September 1, 2024
Woodrow Wilson Library is now Culmore Community Library.
In their July 10, 2024 meeting, the Fairfax County Public Library (FCPL) Board of Trustees voted unanimously to rename the Woodrow Wilson Library the Culmore Community Library.
At several Board of Trustees meetings, residents of the Mason District where the library is located testified during public comment that a name change for this branch location at 6101 Knollwood Drive, Falls Church, was desired and warranted. The Library Board recently amended its Policy P to strengthen the recommendation that “all new or renamed branch libraries shall be named for the geographical area in which they are located.” The current name of this location, Woodrow Wilson Library, did not convey its location, possibly causing confusion among FCPL users who are new to the county and the library system.
During its March 13 meeting, the Library Board then established a committee to investigate the Woodrow Wilson Library name change as requested by residents. That committee convened in May to discuss budget impacts, as well as review information gathered by local history expert Christopher Barbuschak, manager of FCPL’s Virginia Room, regarding the history of the area and possible naming conventions. The recommendation from the committee was to consider Culmore Community Library as the new name for this facility. The report was presented to the entire board as part of their June 12 board package and is publicly available on-line.
The Woodrow Wilson Library occupied three different storefronts in Culmore Shopping Center from 1961-1966 before relocating to the present permanent library building in 1967. Pictured here is the second storefront location which opened in 1962.
This library is located in the Culmore area of Bailey’s Crossroads. The origins of the Culmore name are traced to John N. Campbell (1898-1958) a Washington area real estate developer and building contractor. In 1947, he began construction on the first section of a planned 1,000-unit apartment complex he christened “Culmore Apartments”. Campbell, a native of Culmore village in Londonderry, Ireland, named the project after his birthplace. Culmore comes from the Gaelic An Chúil Mhór, which means “big corner”.
In 1938, the Campbells moved to Fairfax County and rented a farm on Lee Highway in Centreville. Around this time Campbell established John N. Campbell, Inc., a building and development firm based in Arlington. Over the next decade, he built housing developments in Arlington and Fairfax. In October 1945, Campbell purchased 118 acres on Leesburg Pike near Bailey’s Crossroads from the Alexandria Water Company. He planned to build an extensive apartment project of 1,000 one- and two-bedroom units that he named Culmore Apartments. In 1949, Campbell announced he would build a $300,000 10-store shopping center on Leesburg Pike to service the Culmore Apartments. The Culmore Shopping Center opened in early 1951, and the Woodrow Wilson Library later called it home from 1961-1966.
In 1950, Campbell gave six acres of his Culmore property to Fairfax County Public Schools for the future construction of Bailey’s Elementary School which opened on September 2, 1952. To the right of the school property was an additional six acres owned by Campbell. Eventually, 1.6 acres of the property was given to the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors in July 1964 for the construction of the present Woodrow Wilson Library which opened in 1967. Before the Library Board voted to name the Woodrow Wilson Library in 1960, it was originally referred to as the “Culmore-Bailey’s Crossroads Library” or “Culmore-Bailey’s Library”.
This name change was reflected across the library starting September 1, 2024, but exterior signage installation is still in process. An official sign unveiling with Mason District Supervisor Andres Jimenez is set for October 19, 2024 at 10:30 a.m.
