A HISTORY

of

THE BOUNDARIES

of

ARLINGTON COUNTY, VIRGINIA

Office of the County Manager
Arlington, Virginia
1967

THE BOUNDARIES OF ARLINGTON
1791    1801    184 6    
1870    1875    191 5    1929    1936&n bsp;   1946    1966

FOREWORD TO THE SECOND EDITION

This collection of documentary references to the boundaries of Arlington County was first published in 1957. This new edition contains revisions made in the light of fuller knowledge, and brings the story up-to-date by taking account of the change in the common boundary with the City of Alexandria which went into effect on January 1, 1966.

This pamphlet can serve as a guide for those who need to know what jurisdiction covered this area at any particular time. It provides information for the student as well as the title searcher—in fact, for anyone interested in the history of what is now Arlington County.

Bert W. Johnson
County Manager

A History of
The Boundaries of
Arlington County, Virginia

TABLE OF CONTENTS

A History of
The Boundaries of
Arlington County, Virginia

It is one of those paradoxes so characteristic of Arlington that the area composing the County did not exist as a separate entity until it was ceded by Virginia to form part of the District of Columbia. The Act by which the Congress of the United States took jurisdiction over this area directed that that portion of the District which had been ceded by Virginia was to be known as the county of Alexandria.[1] (It was not until 1920 that it received the name of Arlington.)[2]

The present boundaries of Arlington may be described as: Beginning at the intersection of Four Mile Run with the west shore line of the Potomac River, westwardly, in general along the line of Four Mile Run, without regard to its meanders, intersecting the south right-of-way line of the Washington and Old Dominion Railroad, then 1,858.44 feet to where the center line of Shirlington Road intersects the said south right-of-way line; thence south and slightly east to the center line of Quaker Lane, then following the center line of Quaker Lane to a point short of Osage Street in Alexandria where it moves to the north line of Quaker Lane; thence to the east right-of-way line of Leesburg Pike (King Street); thence with this line to the east side of 30th Street, South, in Arlington, northeast on 30th Street, South, to the circle; around said circle to the north side of South Columbus Street, along this line to 28th Street, South, returning for a short distance to Leesburg Pike, jogging east and north to 25th Street, South, and then back to Leesburg Pike; thence along the Pike to the common boundary of Alexandria and Fairfax; thence northeast along the former Alexandria-Fairfax boundary until it intersects the original boundary between Arlington and Fairfax; thence due northwest to a stone and large oak tree approximately 200 feet west of Meridian Avenue (North Arizona Street); thence due northeast to the shore of the Potomac; thence along the mean high water