History of Broyhill Park

Broyhill Park Civic Association

History of Broyhill Park

Memories From Long-Time Residents . . .

Gary Owens

My name is Gary Owens, I was born in 1953, in what is now known as "old Broyhill", meaning the houses just east of Annandale Road, at the end of Graham Road. I remember little from there, as we moved to "new Broyhill" in 1956, and I spent the next 14 years there before going off to college. My mother, Betty Evely, still lives in the same house. My father was a carpenter, and he worked for M. T. Broyhill, the home builder for whom Broyhill Park was named. He actually worked on the home we moved into, and I remember thinking that he literally "built" all of Broyhill Park.

I went to Walnut Hill Elementary School, was bussed to Whittier Intermediate School, then finally, the current Falls Church High School. Some current residents of Broyhill Park may not know that the original Falls Church High School was actually located in the center of downtown Falls Church, on Cherry and (something) Street, what is now all town homes. I believe I was in the first freshman class of Falls Church High School in it's present location, which would have been 1967. In addition, I believe Walnut Hill Elementary is now a school administrative office.

I have many great memories of growing up in Broyhill Park, and wanted to share a few of them. The most consistent theme is that there were lots of kids my age. This makes sense as it was a new development and many young families moved in. So, it just seemed like the most perfect place to be. First of all, I remember walking to Walnut Hill Elementary School, which was probably only about 1/2 mile, but to a six, or seven year old, it seemed like a long ways. The school was named after the Walnut Hill Mansion, which was on the "other side" of the woods that surrounded Parrots Creek., situated on the very top of a large lot, on Annandale Road, half way between Graham Road and Gallows Road. The mansion is now gone, replaced by very nice town homes. At that time, a young boy could spend all day on a Saturday in those woods, following Parrots creek from the entrance to the woods, just outside the safe harbor of Woodley Pool, all the way to the Walnut Hill Mansion. Again, for a young boy, who would stop to pick up every stone, sure it was an "arrow head" from the Native American Indians, tadpoles, and sticks, etc, it could take all day to navigate there and back. I haven't traversed it as an adult, but I might guess it is no more than a mile or two, but in those days, it was a big, big adventure. The moniker to your friends who could not join that day, "we made it all the way to Walnut Hill Mansion and back!". All things considered, it was very safe, as all one had to do was follow the creek there, and follow it back. As an adult, I read J.R. Tolkiens books The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings series. I think back to my early childhood, and those woods felt like the woods in Tolkiens books, huge, deep, and dark. The only difference was there was never a hint of danger, only fun and adventure.

Woodley Pool was the place to be in the summers. Every friend I had belonged to Woodley. Every day started and ended at the pool. I'd arrive when it opened, come home (maybe) for dinner, then head back till it closed. There was basketball, shuffle board, ping pong, of course swimming, and games in the pool, card games, and best of all was that every hour the pool was closed for 15 minutes for the "adults" only to swim, which meant 18 and older. This was the time for all of us "kids" to run to the concession stand to buy candy, or ice-cream. I think I spent all of my "grass cutting" money on these sugar breaks. Ah, it was idyllic. One summer, my brother had the concession stand contract, which meant, even though I was a squirt, I got to help him out, and therefore, I was the coolest kid around. I also remember the ping pong tournaments on the last day of the summer each year, which was traditionally Labor Day. Numerous times I won my age group, even entering and winning the adult category as a 13 year old. That and $3 will buy you a cup of Starbucks coffee today, but back then, that was big!

I remember big snows. Again, were they really that big, did we get a lot more snow in the 60's than we do now, or did it just seem so because I was so small? Who knows, but I remember that there were many snow days, when school was closed, and that meant sledding on Carol Lane, from the top of the hill on Camp Alger Street down Carol Lane, toward Annandale Road. It was very steep, even hard to get back up. No one had plastic sleds back then, rather we all had Red Arrow's, good ole wooden sleds, and there was an art to keeping the blades waxed, for maximum speed. I remember long "sled trains", as well as the many attempts to capsize your friends in front of you if you could catch them on the way down.

I remember playing football in the "Triangle", a small parcel of land just off Graham Road, where it bends north heading towards Loehmans Plaza, (which of course was a small airfield before it was a shopping center). The Triangle is still there, with the brick "Broyhill Park" sign still proudly displayed. At the time, it seemed like a perfectly legitimate football field, worthy of future Washington Redskins learning the game. Sometimes, as many as 10-15 of us would be playing there. When I look at it now, I don't know how we did it, but again, at the time, it seemed big enough. I remember many summer nights playing "kick the can", or flashlight tag", until late at night, when Mom would force me to come in. I remember that Congressman Finley, who was in the House of Representatives for 22 years, representing the 10th District of Illinois, had a basketball court in his back yard, and he happened to live across the street from me. He was quite gracious, and allowed us kids to play whenever we wanted, without asking. That meant sometimes early, sometimes late, sometimes, for long periods of time. Looking back, I'm sure there were times that the bouncing of my basketball woke him up, or kept him awake (he even had an outside light). Yet, never did he make me aware of this, rather, whenever I saw him, he'd just smile and say something positive about "my game."

Well, I could go on and on, but suffice it to say, Broyhill Park was (and hopefully still is) a tremendous place to grow up and live. I have nothing but fond memories of being there, and though I have not lived there since 1972, I visit my mother regularly, and everytime I come, I am full of warm thoughts from such memories as I have just shared with you.

