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In 1800, Fairfax County moved its court
to a new building at the point where Little River Turnpike (then
being built) would cross the county's main north-south road. The
site became known as Fairfax Courthouse.
Construction of turnpike roads linking Alexandria
and Washington, D.C., to the Shenandoah Valley increased the
activity that centered in Fairfax County's courthouse square
when the county court met. Informal markets for farm produce
and home handicrafts, trading of horses and other livestock,
and transactions of all kinds brought visitors from the surrounding
region. On the courthouse grounds, they mingled with others
who came merely to exchange news and see friends. In the 19th
century, much of the social and economic life of rural Virginia
grew up around the monthly or quarterly "court days."
Throughout the Civil War, Fairfax Courthouse
stood between the Union and Confederate armies, and was used
first by one and then by the other as a patrol checkpoint and
signal station. Action began in June 1861, when Union cavalry
skirmished with Confederates occupying the grounds. A marker
on the present courthouse lawn commemorates the death of Captain
John Quincy Marr of the Warrenton Rifles. During the war years,
county government was disrupted, although some essential functions
were carried on by groups located in both Union and Confederate
territory. Regrettably, not all of the court's records were
removed to safety during this time, and some were damaged, destroyed,
or carried away, and have never been recovered.
In the past century, Fairfax Courthouse has
reflected the county's growth. The traditional courthouse square
gave way to the addition of new wings to the old 1800 building.
These major additions, constructed in 1929 and 1953, extended
the courthouse southward to form the present building. For a
time, all major county offices were housed in the new courthouse.
However, the county's growth soon required expansion of services
and utilization of other buildings.
In 1969, a multistory county office building
was built immediately southwest of the courthouse, to provide
space for the Board of Supervisors and many expanded county
offices. Continued expansion of the court's business and need
for more space resulted in construction of the Judicial Center,
Jennings Building, which has housed the Circuit Court and the
General District Court since its completion in 1982. Since 1957,
when the Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court was
established as a separate entity, the Fairfax Courthouse has
been its home but for the period from 1965 to 1971.
Excerpts from: The Fairfax County Courthouse-1800,
published by the Board of Supervisors in 1977, and The Fairfax
County Courthouse, by Ross Netherton and Ruby Waldeck, published
in 1977.
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