f VPIS, the Village
Improvement Society (VIS) (pp. 16-18), was in full swing. Thus it is a
fitting backdrop to our year of special activities.

As you will note, many of the buildings and settings in the 1904 edition
have been lost or altered in the past 80 years. To make the book more
useful and enjoyable to current readers, we have added a Foreword,
Comments on the Structures Pictured, a Name and Street Index, and a
biographical sketch and photograph of the author. The new information is
not all inclusive and we invite you to cross-reference your reading with
the other sources listed in the Foreword.

The Society is indebted to several of its members who worked long and
hard to made this edition possible. In particular, we would like to
thank the chairman of the project, Colonel Merl M. Moore (a former VPIS
President); Mr. Edmund F. Becker, who wrote the Foreword; Mr. Henry H.
Douglas, who as usual is an indispensable resource on the history of
Falls Church; and Mr. Richard T. Allan, whose editing skills were
invaluable.

We hope this 1985 edition will become a cherished reminder of The
Society's 100th anniversary and a valuable edition to your personal
library. Sincerely,

_President_

Rowland Bowers
_Vice President_

Harold Silverstein
_Chairman, Centennial Committee_

[Illustration]

ABOUT THE FALLS CHURCH VILLAGE PRESERVATION AND IMPROVEMENT SOCIETY

In 1985, its Centennial Year, the Falls Church Village Preservation and
Improvement Society comprises over 750 citizens and businesses dedicated
to improving the quality of life in Falls Church.

The Society recognizes that it is the inheritor of the civic purposes
and activities of the Village Improvement Society (VIS) of Falls Church
established in 1885 and which group was modeled after the famous Laurel
Hill Association of Stockbridge, Massachusetts, and that VPIS' purposes,
objectives and activities represent a continuum of the earlier organized
and volunteer civic organization and effort to improve and preserve the
historic tradition, residential character, quality of life and
appearance of Falls Church, Virginia.

The values articulated by the founders in 1885 have not changed to the
present:

to preserve the historic and predominantly single
family detached residential and village character of Falls Church;

to preserve its historic structures and landmarks;

to promote architectural harmony and aesthetic values;