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Founding
Founding of Alexandria
city in the state of Virginia, United States
- 1749
- North America
Founding
city in the state of Virginia, United States
Fetching the article from Wikipedia…
Alexandria is an independent city in the U.S. state of Virginia. It lies on the western (or southern) bank of the Potomac River in Northern Virginia, bordering Washington, D.C. to the northeast. The city's population of 159,467 at the 2020 census made it the sixth-most populous city in Virginia and 169th-most populous city in the U.S. Alexandria is a principal city of the Washington metropolitan area, which is part of the larger Washington–Baltimore combined statistical area. Large portions of neighboring Fairfax County have Alexandria mailing addresses, but are administratively distinct from the independent city.
Alexandria was established in 1749 and incorporated as a town in 1779. In its early decades, Alexandria's port was one of the largest in the country, prospering from the trade of agricultural goods and slaves. Ceded to the District of Columbia in 1801, economic troubles led to Alexandria's retrocession back to Virginia in 1847. Alexandria was re-chartered as a city in 1852 and became independent of Alexandria County in 1870. The 19th century saw Alexandria become a manufacturing and railway hub as its port declined in importance. The city significantly expanded its borders in the 20th century, particularly with the annexation of the town of Potomac and its surroundings in 1930 and an unincorporated portion of Fairfax County in 1952, both of which roughly doubled Alexandria's land area.
The highest-income independent city in Virginia, Alexandria is heavily influenced by its proximity to the national capital. The expansion of the U.S. federal government during the New Deal and World War II, coupled with postwar deindustrialization, helped transform Alexandria into a community for federal employees. The city's largest employers include the U.S. Department of Defense's Mark Center and the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Numerous nonprofit organizations and private corporations are also headquartered in Alexandria. Tourism is a major industry, particularly in the city's traditional core of Old Town. Old Town hosts the Alexandria Historic District, the third historic district in the United States.
According to archaeologists' estimates, a succession of indigenous peoples began to occupy the Chesapeake and Tidewater region about 3,000 to 10,000 years ago. Various Algonquian-speaking peoples inhabited the lands in the Potomac River drainage area since at least the early 14th century.
In the summer of 1608, English settler John Smith explored the Potomac River and came into contact with the Patawomeck (loosely affiliated with the Powhatan) and Doeg tribes who lived on the Virginia side, as well as on Theodore Roosevelt Island, and the Piscataway (also known as the Conoy), who resided on the Maryland side. On this visit, Smith recorded the presence of a settlement called Assaomeck near the south bank of what is now Hunting Creek.
On October 21, 1669, a patent granted 6,000 acres (24 km2) to Robert Howsing for transporting 120 people to the Colony of Virginia; this land would eventually become Alexandria. Virginia's comprehensive Tobacco Inspection Law of 1730 mandated that all tobacco grown in the colony must be brought to locally designated public warehouses for inspection before sale. One of the sites designated for a warehouse on the upper Potomac River was at the mouth of Hunting Creek. After the original site south of the creek was deemed "very inconvenient", the warehouse was built at West's Point to the north. This land had been given to John Alexander and Hugh West by John's father Robert Alexander. Robert's cousin, Philip Alexander, owned a 500 acres (2.0 km2) estate to the south, which was bounded by Hunting Creek, Hooff's Run, the Potomac River, and the future Cameron Street.
In 1742, Fairfax County was split from Prince William County. Local planters and merchants, including Thomas Fairfax and Lawrence Washington, sought to establish a port for the new county. At the opening of Virginia's 1748–49 legislative session, the House of Burgesses received a petition on November 1, 1748 that stated that the "inhabitants of Fairfax (Co.) praying that a town may be established at Hunting Creek Warehouse on Potowmack River". Lawrence's younger brother George Washington, an aspiring surveyor, made a sketch of the shoreline touting the advantages of the tobacco warehouse site. Opponents of the warehouse site submitted a petition asking for the small settlement of Cameron along Hunting Creek to be selected instead. Both of these original petitions were rejected by the House of Burgesses.
John West, Fairfax County surveyor, laid-out 60 acres (assisted by 17-year-old George Washington).On May 2, 1749, the House of Burgesses approved the river location and ordered "Mr. Washington do go up with a Message to the Council and acquaint them that this House have agreed to the Amendments titled An Act for erecting a Town at Hunting Creek Warehouse, in the County of Fairfax". A "Public Vendue" (auction) was advertised for July, and the county surveyor laid out street lanes and town lots. The auction was conducted on July 13–14, 1749. The Fairfax County Court began meeting in Alexandria's Market Square in 1752.
Alexandria is named in honor of the early owner of much of the land, Scotsman John Alexander. This was likely chosen to try to win the support of the Alexander family. If so, the effort failed, as Philip Alexander endorsed the Cameron site. The city government further connects the name to the Egyptian city of Alexandria, which would have appealed to the "classically educated elites of the day". An alternative designation for the town was "Belhaven", with the first known use of the name being a 1749 plat entitled "A Plan of Alexandria now Belhaven". The name was intended to honor Scottish anti-unionist John Hamilton, 2nd Lord Belhaven and Stenton, as "patriotic" Scottish merchants were active along the Potomac at the time. The name Belhaven was used in official lotteries to raise money for a church and market house. Though the alternative name did not find lasting success, some maps continued to label the town as Belhaven as late as 1783.
In March 1755, Edward Braddock arrived in Alexandria with a force of about 1400 British regulars and 450 colonial troops as he prepared for operations against the French during the French and Indian War. There, he hosted a meeting with the governors of Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, and New York at Carlyle House to discuss the war. His army subsequently departed Alexandria for an expedition against Fort Duquesne that ended in Braddock's defeat and death against a French and Native American force.
