to beautify the community by planting trees, flowers,
and shrubs; and

to work with governmental bodies and community groups
to promote and fulfill these goals.

Archives of the Society may be found in the Virginia Room of the Mary
Riley Styles Library, Falls Church, Virginia.

FOREWORD

Charles A. Stewart's _A Virginia Village_ is a charming depiction of the
early days of Falls Church. It is the earliest attempt to put on paper
the story of the Falls Church area. In addition to interesting stories
about people and organizations and life generally in the small town of
80 years ago, the book contains photographs of 107 Falls Church houses,
stores, and churches then standing. Reading it is a trip into nostalgia
for old-timers--but the book is more than nostalgia. It pictures many
elements which we associate with the community's lovely historic
character and interest, and which intrigues newcomers and older
residents alike.

Charles A. Stewart produced the book with the help of friends, including
M.M. Ogden, who wrote the preface, and Pickering Dodge, who took the
photographs. Joseph H. Newell printed it in a small backyard shop owned
by his father, which was located on what is today North Washington
Street next to the Columbia Baptist Church.

Not all of the structures standing in the town of Falls Church in 1904
are pictured in _A Virginia Village_. Some owners perhaps were not
asked, or they did not wish to pay the two-dollar fee, or they declined
for other reasons. A number of these absent structures were well-known
features of the community, including the two W.&O.D. railway stations
(East and West Falls Church, now gone), Mt. Hope, Shadow Lawn (or
Whitehall), Tallwood, Jefferson School (no longer standing) and the old
I.O.O.F. Hall (also gone). _Falls Church--By Fence and Fireside_,
published in 1964 by the Rev. Melvin Steadman, mentions many others,
such as Big Chimneys, which was still standing in 1904.

Of the 107 structures pictured, 24 were located near the present City,
particularly in what was then known as the "East End" or East Falls
Church. This former part of the town of Falls Church was returned to
Alexandria County (now Arlington) in 1936. A large number of homes,
stores, and other business establishments which constituted East Falls
Church disappeared with the building of I-66, especially that part of
the highway that lies between Westmoreland and Sycamore Streets in
Arling