Nauck, Virginia

Nauck is a neighborhood in the southern part of Arlington County, Virginia. It is bordered by Four Mile Run and Shirlington to the south, Douglas Park to the west, I-395 to the east, and Columbia Heights and the Army-Navy Country Club to the north. The southeastern corner of the neighborhood borders the City of Alexandria.[1] The neighborhood was formerly known as "Green Valley," and in 2019, the Nauck Civic Association voted to change its name to the Green Valley Civic Association in recognition of this history and to request a formal neighborhood name change from the county board.[2]

History
Mount Vernon Ladies' Association
Portrait of John Parke Custis by Charles Willson Peale, ca. 1774

In 1719, John Todd and Evan Thomas received a land grant within the area that is now the Nauck neighborhood. Robert Alexander later acquired the land. In 1778, Alexander sold his property to John Parke Custis, whereupon the land became part of Custis' Abingdon estate.[3]

During the mid-1800s, Gustavus Brown Alexander owned much of the area that became Nauck, which at the time was called Green Valley. African Americans began to purchase property and settle in the Nauck area during that period. Among the early African American property owners were Levi and Sarah Ann Jones.[4]

In 1859, the Alexandria, Loudoun and Hampshire Railroad began operating to Vienna from a terminal in old town Alexandria.[5] The rail line, which subsequently became branches of the Richmond and Danville Railroad, the Southern Railway, the Washington and Old Dominion Railway and the Washington and Old Dominion Railroad, eventually reached the town of Bluemont at the base of the Blue Ridge Mountains in 1900.[6] The line, which traveled through the valley of Four Mile Run, had stations named Nauck and (later) Cowdon where it crossed Shirlington Road.[6][7] Although the line carried freight until it closed in 1968, passenger service through Nauck ended in 1932 during the Great Depression.[8]

1863 map of Union Army convalescent camp in the area of the future Nauck neighborhood. The camp was north of Four Mile Run, a swamp, and the Alexandria, Loudoun and Hampshire Railroad.

During the American Civil War, the Union Army constructed Fort Barnard and other fortifications in the area.[9] The army also established there a number of encampments for its troops, as well as a large convalescent camp bordered by a swamp. After the war ended in 1865, Thornton and Selina Gray, an African American couple that had earlier been slaves at Arlington House, purchased a small piece of property in the area in 1867.[4]

During 1874-1875, John D. Nauck, a former Confederate Army soldier who had immigrated from Germany, purchased a 69 acres (28 ha) parcel of land in the area.[4] Nauck, who held at least one political office in the area, lived on his property and subdivided and sold the remainder.[4][10]

During the post-war period, the area attracted several African American families residing in Freedman's Village and other locations.[3] In 1876, William Augustus Rowe, an African American who lived in Freedman's Village and was elected to a number of political positions, was among those who purchased property in the area during that period.[4] In 1885, a “Map of the Town of Nauck, Alexandria County, Virginia" that resulted from an earlier land survey was recorded.[4]

Nauck grew slowly during the late nineteenth century.[4] In 1874, a congregation initially organized in Freedman’s Village purchased land in the area on which to relocate a building containing an African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, the Little Zion Church.[3][10] The church's building housed a public school that was later known as the Kemper School. In 1885, the Alexandria County school board built a one-room school nearby. The board constructed a new two-story brick school in 1893 at South Lincoln Street. The board later replaced that building with a larger facility that now contains the Drew Model Elementary School.[3]

In 1898, the Washington, Arlington & Falls Church Railway constructed a branch of its interurban electric trolley system that began in Rosslyn, connected with lines that traveled to downtown Washington, D.C. and other points, and terminated a short distance north of the Southern Railway's Nauck (Cowdon) station (see: Nauck line (Fort Myer line)).[3][11][12] The line paralleled the present South Kenmore Street and stimulated the neighborhood's development.[3][11] The trolley line's Nauck station was located south of Steuben Street (now 19th Street South).[3][11]

However, the 1902 Virginia Constitution, which established racial segregation throughout the state and restricted the rights of African Americans, stopped the neighborhood's expansion. Property owners continued to subdivide their lands to accommodate more people, but Nauck's boundaries largely remained unchanged.[3]

Lomax African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church (2012)

