About Great Falls

Posted by Jennifer on February 4, 2016 in Great Falls, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Through most of its history, Great Falls has been a farming community. The original landowners (after King Charles II) were the Fairfax cousins – Thomas, Lord of Fairfax and his cousin, William Fairfax. The two men owned over 18,000 acres in Fairfax County, including what is now Great Falls. Most of the landowners in the area can trace their property rights back to one of the Fairfax men.

On Dec. 16, 1790, the town of Matildaville, in Great Falls Park, was chartered. The town was named for the wife of ‘Light-Horse’ Harry Lee. It was laid out on 40 acres of land, in half-acre lots. George Washington was involved with building a canal around the falls on the southwest, or Virginia, side, called the Patowmak Canal, which never became commercially viable. Remnants of the canal and of a village around the canal named Matildaville are still visible in the park. Matildaville was a support facility for the canal, composed of the Potomac River from Cumberland, Md., to Alexandria, with five skirting canals, one of them in Great Falls Park.

In 1798, when Matildaville was retro-ceded from Loudoun to Fairfax County, it was said to be the most flourishing town in the county, containing such buildings as the Round Top House, used as a hotel, the Wyley House and the Yellow House, now all gone.

In the 1800s, the town and villages of Dranesville, Colvin Run, Springvale, and Forestville were settled.  Each are now areas of Great Falls.

In the mid-1800’s the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers constructed the Aqueduct Dam along the park’s northern boundary to supply water for the District of Columbia.

Around 1900, the Great Falls Manufacturing Company was reorganized as the Great Falls Power Company in order to develop hydroelectric power, but later sold out to the Potomac Electric and Power Company.

In 1906 Great Falls Amusement Park opened and a light rail line was built from Georgetown to Great Falls. The rail line eventually merged with the Washington and Old Dominion Railroad.  On weekends, people would take the train to picnic in Great Falls Park.  That right of way is now Old Dominion Drive, which runs from Arlington County all the way into the park.

Great Falls officially became “Great Falls” in 1955.  Situated in the northeaster corner of Fairfax County, Great Falls is now home to about 15,500 people.

Thank you Great Falls Historic Society for this information!  For more information, go to GFHS.org