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Arlington, VA is located in Arlington County. The area
was originally part of the ten-mile square parcel of land surveyed in 1791
to be the Nation's Capital. Then known as "Alexandria County of the
District of Columbia," it included what is now Arlington County plus part
of the neighboring city of Alexandria. The U.S. Congress returned that
portion of the land to the Commonwealth of Virginia following a referendum
among its citizens. In 1870, the City of Alexandria and Arlington
officially separated their jurisdictions, and in 1920, the name Arlington
County was adopted to end confusion with the City of Alexandria
The name "Arlington" refers to the home of the Civil War General Robert E.
Lee, located on the grounds of the Arlington National Cementery. Arlington
House is the building shown in the Arlington County Seal.
There are no cities or towns within Arlington County, and by law the
County cannot be divided for the establishment of separate jurisdictions.
Arlington County remained largely undeveloped until recent times,
although, beginning about the mid-nineteenth century, some residents of
Washington, D.C. built summer homes there. It was not until after 1920
when the County's population was only 16,000, that more intensive
development began. Today almost all of the land in Arlington has been
developed, and consists of extensive single-family residential areas and
areas where commercial, office and multi-family dwellings predominate. |
