Bailey's Crossroads, Virginia

Bailey's Crossroads is a

Etymology

Bailey's Crossroads draws its name from the Bailey family of circus fame, which has long been connected with the community. Hachaliah Bailey, one of America's first circus showmen, resided here. In 1808, while still in New York state, he purchased an Indian elephant which was one of the first such animals to reach the United States. Seeking a place to winter his circus animals, he moved to Virginia, and on December 19, 1837, he bought a tract of land on the outskirts of Falls Church including what is now the intersection of Leesburg Pike and Columbia Pike. On this tract he built a large house known as "Bailey's Mansion" or "Moray;" it was reputed to have contained 100 rooms.^{[by whom?]} The mansion sat at a location now known as Durbin Place. It abutted Glenforest Drive, the oldest outlet road to Leesburg Pike.

Perhaps the first of the Northerners to settle permanently in Fairfax County to farm was Lewis Bailey, an upstate New Yorker and the son of Hachaliah Bailey, who followed his father south. In 1837, the elder Bailey bought hundreds of acres of Fairfax land, much of it on the outskirts of present-day

Hachaliah Bailey (the founder of one of America's earliest circuses, which in time evolved into the Bailey component of what became the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus) moved to Northern Virginia in 1837, bought the land surrounding the intersection of Leesburg Pike and Columbia Pike in Fairfax County, Virginia near Falls Church, Virginia, and gave Bailey's Crossroads his name. The Crossroads then became the winter quarters for his circus.^[5]

Civil War

The opening months of the American Civil War proved to be a disruptive and unforgettable episode in the history of Bailey's Crossroads. From the summer of 1861, when the area fell into an uncomfortable and poorly defined "no man's land" between the borders of two warring countries, until late November of that year, when the area hosted a massive troop review, anything akin to normalcy was in short supply.

Virginia voted to secede from the Union on May 23, 1861. Fairfax County's northern-born residents—many of whom were its most prominent and prosperous citizens—now felt very uncomfortable. Their southern neighbors looked upon them with suspicion. In July 1861 the Union Army met with catastrophic defeat during the First Battle of Manassas. The army retreated all the way to Washington, with the Confederate Army advancing quickly behind it. The Confederates occupied Falls Church and Munson's Hill, overlooking Bailey's Crossroads, and the crossroads' northern-born residents fled for the safety of Washington.^[6]

Once Confederates established themselves atop Munson's Hill they built a crude fort there, and from these commanding heights turned Bailey's Crossroads into a "killing field". Southern sharpshooters killed numerous Union soldiers. Violence arose whenever Confederate and Union pickets, or scouts, engaged one another in firefights. It was now impossible to walk the Leesburg Pike without being shot and killed.^[7]

There was a minor engagement between the sides on Tuesday, September 3, 1861, with the Union suffering 8 casualties and the Confederates none.

And further, the official reports on the 'War of the Rebellion' indicate that during August 28–30, 1861 a series of skirmishes took place at a location scrawled as "Balley's Cross Roads".

The local balance of power changed completely—and to everyone's surprise—on September 28, 1861, as the Confederate Army silently withdrew its forces from Munson's Hill, Upton's Hill and Falls Church to Manassas, which they fortified. Munson's Hill and Falls Church were located too far afield of reliable supply lines, and a concerted Union pincer movement could possibly choke off supplies, the Southern command believed. At Manassas they were adjacent to Virginia's interior, and had good railroad and road connections to it.^[8]

After Confederate withdrawal the area quickly was reoccupied by Union troops. A significant troop review took place at Bailey's Crossroads on November 20, 1861. Thousands of Union troops marched in formation and paraded before President Abraham Lincoln, the northern press, and many onlookers from Washington. Army commanders selected Bailey's Crossroads as the site because of its nature as a large, unbroken plain. In order to prepare it for the day's activities the army merely needed to remove the split-rail fencing separating farms and fields.^[9]

During recent years local historians have confused this review with another, smaller review held on nearby Upton's Hill, where events spurred the composition and publication of the Battle Hymn of the Republic.