In 1922, the Lomax African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church was constructed on 24th Road South between South Glebe Road (Virginia State Route 120) to the east and Shirlington Road to the west. The church, which is a successor to the Little Zion Church, was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2004.[10]

During World War II, the federal government constructed Paul Dunbar Homes, an 11 acres (4 ha) segregated barracks-style wartime emergency low-income housing community for African Americans.[13] The government built this affordable housing project on a parcel of land at Kemper Road and Shirlington Road that Levi Jones and his family had once owned.[3]

Meanwhile, construction of The Pentagon and its surrounding roads during the war destroyed several older African American communities. Some of those communities' displaced residents relocated to Nauck, thus stimulating the neighborhood's development and increasing its African American population.[3]

By 1952, few blocks in Nauck were still vacant. Others were built nearly to capacity. The neighborhood continued to develop during the remainder of the 20th century along the lines established many years earlier.[3]

In February 2019, a neighborhood resident who had earlier headed the Arlington chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) circulated a letter that advocated a change in the neighborhood's name from Nauck to Green Valley. The letter argued that the historically African-American neighborhood should no longer be named after a Confederate soldier who had not contributed significantly to the area.[14] Later in 2019, the neighborhood's civic association voted to rename itself to the Green Valley Civic Association, and that change was approved by the countywide Civic Federation.[2] As of June 2019, an official name change for the neighborhood itself and signage to reflect the name change awaits approval and implementation by the county government.[2]

Redevelopment

Developers have recently demolished many of Nauck's older houses and replaced them with larger homes because of increases in residential land values that the neighborhood experienced during the 2000s and 2010s. Recent residential redevelopment in the neighborhood has included the construction of the Townes of Shirlington,[15] Shirlington Crest,[16] and The Macedonian, an affordable housing project that tax exempt bonds from the Virginia Housing Development Authority and low-interest loans from the Arlington County government financed.[17]

The land along Shirlington Road has been the target of major redevelopment in recent years. In 2004, the Arlington County Board adopted the Nauck Village Center Action Plan. The Action Plan covers the commercial core of Nauck, which is bounded by Glebe Road to the north, the bend in Shirlington Road to the south, and approximately one block east and west of Shirlington Road.[18]

In 2011, Walmart expressed an interest in constructing a store near I-395 on Shirlington Road in Nauck. Walmart's plans fell through after the Arlington County Board amended the County's zoning ordinance to require County Board approval of such plans.[19]

The Four Mile Run valley, within which the Washington and Old Dominion Railroad traveled through Nauck until 1968, is the last large area in Arlington County that still contains a concentration of properties zoned for industrial uses. In November 2018, the Arlington County Board adopted the Four Mile Run Valley Area Plan. The document addresses a number of planning issues that are intended to guide the future development of the area, including environmental sustainability, open space planning, building height, land use mix, urban design and transportation systems.[20]

Landmarks

In 2013, the Arlington County Board designated the Green Valley Pharmacy in Nauck as a local historic district.[21] In 2014, the County's government held an unveiling ceremony for a historical marker that it had recently erected at the Pharmacy's site.[22]

Parks

Nauck Park, located at 2551 19th Street South, offers the neighborhood 0.32 acres (0.1 ha) of recreational space. The park contains restrooms, picnic tables and a school-age playground.[23]

Drew Park is located at 2310 South Kenmore Street, adjacent to the Charles Drew Community Center. The park contains a playground, a basketball court, a baseball diamond and a sprayground.[24]

Fort Barnard Park, located at 2101 South Pollard Street, occupies 5 acres (2.0 ha) of space near the Fort Barnard Community Garden. The park is across the street from the Fort Barnard Dog Park. The park has “fort”-themed play equipment, a mosaic and a hopscotch area. The park also contains a playground, picnic shelter, a baseball diamond and a basketball court.[25] The park is located at the former site of Fort Barnard, a redoubt that the Union Army constructed during the autumn of 1861.[26][27] The fortification, which was on the Arlington Line of forts, was an early component of the Civil War Defenses of Washington.[28] Park landscaping has destroyed the last remnants of the fort.[27]

Fort Barnard Heights Park, located at 2452 South Oakland Street, occupies 0.1 acres (0.040 ha). The park contains a picnic table, benches and open green space.[29]

