Alexandria, Virginia

Alexandria is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 128,284. It is located on the west bank of the Potomac River, six miles south of downtown Washington, DC.

Like the rest of Northern Virginia, as well as southern Maryland, modern Alexandria has been shaped by its proximity to the nation's capital. It is largely populated by professionals working in the federal civil service, the U.S. military, or for one of the many private companies which contract to provide services to the federal government. The latter are known locally as beltway bandits, after the Capital Beltway, an interstate highway that circles Washington, D.C. One of Alexandria's largest employers is the U.S. Department of Defense. Others include the Institute for Defense Analyses and the Center for Naval Analyses. In 2005, the United States Patent and Trademark Office moved 7,100 employees from 18 separate buildings in nearby Crystal City into a new headquarters complex in Alexandria.

Alexandria is home to numerous associations, charities, and non-profit organizations including the national headquarters of groups such as the Salvation Army.

The historic center of Alexandria is known as Old Town. It is a major draw for tourists and those seeking nightlife. Like Old Town, many Alexandria neighborhoods are high-income suburbs of Washington D.C. A 2005 assessed-value study of homes and condominiums found that over 40 percent were in the highest bracket, worth $556,000 or more.

Alexandria landmarks include the George Washington Masonic National Memorial (also known as the Masonic Temple), Gadsby's Tavern, Christ Church, the Little Theatre, the Torpedo Factory art studio complex, Market Square, Robert E. Lee's boyhood home, the John Carlyle House and the Virginia Theological Seminary. In 2005, Alexandria became one of the first cities of its size to offer free wireless internet access to some of its residents and visitors.

Market Square in Old Town was once the site of the second-largest slave market in the United States. Today it contains a large fountain and extensive landscaping, as well as a farmers' market each Saturday morning.

Alexandria's public high school, T.C. Williams, and its legendary former football coach, Herman "Mad Dog" Boone, were featured in the 2000 motion picture, "Remember the Titans."

Geography

Alexandria is bounded on the east by the Potomac River, on the north and northwest by Arlington County, and on the south by Fairfax County. The western portions of the city were annexed from those two entities beginning in the 1930s.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 39.9 km² (15.4 mi²). 39.3 km² (15.2 mi²) of it is land and 0.6 km² (0.2 mi²) of it is water. The total area is 1.49% water.

Areas in Alexandria

Old Town

Old Town, in the eastern and southeastern areas of Alexandria and on the Potomac River, is the oldest section of the city, originally laid out in 1749, and is a historic district. Old Town is chiefly known for its historic (and expensive) town houses, its art galleries and antique shops, and its restaurants and nightlife, although it is in reality a diverse area that includes substantial public housing. Old Town is laid out on a grid plan of substantially square blocks.

Del Ray

The area to the northwest of Old Town, formerly in the separate town of Potomac, is popularly known as Del Ray, although that name properly belongs to one of many communities (including Hume, Mount Ida, and Saint Elmo) in that area. The housing stock is a mix of single-family houses, duplexes, townhouses, and apartment buildings.

The community, while diverse, has experienced substantial gentrification since redevelopment began in Potomac Yard in the mid-1990s.

Del Ray is laid out in a grid plan independent of that of Old Town, with long, narrow blocks.

West End

Alexandria's West End includes areas annexed in the 1950s. It is the most typically suburban part of Alexandria, with a street hierarchy of winding roads and culs-de-sac. The section of Duke Street in the West End is known for a high-density residential area known to locals as the "Condo Canyon" and for its concentration of both strip and enclosed shopping malls. In more recent years, parts of Alexandria's West End, has seen an influx of Immigrants from Ethiopia, Eritrea, Pakistan, which settle in the areas surrounding Seminary Road west of I-395.

Addresses

The addressing system in Alexandria is not uniform and reflects the consolidation of several originally separate communities into a single city. In Old Town Alexandria, building numbers are assigned north and south from King Street and west (only) from the Potomac River. In the areas formerly in the Town of Potomac, such as Del Ray and St. Elmo, building numbers are assigned east and west from Commonwealth Avenue and north (only) from King Street. In the western parts of the city, building numbers are assigned north and south from Duke Street.

The ZIP code prefix 223 uniquely identifies the Alexandria postal area. However, the Alexandria postal area extends well into Fairfax County and includes more addresses outside of the city than inside of it. Delivery areas have ZIP codes 22301 through 22312, 22314, and 22315, with other ZIP codes in use for post office boxes and large mailers. ZIP codes are not assigned in any particular geographic order.