Gary Owens
Downers Grove, Il.

Richard Padgett

I stumbled onto your website this week and found nostalgia in Gary Owens' description of growing up in Broyhill Park. I too recall the early days of the development as my family moved to "New Broyhill" early in 1954 when I was 9 years old. The model homes for "New Broyhill" were at the entrance to Graham road at Annandale Road, which had but 2 lanes, and I remember our first trips to see the models and my parents looking over plans and specifications at the sales office. We purchased a house on a corner lot where my Mother still resides. I have vivid memories of our frequent trips to inspect the house as it emerged from the excavated hole in the ground and my Dad's meticulous documentation of soon-to-be-hidden plumbing, wiring and other construction details. I recall the strong odor of wet plaster that persisted long after the walls appeared to have hardened. I watched lawn appear as the rolls of sod were laid. I remember my parents' battle to eradicate the poison ivy that remained under the sod and on a large 4-trunk oak tree in the back yard that had escaped the ravages of home construction. I recall a significant population of black widow
spiders that had also survived and my fascination with their beautiful black satin sheen, striking red markings and extraordinarily strong webs (my parents were much less enthusiastic). There was a creek behind our house that offered even more wildlife to observe (crayfish, frogs, wolf spiders, even the rarely seen mole cricket). For a kid who had lived in an apartment to that point, this was great stuff!

I first attended Westlawn elementary school until construction of Walnut Hill elementary was completed ('55 or '56?). Either school was within walking distance (at least in good weather) but Walnut Hill was much closer. There was a certain appeal to being among the first to occupy a new school. There was no middle school at that time so when I finished 7th grade at Walnut Hill, I attended the old Falls Church High School on Cherry St. at Hillwood Ave. where I graduated in '63. I sometimes walked home even from that location. In the '50s, there was no drug problem in the schools and the playground equipment posed a far greater risk of injury than did your classmates.

"Parrot's creek" was a popular area of exploration as Gary mentioned and we found many creatures to bring home, including some, such as my Brother's injured copperhead in an open coffee can, that did not find favor with our parents. It was a great loss to us (kids) when the Raymondale homes were built between Camp Alger and Annandale road, eliminating much of "our" wilderness. The not yet developed wooded areas west of the first phases of "New Broyhill" were a source of young plants (dogwoods in particular) for my Parents' early landscaping efforts and I remember helping to extract them from the woods and haul them home in our '51 Plymouth.

The airfield was a natural attraction for young boys, no doubt to the consternation of airfield operators and our parents. I recall a couple of mishaps involving aircraft: in one, a plane on a westward landing approach snagged his landing gear on the utility primary conductor(s) that ran along the west side of Graham Road, crashed upside down (but in-tact) on the runway and interrupted power to the neighborhood. I don't recall the fate of the pilot. In another, a plane landed (thankfully without injury or damage) on Mark drive. Obviously there were far fewer trees and cars then. In recent trips to the neighborhood, it has struck me that the number of cars has increased dramatically since the mid-fifties when cars were rarely parked on the street. After the airfield was closed it became a popular venue for RC plane hobbyists, which was also entertaining (by then, the empty fields east of Bailey's Crossroads that had previously served that purpose were being developed). There were also a few abandoned aircraft carcasses and other cool stuff (junk) at the margins of the airfield that we could scavenge for treasures that only a young boy could appreciate.

It is difficult to imagine in the context of present development, but in '54 my Parents had reservations about moving "that far out" of the city (our prior abode was on Glebe Road). The intersection of Graham Rd and Rt. 50 had only the Esso station on the N.E. corner and a small group of stores including a grocery, barbershop and hardware store to the West. The airfield occupied the SW quadrant and I think that the SE corner was vacant (a Cities Service station was later built there). The vacant areas on the corners were the annual locations for Christmas tree and fireworks stands. "7-corners" was just an intersection (no overpass or shopping center) and Merrifield was really out in the country (although the "gingerbread" body shop was probably there as it is today) and Fairfax was similarly isolated. Bailey's crossroads was an intersection of 2-lane roads with a pony ride on one corner and a home diagonally opposite. Similarly, Tyson's corner was just an intersection on Rt 29 and Herndon was a distant town in farmland and might have remained obscure if not for the Virginia Gentleman distillery. There was no Beltway, or Reston and I believe that even Springfield was yet to become significant in the residential archipelago. The only "mall" was the one designed by George Washington in DC. We had moved to the suburban frontier and I thought that the 10 miles to the city was a long way. I wish that I had but a 15-20min commute such as that today.

In 1954, an 1800sq-ft (including basement), 3-bedroom brick ranch in Broyhill Park could be yours for little more than $16,000. I recently saw one listed for $350,000! That's nearly 31/2 times inflation-adjusted dollars, not a bad return on one's housing cost. Apparently, Mr. Broyhill built sturdy homes that have withstood the test of time well and my Parents' decision to build "far out" has proven to be a wise one.

Richard Padgett
Richmond, Virginia

The archives of Broyhill Park are incomplete. Do you have a story about Broyhill Park’s early days?

If you’d like to share information related to the history of our community, let us hear from you!

Broyhill Park Civic Association * Falls Church * Virginia * 22042 * broyhillpark@gmail.com