Modern era

After the Civil War Bailey's Crossroads returned to its pastoral pre-war pursuits. The area remained a rural farming community until the post-World War II years, when a massive wave of development occurred. Leesburg Pike is now a commercial corridor, with apartments and homes to its north and south. A strip shopping center called Culmore, in particular, has lent its name to the apartment development behind it, which is now home to several thousand Latino immigrants. "Culmore" is now an established place name within Bailey's Crossroads.^[10] Close behind Culmore is Lake Barcroft, whose shore is lined with upscale middle-class homes.

During the 1960s, as Washington's

Arlington

Alexandria

Fairfax County

Justice High School

Woodrow Wilson Library

Skyline Center

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Places in Bailey's Crossroads

Bailey's Crossroads is located at 38°50′58″N 77°7′45″W / 38.84944°N 77.12917°W / 38.84944; -77.12917 (38.849474, -77.129093).^[12]

According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has a total area of 2.0 square miles (5.3 km²), all of it land. The area occupies a broad, flat plain, bounded on the west by Munson's Hill. This unbroken expanse of level ground caused the Union Army to select it as the site of a massive review of troops during the Civil War. The review, which took place on November 20, 1861, involved thousands of troops marching in formation and parading before President Abraham Lincoln.^[13]

Bailey's Crossroads is formed by the junction of

The precise extent of Bailey's Crossroads has never been defined. As an unincorporated community without local government, it has never had the purview to do so. The United States Census Bureau observes one definition; and various parts of the Fairfax County government observe others. Economic development plans tend to include just the commercial corridors and associated areas. Current discussions among the Fairfax County government for revitalizing Bailey's Crossroads economically concern themselves with the Fairfax County border on the north and east—which generally includes all commercial and residential properties generally considered as belonging to the neighborhood—as well as Seminary Road and Carlin Spring Road. The plans include a narrow strip along Leesburg Pike to Glen Carlyn Road.[11]

As a general neighborhood, however, with all facets of life included, the geographic extent of Bailey's Crossroads must be considered to be larger. It abuts the clearly established

Governance

Fairfax County Public Schools operates public schools. Glen Forest Elementary School is the primary school attended by most children living in the area, and the local schools feed Justice High School.

Fairfax County Public Library operates the Woodrow Wilson Library in the Culmore area. It has Spanish-language materials in addition to English-language ones.^[14][15]

A

In 2010, the Bailey's Crossroads Volunteer Fire Department turned the land, the firehouse, and most of the equipment of Fire Station 10 over to the Fairfax County Fire & Rescue Department in exchange for a new facility. Since then, Fire Station 10 has been maintained and operated by the Fairfax County Fire & Rescue Department and is staffed 24/7 by full-time career firefighters and paramedics. The Bailey's Crossroads Volunteer firefighters still own the three medic units housed at the station - the two front line units are maintained and operated by Fairfax County Fire & Rescue, while the third unit is maintained and operated by the volunteers.^[16]

Demographics

2020 Census

At the

Of the family households, 36.4% were married couples, 22.7% were a male householder with no spouse, and 32.1% were a female householder with no spouse. The average family household had 3.5 people.[17]

The median age was 33.9, 24.6% of people were under the age of 18, and 13.5% were 65 years of age or older. The largest ancestry is the 12.1% who had

There were 8,547 households, out of which 29.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 40.4% were married couples living together, 11.2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 41.9% were non-families. 33.3% of all households were made up of individuals, and 10.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.70 and the average family size was 3.40.

In the CDP, the population was spread out, with 23.0% under the age of 18, 10.6% from 18 to 24, 37.1% from 25 to 44, 19.0% from 45 to 64, and 10.3% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 33 years. For every 100 females, there were 106.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 106.3 males.

The median income for a household in the community was $51,650, and the median income for a family was $51,490. Males had a median income of $35,130 versus $34,265 for females. The

In popular culture

• Bailey's Crossroads is featured in The Man in the High Castle.

Notable people

• Charlie Garner, former American football player^[18]
• Franz Stahl and Pete Stahl, punk rock musicians^[19]
• Penny Moore, former WNBA basketball player^[20]

See also

• Skyline Towers collapse
• Washington-Virginia Airport
• "History at the Crossroads" (Washington Post, May 19, 2002)

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Bailey's Crossroads, Virginia.