NATURE, HISTORY AND HORTICULTURE IN FAIRFAX COUNTY
VOLUME 10, NO. 2 SUMMER 2010
Park Authority Celebrates 60 Years
I
n 1953, the Fairfax County Park Authority was nine people and six parks on 95 acres of land. As it celebrates its 60th anniversary this year, the Land acquisition was key to the Park agency has grown Authority’s growth in the 1950s. to over 800 full-time employees, some 2,000 volunteers and 417 parks on over 22,500 acres. Its 12-member citizen board sets policy for a system that includes 10 historic sites, nine RECenters, eight golf courses at seven sites, five nature centers, three lakefront parks, three million archaeological artifacts, nearly 300 athletic fields, more than 300 miles of trails, two water parks, an observatory, a working farm, an equestrian center and a horticultural center. Park Authority documents, publications, files and notes show there was a lot of work and stewardship behind that growth. The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors created the Park Authority on December 6, 1950. It was extraordinary foresight, because there was a lot of open space at the time. Two early leaders in county planning and zoning,
Charles C. Robinson and John Brookfield, were prime movers in establishing the agency. Both eventually served as Park Authority Board chairmen. Because development in the 100-year flood plain was forbidden, developers sometimes donated those lands to the county’s park system. Highlighted The 1960s saw the Park Authority acquire by 77 acres of several lakefront areas like Lake Accotink. stream valley land along Accotink Creek donated by Roy Eakin of Eakin Properties Incorporated, county parkland started increasing. The Park Authority’s first land purchase was in 1952 -- 16 acres that now is the heart of Great Falls Park. By the late 1950s, the Park Authority needed a full-time director. Fred M. Packard, previously the executive director of the National Parks Association, took that job on January 1, 1959.
The transfer of the Old Floris Schoolhouse property to the Park Authority 50 years ago planted the seed for the establishment of Frying Pan Farm Park.
That same year brought the first bond referendum for acquiring parkland. It passed by 135 votes, a decision that Park Authority Board member Ellamae Doyle called the single most important factor in setting the direction and tone of the Park Authority and the preservation of land for recreational purposes in Fairfax County. Voters approved 10 more park bonds over the next 50 years. continued on page 4
Fairfax County Park Authority • Fairfax, VA 22035 • 703-324-8695 • Fax 703-324-3996 • TTY 703-803-3354 • www.fairfaxcounty.gov/parks/resources