The Arlington County government has designated as "Four Mile Run Valley Park" an open space that contains Four Mile Run, the stream's riparian zones, and adjacent areas.[30] The Valley Park straddles the southern border of the Nauck neighborhood.[30] Two components of the Valley Park (Jennie Dean Park[31] and the Shirlington Dog Park[32]) are within Nauck. In September 2018, the Arlington County Board adopted a master plan and design guidelines for the Valley Park.[30]

Nauck contains the trailhead of the 45 miles (72 km)-long Washington & Old Dominion Railroad Trail (W&OD Trail), which follows Four Mile Run through Arlington County as it travels northwest to the town of Purcellville in Loudoun County, Virginia.[33] The trail is within NOVA Parks' Washington & Old Dominion Railroad Regional Park.[33]

Schools

Nauck is home to Drew Model Elementary School, an Arlington Public Schools Montessori school.[34]

Demographics

As of the 2010 Census, Nauck's population was 35.9% non-Hispanic Black or African-American, 27.3% non-Hispanic White and 25.7% Hispanic or Latino.[35]

Notes
  1. GIS Mapping Center. "Arlington County, Virginia, Civic Associations" (map). Arlington County, Virginia, government. Retrieved December 26, 2018. Archived December 26, 2018, at the Wayback Machine
  2. "Civic Federation Approves Nauck Name Change". ARLnow.com - Arlington, Va. Local News. May 9, 2019. Retrieved June 4, 2019. Archived June 4, 2019, at the Wayback Machine
  3. Northern Virginia Regional Park Authority historical marker at trailhead of W&OD Trail in Prats, J.J. (ed.). ""Nauck: A Neighborhood History" marker". HMdb.org: The Historical Marker Database. Archived from the original on May 29, 2017. Retrieved December 24, 2018.
  4. Liebertz, John (2016). Nauck (PDF). A Guide to the African American Heritage of Arlington County (2nd ed.). Historic Preservation Program: Department of Community Planning, Housing and Development, Government of Arlington County, Virginia. pp. 23–36. Retrieved October 7, 2016. Archived October 7, 2016, at the Wayback Machine
  5. Harwood, pp.12, 15.
  6. (1) Timetable: "Southern Railway: Between Washington, Alexandria and Bluemont: Schedule effective July 1, 1900". Town of Round Hill, Virginia, government. July 12, 1900. Archived from the original on November 16, 2002. Retrieved November 22, 2012.
    (2) Harwood, p. 76.
  7. (1) Liebertz, John (2016). A Guide to the African American Heritage of Arlington County (PDF) (2nd ed.). Historic Preservation Program: Department of Community Planning, Housing and Development, Government of Arlington County, Virginia. pp. 25–26. Retrieved October 7, 2016.Archived October 7, 2016, at the Wayback Machine
    (2) Interstate Commerce Commission. "W&OD Railway 1916 ICC Valuation Map No. 2" (PDF). Washington & Old Dominion Regional Park: History. NOVA Parks. Retrieved December 26, 2018. Archived December 26, 2018, at the Wayback Machine
    (3) Harwood, p. 141.
  8. Harwood, pp. 76, 106.
  9. (1) Arlington County, Virginia, government historical marker at Fort Barnard Park (1965) in Swain, Craig (ed.). ""Fort Barnard" marker". HMdb.org: The Historical Marker Database. Retrieved December 26, 2018. Archived December 26, 2018, at the Wayback Machine
    (2) Cooling III, Benjamin Franklin; Owen II, Walton H. (2010). Fort Barnard. Mr. Lincoln's Forts: A Guide to the Civil War Defenses of Washington (New ed.). Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press. p. 83. ISBN 978-0-8108-6307-1. LCCN 2009018392. OCLC 665840182. Retrieved December 27, 2018 – via Google Books. Archived December 27, 2018, at the Wayback Machine
  10. Baynard, Kristie, EHT Traceries, Inc. (April 2003). "National Register of Historic Places Inventory Registration Form: Lomax African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church" (PDF). Arlington County, Virginia, government.
  11. Liebertz, John (2016). A Guide to the African American Heritage of Arlington County (PDF) (2nd ed.). Historic Preservation Program: Department of Community Planning, Housing and Development, Government of Arlington County, Virginia. pp. 25–26. Retrieved October 7, 2016.Archived October 7, 2016, at the Wayback Machine
