A Little Arlington History for Pedestrians
What has come to be known as Arlington County was originally located in Virginia. In 1791, the land surveyed to become part of the nation's capital included areas on either side of the Potomac. The lands west of the river were known as Alexandria County. Congress eventually turned these lands back to Virginia, but it wasn't until 1920 that Arlington became its own independent jurisdiction.
The first residences in Alexandrian County (including Arlington) were primarily summer homes for Washingtonians. The residential and commercial "boom" didn't begin until the 1920's, when a whopping 16,000 people inhabited the County.
Today, Arlington's roughly 26 square miles are home to nearly 200,000 - a growing percentage of whom live in high-rise dwellings close to the County's eleven Metro Rail stations. Thousands more arrive each day to fill the high-rise office buildings of Rosslyn, Ballston, Court House and Crystal City.
According to a Department of Public Works publication from 1984, "The Arlington County Street System Guide," Arlington was laid out according to an East coast metes-and-bounds system, where "the early roads wound around hills and along ridges, skirted streams and pastures, dodged estates and stores, veered toward springs and easy stream crossings, and often followed even earlier trails." And so Arlington streets were laid out "in harmony with the landscape," as the brochure tells it. Which is good news for pedestrians: curving streets, by slowing down drivers, are often safer streets.
Arlington unruly streets underwent a thorough re-naming process in 1934, with a goal of eliminating duplication and giving some sense of order the "hodgepodge of streets created in the Arlington area by topsy-turvy development of many unincorporated communities." Arlington streets are notorious for their legibility or illegibility, depending on one's perspective. For those interested in the nuts and bolts of navigating Arlington, a useful guide to decoding the County's illustrious street naming system is available online - worth printing out and bringing along on leisurely rambles around Arlington!
