orporation limits.

The last important section of the act of incorporation, which assures
the peace and quiet of this village, is the restriction placed upon the
liquor traffic. It reads as follows:

SEC. 10. That any person applying to the county of Fairfax or the county
of Alexandria for a license to sell liquors of any kind, either as a
keeper of an ordinary or eating house, or as a merchant, within the
corporate limits of the town of Falls Church in the said counties, or
within one mile beyond the limits of the said corporation shall produce
before the courts or boards having control of the issuance of licenses
for the sale of liquor of said counties a certificate of said council of
said town to the effect that the applicant is a suitable person and that
no good reason is known to said council why said license should not be
granted. And the courts of said counties or boards having authority
shall not grant the said license to sell liquors within the limits above
prescribed until and unless such a certificate be given. And under no
circumstances and in no event whatever shall the sale of liquors be
licensed in any part of the corporation where license for the sale
thereof has been prohibited under the provisions of chapter twenty-five
of the Code of Virginia, known as the local option law.

[Illustration: Mr. Geo. L. Erwin]

The town is divided into three wards and each ward is represented by
three councilmen.

THE BOARD OF HEALTH, appointed annually by the council, looks after the
health of the town, with authority to carry out such sanitary
regulations as may be deemed wise and expedient. The Board of Health for
the present year consists of Dr. T. C. Quick, Chairman, and Councilmen
John H. Wells and Elmer I. Crump.

THE FIRE DEPARTMENT of the village was organized in 1898. The officers
are a chief engineer and three fire wardens, one from each ward, and a
captain of the fire company. The equipment for fighting fires consists
of one fifty-five and two twenty-five gallon chemical engines of the
most approved pattern and one fully equipped hook and ladder truck. The
larger engine is kept in the central part of the village while the two
smaller ones are stationed at East Falls Church and West End
respectively. The officers are Chief Engineer, Dr. J. B. Gould; Fire
Wardens--1st ward, Geo. T. Mankin; 2d ward, Edgar A. Kimball; 3d ward,
D. B. Patterson.

[Illustration: Mrs. Emma Garner.]

THE VILLAGE IMPROVEMENT