  12. Merriken, John E. (1987). Old Dominion Trolley Too: A History of the Mount Vernon Line. ISBN 0-9600938-2-6. OCLC 17605355.
  13. (1) Bestebreurtje, Lindsey. "Paul Dunbar Homes". Built By the People Themselves. Retrieved January 17, 2019.
    (2) "Wartime Housing". Arlington County, Virginia: Arlington Public Library. Retrieved January 17, 2019. Archived January 6, 2017, at the Wayback Machine
  14. Koma, Alex (February 19, 2019). "Nauck Leaders to Mull Renaming Neighborhood, Pointing to Namesake's Confederate Ties". ArlNow. Retrieved February 20, 2019. Archived February 20, 2019, at the Wayback Machine
  15. UrbanTurf Staff (November 1, 2010). "The Townes of Shirlington Release First Phase of Townhomes" (blog). Urban Turf. Retrieved December 30, 2018. Archived December 9, 2010, at the Wayback Machine
  16. "Shirlington Crest". DC Condo Boutique. Real Estate Webmasters. January 1, 2016. Retrieved December 30, 2018. Archived January 1, 2016, at the Wayback Machine
  17. (1) "The Macedonian: Affordable housing that's also green". Housing. Arlington County, Virginia, government. 2015. Retrieved December 30, 2018. Archived March 20, 2015, at the Wayback Machine
    (2) "Nauck". Projects & Planning. Arlington County government. Retrieved May 28, 2015. Archived June 29, 2015, at the Wayback Machine
  18. "Nauck Village Center Action Plan" (PDF). Arlington County, Virginia, government. July 10, 2004. Retrieved December 27, 2018. Archived December 27, 2018, at the Wayback Machine
  19. (1) "EXCLUSIVE: Board Acts as Walmart Eyes Shirlington Site". Arlnow.com. July 14, 2011. Retrieved July 27, 2018. Archived August 18, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
    (2) wtopstaff (April 8, 2014). "Land Eyed for Shirlington Walmart Could Become Storage Facility". WTOP. Retrieved December 30, 2018. Archived December 30, 2018, at the Wayback Machine
  20. "Four Mile Run Valley Area Plan" (PDF). Arlington County, Virginia, government. November 17, 2018. Retrieved December 27, 2018. Archived December 27, 2018, at the Wayback Machine
  21. (1) "Green Valley Pharmacy". Projects and Planning. Arlington County government. 2015. Retrieved May 28, 2015. Archived May 11, 2015, at the Wayback Machine
    (2) Liccese-Torres, Cynthia (October 2012). "Green Valley Pharmacy" (PDF). Arlington County Local Historic District Designation Form. Arlington County, Virginia, government. Archived from the original (PDF) on April 10, 2016. Retrieved December 28, 2018.
  22. (1) "Green Valley Pharmacy Historic Marker". Parks & Planning. Arlington County, Virginia, government. 2015. Retrieved December 24, 2018. Archived September 20, 2015, at the Wayback Machine
    (2) Roberto (photographer) (December 2018). "Green Valley Pharmacy Historical Marker" (photograph). Retrieved December 25, 2018 – via Google.
  23. "Nauck Park". Parks and Recreation. Arlington County government. 2016. Retrieved December 24, 2018. Archived April 30, 2016, at the Wayback Machine
  24. "Drew Park". Parks and Recreation. Arlington County government. 2018. Retrieved December 30, 2018. Archived August 25, 2018, at the Wayback Machine
  25. "Fort Barnard Park". Parks & Recreation. Arlington County, Virginia, government. Archived from the original on November 10, 2016. Retrieved December 27, 2018.
  26. Swain, Craig (ed.). ""Fort Barnard" marker". Retrieved December 26, 2018. Archived December 26, 2018, at the Wayback Machine
  27. Cooling III, Benjamin Franklin; Owen II, Walton H. (2010). Fort Barnard. Mr. Lincoln's Forts: A Guide to the Civil War Defenses of Washington (New ed.). Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press. p. 83. ISBN 978-0-8108-6307-1. LCCN 2009018392. OCLC 665840182. Retrieved December 27, 2018 – via Google Books. Archived December 27, 2018, at the Wayback Machine