In 1774, the British closure of Boston Harbor prompted pro-Boston Alexandrians, including John Carlyle, to establish a committee of correspondence. On July 18 of that year, George Washington, George Mason, and other residents of Fairfax County met at Alexandria's Market Square to issue the Fairfax Resolves, which called for a congress of colonial representatives and a boycott of British goods. After the American Revolutionary War began in 1775, Alexandria remained sympathetic towards the revolutionaries, supplying the colonial military with troops and purging local Loyalists. The town was "virtually unscathed" by combat, but nonetheless was a hub of military activity, hosting a Hessian prisoner of war camp, numerous fortifications to defend against British attack, and a smallpox vaccination center for the Southern Department. The sale of grain and other foodstuffs to revolutionary troops and their French backers provided a significant boost to Alexandria's economy.
The revolutionary government of Virginia began chartering and re-chartering many of its communities amidst the conflict. Under this effort, Alexandria was formally incorporated as a town in December 1779. The town's trustees were replaced by directly elected officials, including a six-man common council as well as a Court of Hustings consisting of a mayor, a recorder, and four aldermen.
1779 also saw Virginia designate Alexandria as an international port of entry with its own customs system. As the war came to a conclusion, Alexandria's export of flour and tobacco greatly increased. Trade with Europe, which was the destination of about half of the town's exports, was reestablished, while the West Indies served as another major customer of Alexandrian goods. A decline in tobacco production caused economic contraction in the late 1780s, but trade rapidly recovered in the 1790s. Alexandria was the dominant port along the Potomac by 1790 and was the seventh-largest port in the United States by 1796.
In March 1785, commissioners from Virginia and Maryland met in Alexandria to discuss the commercial relations of the two states, finishing their business at Mount Vernon. The Mount Vernon Conference concluded on March 28 with an agreement for freedom of trade and freedom of navigation of the Potomac River. The Maryland legislature, in ratifying this agreement on November 22, proposed a conference among representatives from all the states to consider the adoption of definite commercial regulations. This led to the calling of the Annapolis Convention of 1786, which in turn led to the calling of the Federal Convention of 1787.
As the United States began planning for the creation of a new federal capital city, Virginia passed an act on December 3, 1789 that approved the cession of up to 10 square miles of territory to the proposed capital. The Residence Act of 1790 authorized the creation of a federal capital along the Potomac River, with its exact borders to be determined by George Washington. Washington insisted upon Alexandria's inclusion in the new city, which was approved in an amendment to the act in 1791, though the amendment also stipulated that the federal government be based in the territory ceded by Maryland. Oliver Wolcott Jr. stated that Washington privately favored Alexandria as the seat of government, but did not press the matter due to concerns that his personal ties to the town would create the appearance of impropriety. The first and southernmost boundary marker of the capital was erected at Alexandria's Jones Point on April 15, 1791. Ahead of Alexandria's expected cession, the Fairfax County Court moved to Fairfax City in April 1800.
The District of Columbia was organized under the District of Columbia Organic Act of 1801, formally splitting Alexandria from Virginia and placing it within the new Alexandria County alongside the remainder of Virginia's cession. With their inclusion in the new capital, Alexandrians lost Virginia state citizenship as well as the right to vote in federal elections. Alexandria continued to operate under Virginia law until 1804, when Congress granted a new charter for the town that abolished the positions of recorder and alderman, expanded the common council to 16 members, and divided the town into four wards.
In 1814, during the War of 1812, the British military carried out a successful raid on Alexandria, which surrendered without a fight. In order to avoid the town's destruction, twenty-two merchant ships and large quantities of flour, tobacco, cotton, wine, and sugar were handed over by Alexandria's municipal authorities to the British.
Alexandria's economy stagnated with a decline in Northern Virginia's agricultural output, and the slave trade became increasingly important as Alexandria sought to supply the cotton industry of the Deep South. Even as "observers perceived the downward trend of Alexandria's relative economic power", Alexandria grew to become the country's largest center of slave trading by the 1830s. From 1828 to 1836, Alexandria was home to the Franklin & Armfield Slave Market, one of the largest slave trading companies in the United States. By the 1830s, they were sending more than 1,000 slaves annually from Alexandria to their Natchez, Mississippi, New Orleans, and later Texas markets to help meet the demand for slaves in Mississippi and nearby states.
As discontent with the District of Columbia grew south of the Potomac, a movement emerged that called for Alexandria County to be retroceded to Virginia. Amidst economic troubles, many in Alexandria felt neglected by Congress, which Alexandrians had no say in due to the disenfranchisement of District residents. As the Chesapeake & Ohio (C&O) Canal spurred development on the north side of the Potomac, Alexandria invested heavily into its own canal to provide a direct connection to the C&O Canal's terminus at Georgetown, which failed to provide the desired economic benefits despite the steep cost. Meanwhile, Georgetown's port emerged as a major rival to Alexandria's. Alexandria was also ineligible to host federal buildings under the 1791 amendment to the Residence Act. Further, proposals to abolish the slave trade in the District would have devastated one of Alexandria's major industries. Pro-slavery factions in Virginia likewise wanted the land to be returned to provide the state legislature with an additional two members that would likely favor slavery.
On July 9, 1846, Congress agreed to hold a referendum in Alexandria County on the issue of retrocession. On September 1 and 2, 763 voted in favor of retrocession while 222 opposed it. President James K. Polk accepted the results on September 7, and Virginia formally assumed control over the land on March 13, 1847. Alexandria was re-chartered as a city in 1852.
Text from the Wikipedia article “Alexandria, Virginia”, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.