Notable people from Alexandria

Jim Morrison, lead singer of The Doors and 1960's sex symbol.
Sandra Bullock, actor.
Diedrich Bader, actor.
Scott Norwood, Buffalo Bills placekicker who infamously missed the final field goal "Wide Right" during Super Bowl XXV.
Neko Case, famous singer-songwriter
John Phillips, singer for The Mamas & the Papas.
Mama Cass, singer for The Mamas & the Papas.
Scott McKenzie, singer of 1967 hit "San Francisco".
Bernard G. Caulfield (1828-1887), born in Alexandria, lawyer, United States Congressman from Illinois, and later owner of a large amount of land around Deadwood, South Dakota. [1]
John Gadsby Chapman (1808-1889), born in Alexandria, noted American artist, one of America's first etchers
Christopher Pearse Cranch (1813-1892), born in Alexandria, Unitarian minister, newspaper editor, noted author and artist
Hector Eaches, (1840-1873), born in Alexandria, Confederate Army soldier and artist best known for his portraits of Robert E. Lee
Chip Franklin, comedian and talk-show host.
Dave Grohl, musician.
John C. Herbert, (1775-1846), born in Alexandria, United States Congressman from Maryland.
William Forrest Hunter, (1808-1874), born in Alexandria, United States Congressman from Ohio.
Douglas Hyde, famous opera singer.
Abner Lacock, (1770-1837), born in Alexandria, judge, member of the Pennsylvania State Senate, United States Congressman, and United States Senator.
Lewis McKenzie, (1810-1895), born in Alexandria, mayor of Alexandria, United States Congressman from Virginia, and president of the Washington and Ohio Railroad. (1963) Who Was Who in America, Historical Volume, 1607-1896. Chicago: Marquis Who's Who.
Edwin Ward Moore, (1810-1865), born in Alexandria, officer of the United States Navy and the navy of the Republic of Texas, charted the Texas coast.
Dermot Mulroney, actor.
Thomas Newton, Jr., (1768-1847), born in Alexandria, United States Congressman from Virginia.
Alexander D. Orr, (1761-1835), born in Alexandria, United States Congressman from Kentucky.
James Pearce, (1805-1862), born in Alexandria, United States Senator for Maryland, 1843-1862.
Willard Scott, TV personailty.
Thomas Swann, Governor of Maryland, 1866-1869, U.S. Congressman for Maryland's 3rd and 4th Districts, 1869-1879, Mayor of Baltimore, 1856-1860.
Mark Warner, most recent former Democrat Governor of Virginia and possible 2008 Democratic Presidential Candidate.

Transportation

Roads

Alexandria is bisected north and south by State Route 7, known in most of the city as the major thoroughfare of King Street, and in its western portions as Leesburg Pike. Interstate Highway 95/495 (the Capital Beltway), including the Woodrow Wilson Bridge over the Potomac, approximately parallels the city's southern boundary with Fairfax County. Interstate 395 crosses through the western part of the city. Other major routes include U.S. Route 1, named Jefferson Davis Highway and Patrick and Henry Streets (after Patrick Henry), the George Washington Memorial Parkway, and Duke Street (State Route 236).

Airports

Alexandria is located just south of Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Arlington County. As with other Washington suburbs, Alexandria is also served by Washington Dulles International Airport in Chantilly, Virginia, and by Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport near Baltimore, Maryland.

Rail

Alexandria Union Station, the city's historic train station, is served by both Amtrak intercity and Virginia Railway Express regional rail service. The station is directly adjacent to the King Street Metrorail station, at the convergence of the Blue and Yellow Lines. Three other Metrorail stations lie within the city limits: Braddock Road, Van Dorn Street, and Eisenhower Avenue.

The traditional boundary between Old Town and the latterly annexed sections of the city followed the railway now owned by CSX Transportation.

Buses

The city government operates its own mass transit system, the DASH bus, connecting points of interest with local transit hubs. Metrobus also serves Alexandria.

Sister cities

Alexandria has three sister cities, as designated by Sister Cities International, Inc. (SCI):

Dundee, Scotland
Caen, France
Gyumri, Armenia

Recreation

The city has a distributed park system with approximately 950 acres spread across 70 major parks and 30 recreation centers of which Chinquapin is one the largest, offering facilities for swimming, tennis, racquetball and other sports. The city also organizes several sports leagues throughout the year including volleyball, softball and basketball. Alexandria is also unusual in that Cameron Run Regional Park includes a water park with a wave pool and water slides, as well as a miniature golf course and batting cages — facilities usually operated by private companies. A portion of the Mount Vernon Trail, a popular bike path, runs through Old Town near the Potomac River. There is also a line of parks stretching along the Alexandria waterfront from end to end which is largely unbroken.

Education

The city is served by the Alexandria City Public Schools system and by the Alexandria campus of Northern Virginia Community College. The largest seminary in the Episcopal Church, Virginia Theological Seminary, is located on Seminary Road. Virginia Tech's Alexandria Architecture Center is located on Prince Street in Old Town, offering graduate programs in Urban Affairs and Planning, Public and International Affairs, as well as Architecture. Also, Virginia Commonwealth University operates a Northern Virginia branch of its School of Social Work in Alexandria. Alexandria is home to several well known private schools, such as Episcopal High School, Bishop Ireton High School, and St. Stephen's and St. Agnes School. Students and faculty from the Thornton Friends School of Maryland, which closed its Virginia Campus in June, 2006, have formed the new Alexandria Friends School, to maintain Alexandria's tradition of Quaker education.

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