  28. (1) Michael, John (March 6, 2011). "Fort Cass Virginia: The Fortification Begins". Images of America: Fort Myer. Retrieved December 28, 2018. After the fall of Fort Sumter, South Carolina to the Confederates, it was decided that the Nation’s Capital was in need of defenses. Among the first fortifications were built were the ones at the three crossings of the Potomac River – Chain Bridge (Fort Ethan Allen), Aqueduct Bridge (Fort Corcoran) and Long Bridge (Fort Jackson). Over time the Arlington Line of fortifications developed beginning at the Potomac and encircling the western side of the Capital on the Virginia side.
    The line consisted of about 30 forts, augmented by interwoven artillery batteries:
    Fort Marcy, Fort Ethan Allen, Fort C. F. Smith, Fort Bennett, Fort Strong, Fort Corcoran, Fort Haggerty, Fort Morton, Fort Woodbury, Fort Ramsey (which later renamed and became Fort Cass), Fort Whipple, Fort Tillinghast, Fort McPherson, Fort Buffalo, Fort Craig, Fort Albany, Fort Jackson, Fort Runyon, Fort Richardson, Fort Barnard, Fort Berry, Fort Scott, Battery Garesche, Fort Reynolds, Fort Ward, Fort Worth, Fort Williams, Fort Ellsworth, Fort Lyon, Fort Farnsworth, Fort Weed, Fort O’Rourke, Fort Willard     Archived December 28, 2018, at the Wayback Machine
    (2) "The Arlington Line". Arlington County, Virginia: Arlington Historical Society. Archived from the original on April 20, 2012.
    (3) Cooling III, Benjamin Franklin; Owen II, Walton H. (2010). The Arlington Lines. Mr. Lincoln's Forts: A Guide to the Civil War Defenses of Washington (New ed.). Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press. p. 82. ISBN 978-0-8108-6307-1. LCCN 2009018392. OCLC 665840182. Archived from the original on December 28, 2018. Retrieved March 5, 2018 – via Google Books.
  29. "Fort Barnard Heights Park". Parks & Recreation. Arlington County, Virginia, government. Archived from the original on July 31, 2015. Retrieved December 27, 2018.
  30. (1) "Board Adopts Four Mile Run Valley Park Master Plan and Design Guidelines". News Release. Arlington County, Virginia, government newsroom. September 22, 2018. Retrieved December 24, 2018. Archived September 23, 2018, at the Wayback Machine
    (2) Lardner/Klein Landscape Architects (September 18, 2018). "Four Mile Run Valley Park Master Plan" (PDF). Arlington County, Virginia, government. Retrieved December 27, 2018. Archived December 27, 2018, at the Wayback Machine
  31. "Jennie Dean Park". Parks and Recreation. Arlington County government. 2018. Retrieved December 24, 2018. Archived August 20, 2018, at the Wayback Machine
  32. "Shirlington Dog Park". Parks & Recreation. Arlington County, Virginia, government. 2017. Retrieved December 24, 2018. Archived February 11, 2017, at the Wayback Machine
  33. (1) Photographs and description of the area and markers at the W&OD Trail's trailhead in Prats., J.J. (ed.). ""Washington and Old Dominion Trail" marker". HMdb: The Historical Marker Database. Retrieved December 29, 2018. Archived December 29, 2018, at the Wayback Machine
    (2) Northern Virginia Regional Park Authority historical marker at trailhead of W&OD Trail in Prats, J.J. (ed.). ""Nauck: A Neighborhood History" marker". HMdb: The Historical Marker Database. Retrieved December 29, 2018. Archived December 29, 2018, at the Wayback Machine
    (3) Meyer, Roger Dean (photographer) (September 9, 2007). "Three Markers at the Washington & Old Dominion Trailhead" (photograph). Washington and Old Dominion Trail. HMdb: The Historical Marker Database. Retrieved December 25, 2018. The three markers include Nauck: A Neighborhood History, Tracks Into History and Washington and Old Dominion Railroad Trail.
    (4) Coordinates of W&OD Trail trailhead: 38°50′39″N 77°05′09″W
  34. "Welcome to Drew Model". Drew Model Elementary School. Arlington County, Virginia: Arlington Public Schools. 2018. Retrieved December 24, 2018. Archived 2018-10-29 at the Wayback Machine
  35. "Nauck 2010 Census" (PDF). Arlington County CPHD-Planning Division: Planning Research and Analysis Team. August 8, 2011. Retrieved June 1, 2017. Archived December 25, 2018, at the Wayback Machine
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References

Further reading

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