hose who followed Messrs. Buxton and Kinsley to Falls Church,
who built homes and made the little straggling settlement at the
cross-roads the beautiful village it is to-day, space will not permit
even a brief mention. But there are a number of well-known citizens
still residing here who formed the nucleus of that "department colony"
of thirty years ago, and through whose influence in great measure this
village has become a settlement of government employees. Most prominent
among these settlers of the 70's who are connected with the executive
departments in Washington are Messrs. G. A. L. Merrifield and M. S.
Roberts of the Pension Bureau, Albert P. Eastman of the War Department
and George F. Rollins of the Treasury Department.

[Illustration: Dr. J. B. Gould]

The rate of taxation levied by the town government is 60 cents on the
hundred dollars, 30 cents of which is for school purposes and 30 cents
for all expenses of the corporation. To this must be added the taxes
collected by the county of Fairfax, 75 cents on the hundred dollars,
making a total tax on property holders in the town of $1.35 on each one
hundred dollars of the assessed valuation. Property within the
corporation is exempt from county road tax and district school tax.
Property in that part of the village lying within Alexandria County is
assessed in like manner by the town and the authorities of the latter
county. The tax rate for Alexandria County for the year 1903 on the one
hundred dollars of assessed valuation of personal and real property was:
State tax, 35 cents; county levy, 40 cents, and for court-house
purposes, 10 cents--a total of 85 cents chargeable to the property
owners of East Falls Church, the section of the village in this county.
An additional tax of 50 cents for road purposes and 40 cents for the
district school is levied against taxable property in this county
outside of East Falls Church.

[Illustration: Mr. W. H. Nowlan]

When scarcely entitled to be designated by the name of village, the
little settlement on the Leesburg turnpike known as Falls Church was, by
an act of the General Assembly of Virginia, incorporated as a town. The
act in question was approved March 30, 1875, and on April 13 following
the new town began its career with the following officials duly
installed: Mayor, Dr. J. J. Moran; Clerk, H. J. England; Town Sergeant,
E. F. Crocker; Councilmen, Dr. J. J. Moran, George B. Ives, J. E. Birch,
T. T. Fowler, Isaac Cro