Green Valley Timeline

An overview of Green Valley's rich history, heritage and culture. For more information, click the links on each story.
  • 1844Free Blacks, Levi and Sarah Ann Jones, initially settle in Green Valley

  • 1861Fort Barnard was constructed

  • 1866Mount Zion Baptist Church was built.

  • 1876John D. Nauck subdivided 69acres to establish the "Town of Nauck, Alexandria County, Virginia"

  • 1911Macedonia Baptist Church was built

  • 1922Lomax African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Zion Church was built

  • 1930Jennie Dean Park becomes a major hub for Black baseball clubs in the region

  • 1934Dr. Roland Burner and his wife opened a private practice specializing obstetrics

  • 1942Chinn Funeral Service was established

  • 1945The Dunbar Mutual Apartments were built

    The Our Lady Queen of Peace Catholic Church was established
  • 1946The Veteran's Memorial Branch YMCA was formed

  • 1947The Friendly Cab Company was founded

  • 1952Kemper Annex was renamed to Dr. Charles R. Drew Elementary School

    The Green Valley Pharmacy was established
  • 1963Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered a speech in the parking lot of the Lomax AME Zion Church prior to his famous “I Have a Dream” speech

  • 1974The first opening of Nova Parks

  • 2020John Robinson Jr Town Square was officially named by the Arlington County Board

  • 2022FREED Sculpture was installed

Articles

Arlington’s Black Neighborhoods in 1900

Arlington history tells the story of how the suburb’s Black neighborhoods developed under segregation and Jim Crow discrimination. I have been researching Arlington’s segregation walls for a project and the institutional racism the Black community faced beginning in the late 1800s was successful in its goal to rid the community of Black residents. At the turn of the 20th century, Black people comprised over 35 percent of Arlington County’s population. Today, we number less than 9 percent of the community.

Resource(s):

Green Valley Archive Halls Hill

In Arlington’s Green Valley, legends are remembered

The historically Black neighborhood has deep ties to local civil rights history.

Resource:

Washington Post

Additional historical markers coming to Green Valley community

By the end of the year, a new series of historical markers will sprout in Arlington’s Green Valley community.

They will be part of a broader effort to chronicle the county’s African-American heritage, an initiative being funded by Arlington government grants.

Resource:

Gazette Leader