The Fairfax County Courthouse

irs received attention. The Jamestown colonist and his backers in the Virginia Company of London were familiar with county

y, and to hear civil and criminal cases."[1] The magistrates or justices who comprised the court were, as might be expected, the owners of the large plantations and estates in the vicinity, and all were used to administering the affairs of the people and la

tablishment of a 10-acre tract in which those imprisoned for minor crimes might, on good behavior, walk for exercise. In addition, buildings were customarily provided to house the office of the Clerk of the Court, and to accommodate the justices of the assize and their entourage of lawyers and others who accompanied them as t

nty to create the County of Fairfax, the Journal of the Gove

June ye

.

lace call'd Spring Fields scituated between the New Church and Ox R

een held at Colchester. Although no records of the transactions at these sessions have been found, an early history of the County cites entries in

ncil apparently was deliberately designed to accommodate the increasing settlement of areas inlan

rfax.[6] In this tract were numerous springs forming the sources of Difficult Run, Accotinck Creek, Wolf Trap Run, Scott's Run and Pimmit Run. It was high grou

the Blue Ridge Mountains, at a point where this road intersected the Ox Road, running north and west from the mouth of the Occoquan River. A map of 1748 also shows roads running from the courthouse west in the direction of

ng the time the said Court shall be located there but no longer." According to a survey made in March 1742, the site was a rectangle, 40 poles long by 24 poles wide, described in metes and bounds starting from a post on the west side of "Court House

(outhouses), all conveniently located with respect to each other and the roads. County records show surveys for two ordinaries (inns) located on or adjacent to the courthouse tract. One of these, surveyed in 1746,

tion, on stone foundations, with brick chimneys. A 16-foot-square addition to the courthouse was ordered in 1749, with

wn by persons crowding in and throwing their hats and gloves on the said table, the ill consequences thereof being considered,

urity of the book

urthouse in Alexandria, as they might have appeared i

LARGE

rt. Alexandria, established as a town in 1749, showed signs of becoming a major seaport, and its merchants complained that travel to the courthouse at Springfield was burdensome, and that service of process and execution of writs w

records of the colonial Governor in

n of Alexandria, which they propose to build by subscription, was this day read, ORDERED that the justices of the said county be acquainted therewith and requ

n

ounty by subscription to the town of Alexandria, the Board being satisfy'd that it is generally desired by the people, and on notice

ok carried the final record of business t

n the town had to face the street and have chimneys of brick or stone, rather than wood, to prevent fires.[15] The building erected as the new courthouse faced Fairfax Street, between

dria are known, although there is evidence that John Carlyle help

ay to diversified farming, wheat and flour comprised two of Alexandria's major commodities of trade, and enforcement of the flour inspection and marking laws became an important governmental function. Criminal justice was dispensed publicly in the courthouse and jail yard, furnishin

the subsequent establishment of the new state government. Independence did not significantly affect the judicial system, howe

ntly were postponed due to arguments over whether the state or locality should raise the money for them. Thus, the court records of t

ers of settlers in the western part of the county complained that Alexandria merchants gained at the expense of others by having the court meet in their town. George Mason of Gunston Hall felt that Alexandria politicians were building up too strong a hold on the machinery of Count

islation leading to creation of the District of Columbia, and the threat that Alexandria would fall within the boundaries of the new Federal capital. Since by law the County Court could not me

FOR CH

nment in Virginia, (New York: Colu

istory, (Richmond: Virginia

revising earlier statutes on c

of the Council of Colonial Virginia, (Rich

f Fairfax County, (Fairfax: County Boa

p. 182. William Fairfax was a cousin o

aries for a division of Truro Parish to create a new parish for the weste

y Deed Book, Libe

ook, Liber A, Pt. 1, p. 5

cts: Court Order Books, 1749–1792, citing O

harles Broadwater was

al Assembly reduced the number of court meetings to four per year for these r

reprinted in William &

lexandria, Virginia from July 13, 1749 to May 24,

bid.,

he Town of Fairfax, (Washingto

n the Potomac, (Richmond: Ga

uarterly, 2d ser., XIII, 18, 21. Tradition also holds that Jeremiah

unties of Fairfax, and Alexandria and the City of Alexandria",

achariah Johnston", Tyler's Quarte

7–98, c. 37; Shepherd, S

located next door, which also housed the Hustings Court. He also states that the Clerk of the County Court set up his offices in a nearby school building. The Alexandria Gazette, November 13, 1878, reported the demolition