THE TWENTIETH CENTURY COURTHOUSE

The twentieth century brought Fairfax County more than a new constitutional framework; it brought a new outlook and spirit. Something of this spirit was reflected in the following quotation from a short history and prospectus of the County published by the County Board of Supervisors in 1907:

If this statement seemed perhaps a bit too eager, it was at least hopeful and optimistic in contrast to the spirit that had prevailed during the long years of reconstruction. It expressed a feeling of confidence that came from having weathered the depression which followed the Panic of 1893 better than many parts of the country.[114]

One reason for this was Fairfax County's expanding contacts with the city of Washington, chiefly by having become a supplier of its dairy and truck garden produce, and by becoming the residential area for increasing numbers of employees of the Federal governmental establishment. These elements of the economy of Northern Virginia offered more resistance to the depression of the 1890's than was possible in the areas of south and central Virginia which depended on cotton and tobacco.

In turn, it was the development of rapid railroad service, both steam and electric, that made both of these developments possible at this time. The critical importance of this transportation was recognized by the County Supervisors' publication:

The heydays of the steam and electric railroads in Northern Virginia were followed in the 1920's by improvement and expansion of the road system.[116] As the number of automobiles increased—and their prevalence was forecast by designation of present Lee Highway as the initial segment of the first transcontinental highway running westward from the zero milestone on the ellipse in Washington—the paving of roads became a major concern of local communities. Both free public highways and toll turnpikes built by subscription and bond issues were undertaken in Fairfax County. Even after the County elected to turn over its roadbuilding to the state under the Byrd Road Act in 1932, the County's leaders continued to have a deep interest in the increased population growth that roads and railroads made possible.

Increased population brought increased needs for various new public services. Shortly after the first State Board of Health was established in Virginia in 1900, the counties of the State established local boards. The Chairman of the Board of County Supervisors automatically became Chairman of the Health Board in this early experiment in public health services.[117] The machinery for raising revenue was made more efficient by redrawing the division of labor between the commissioner of revenue and the county treasurer.

Most far-reaching in the long run, however, was the enactment in 1920 of state legislation giving counties the option of adopting various managerial forms of government if they so desired. Fairfax County exercised this option in 1951 by adopting the County Executive form of government.[118]

Under this form of county government, the Board of Supervisors remained the sole legislative authority of the County, but the executive functions were placed under the supervision of a new officer, the county executive. The county executive, as well as all boards and commissions responsible for special services and administrative functions, were appointed by the Board of Supervisors, and served either for specified terms or at the pleasure of the Board. The Supervisors continued to be elected by the County's voters, each from one of the magisterial districts. This method of election was adopted deliberately as a means of maintaining a balance of political representation of the western and southern parts of the County, which still were rural in their economic and social orientation, and the north, east and central areas of the County, which had been intensively developed as part of the suburbs of Washington and Alexandria.

The involvement of the public in county government was seen in many forms. Service on county boards and commissions was one. Also, as newcomers poured into the county seeking homes, the neighborhoods and communities formed civic organizations or citizens associations to provide means for group action on problems of common concern. Parallel to these groups, others, such as Parent-Teachers Associations, formed to deal with school-related problems which were both inside and outside the scope of governmental services in the field of education.

These forms of citizen involvement in public affairs—prompted partly by the sheer size of the new demands for service and partly because the newcomers to Fairfax County came from areas where wide participation in local government was taken for granted—had a profound effect on the County's historic outlook on public affairs. No longer was it accepted that certain families or individuals held among themselves the privileges, powers and obligations of governing. This tradition, symbolized by the gentlemen justices of colonial times and the nineteenth century, was replaced by a new system where political leadership was established through service in the community and verified by the ability to win in competition at the polls.

The new dimensions of government's role necessitated finding more space for the county's offices. The clerk's office, which historically had been the focal point for the County's continuing administrative functions, ceased to be able to contain all the County's offices as early as the 1920's. An additional building was authorized, but delays in financing and construction postponed its completion until 1934.[119] However, by 1940 this building was so crowded that both its attic and basement had been converted to office space, and many County agencies were using additional rented space in non-County buildings.

Plans were developed in the early-1940's for a major addition to the courthouse building. Delays were encountered, first because of the shortages of materials and manpower during the years of World War II, and then because of problems of funding this work amid other urgent demands for tax revenue. Ultimately, both shortages were relieved, and work was begun on the central block and south wing of the courthouse as they appear today.[120] The jail section and wing containing the clerk's records of land transactions and court proceedings were added to the building in 1956.[121]

As the County's need for space to house its governmental offices continued to grow through the 1960's, some consideration was given to moving the courthouse to a new location.[122] The transformation of Fairfax from a town into a city in 1961 added a complicating factor to this issue for it meant that technically the County had no control over the land on which its seat of government stood. The City of Fairfax, however, was anxious to keep the center of County government in its existing location, and offered to condemn sufficient land for the County's building needs.[123]

The seat of county government remained at Fairfax, but the courthouse square no longer sufficed to contain the complex of buildings involved. By 1969 construction had been completed on a County Governmental Center, later named the Massey Building, to honor Carlton Massey, the first County Executive, who served from 1952 to 1971. A separate building was erected nearby for the County Police Department, and plans were made for other buildings in the future.[124]

Overshadowing the old courthouse tract, the new center of government nevertheless preserves the evidence of the past by continuing use of the original (north) section of the courthouse building and its 1953 addition, all in an architectural style reminiscent of the colonial period in Virginia. The presence of the past combine with a sense of the present and the future to make the Fairfax County Courthouse both a symbol and a functioning seat of a county government which in the year 1976 had been in existence for more than two centuries.

NOTES FOR CHAPTER VI