifying the 1945 Federal Act.

[65] 76th Congress, 3rd Session, H.R. 9976; S. 4114. 77th
Congress, 1st Session, H.R. 1045; H.R. 5073. 78th Congress, 1st
Session, S. 19; H.R. 746; H.R. 3664. The Arlington County Board
endorsed H.R. 9976; cf. Minute Book V, p. 423 and VII, p. 500.

[66] Acts of Assembly, 1942, Chapter 267.

[67] Acts of Assembly, 1946, Chapter 26. _Code of Virginia,
1950_, Title 7.1, Sec. 10.

This law is in effect today. It provides that the boundary line

"shall begin at a point where the northwest boundary of the
District of Columbia intercepts the high-water mark of the Virginia
shore of the Potomac River and following the present mean
high-water mark; thence in a southeasterly direction along the
Virginia shore of the Potomac River to Little River, along the
Virginia shore of Little River to Boundary Channel, along the
Virginia side of Boundary Channel to the main body of the Potomac
River, along the Virginia side of the Potomac River across the
mouths of all tributaries affected by the tides of the river to
Second Street, Alexandria, Virginia, from Second Street to the
present established pierhead line, and following said pierhead line
to its connection with the District of Columbia-Maryland boundary
line; that whenever said mean high-watermark on the Virginia shore
is altered by artificial fill and excavations made by the United
States, or by alluvion or erosion, then the boundary shall follow
the new mean high-water mark on the Virginia shore as altered, or
whenever the location of the pierhead line along the Alexandria
water front is altered, then the boundary shall follow the new
location of the pierhead line."

The Act also provided that all the land on the Virginia side of the Potomac lying between the boundary line as now adopted and the mean high water mark as it existed on January 24, 1791 (wherever that was!) should be ceded to the State of Virginia. The United States, however, reserved concurrent jurisdiction over this area.

Here the matter rests very uneasily today. The exact line was surveyed, monumented, and mapped by the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey over the years 1946-1947.[68] However, the working agreements reached by the law enforcement officials of the various jurisdictions concerned have not always proven satisfactory. The long history of the location of the Potomac River boundary of Arlington County cannot yet be said to have reached its end.

[68] Unpublished Report dated March 27, 1947, from Lt. Comdr.
Roswell C. Bolstad, Chief of Party, on Project G-815, Coast and
Geodetic Survey, Department of Commerce.

_Postscript--Towns in Arlington County_

Of the three towns which have lain within Arlington County, the only one whose limits have been of importance to the territorial extent of the County is Alexandria. Nonetheless, to complete the record, some mention should be made of the Town of Potomac and the Town of Falls Church, the first of which lay wholly within Arlington, and the second, partly so.

Falls Church is the older town. It was chartered by the General Assembly on March 30, 1875.[69] The charter set forth the boundaries as:

"Beginning at the corner of Alexandria and Fairfax Counties on J.
C. DePutron's farm; thence to the corner of W. H. Ellison and Koon
[sic] on D. H. Barrett's line; thence to the corner of Sewell and
Hollidge, on the new cut road; thence to the corner of J. E. Birch
and H. J. England, on the Falls Church and Fairfax Courthouse road;
thence to a stone in the road being a corner of B. F. Shreve,
Newton, and others; thence to the crossing of the Alexandria and
Georgetown roads at Taylor's corners; thence along the line of said
Georgetown road to the corner of Samuel Shreve and John Febrey;
thence to a pin oak tree near Dr. L. E. Gott's spring; thence to
the northeast corner of John Brown's barn; thence to the crossing
of Isaac Crossmun's and Bowen's line on the Chain Bridge Road;
thence to the place of beginning."

[69] Acts of Assembly 1874/75, Chapter 316.

After Arlington adopted the County Manager form of government, the residents of so much of the Town of Falls Church as lay within Arlington County (Map V) sought to have the charter amended to reduce the limits of the Town to that portion which lay in Fairfax. An action was brought on July 7, 1932, and the Circuit Court granted the petition on January 17, 1935.[70] This decision was appealed, however, and it was not until the next year (April 30, 1936) that the order went into effect,[71] after the lower court had been upheld by the Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals.

[70] Arlington County, _Common Law Order Book 16_, p. 235 and
p. 309.

[71] Arlington County, _Common Law Order Book 17_, p. 130 and
p. 138.

The area affected by the order is described as:

"Beginning at a large planted stone on the estate of the late J. C.
DePutron, at the original western corner of the District of
Columbia, which is also at the corner of Fairfax and Arlington
counties, and at the corner of the Town of Falls Church; thence
with the boundary of said Town S. 83 deg. 15' E. 2,404 feet more or
less, to a planted stone in the center of Little Falls Street also
called the Chain Bridge Road, at a point at which said street is
intersected by the boundary of the land formerly known as the Bowen
tract; thence with the boundary of said Town S. 49 deg. 15' E. 3,482
feet, more or less, to a planted granite stone at a point which
formerly marked the northeast corner of John Brown's barn; thence
with the boundary of said Town S. 28 deg. 45' E. 2,410 feet, more or
less, to a point at which there formerly stood a large pin oak on
the Gott tract; thence with the boundary of the said Town S. 4 deg. 15'
W. to the boundary between Fairfax and Arlington counties; thence
with the said boundary in a northwesterly direction to the place of
beginning."

The Town of Potomac was chartered by the General Assembly in 1908.[72] Its boundaries (Map V) were described as:

"Beginning at the north intersection of Bellefont Avenue in the
subdivision of 'Del Ray' with the Washington and Alexandria
Turnpike, thence northerly along the west line of the Turnpike to
the old Georgetown Road, the northern boundary of the subdivision
of St. Elmo; thence westerly along the south side of the Georgetown
Road to the dividing line of Susan P. A. Calvert and Charles E.
Wood; thence with the line of Calvert and Wood to the west line of
the Washington, Alexandria and Mt. Vernon R.R. Co., to its
intersection with Lloyd's Lane and Bellefont Avenue to the
beginning."

[72] Acts of Assembly 1908, Chapter 273.

All this area was included in the annexation to Alexandria which was effected in 1929 (cf. p. 23).

One proposed town deserves mention. In 1920 a group of citizens petitioned the Circuit Court for a town charter for Clarendon. The Court denied the petition. Upon appeal, the Supreme Court of Appeals of Virginia upheld the lower court, declaring that all of Arlington County was a "continuous, contiguous, and homogeneous community" and as such should not be subjected to subdivision for the purpose of incorporating a town.[73] Since Arlington is even more a "continuous, contiguous, and homogeneous" community than it was in 1922 there is no prospect that ever again will there be a town within the bounds of the County.

[73] _Bennett_ v. _Garrett_, 112 S.E. 772, decided June 15,
1922.