Produced by Mark C. Orton, Chris Logan and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net [Illustration: The old courthouse about 1920. Copy courtesy Lee Hubbard.] The Fairfax County Courthouse [Illustration] The Fairfax County Courthouse BY ROSS D. NETHERTON AND RUBY WALDECK Published by the Fairfax County Office of Comprehensive Planning under the direction of the County Board of Supervisors in cooperation with the Fairfax County History Commission July 1977 The following history publications are available from: Fairfax County Administrative Services Fairfax Building 10555 Main Street Fairfax, Va. 22030 703-691-2781 _Beginning at a White Oak.... The Patents and Northern Neck Grants of Fairfax County, Virginia_--Mitchell _Carlby_--Spann _Centreville_: Its History and Architecture--Smith _Colchester_: Colonial Port on the Potomac--Sprouse _Colvin Run Mill_--Netherton _Dunbarton, Dranesville, Virginia_--Poland _The Fairfax County Courthouse_--Netherton and Waldeck _The Fairfax County Courthouse_--1800--OCP--Brochure _Fairfax County in Virginia: Selections from Some Rare Sources_--OCP _Fairfax County Tour Map_--OCP and History Commission _Fairfax Family in Fairfax County: A Brief History_--Kilmer and Sweig _Historic Preservation for Fairfax County_--OCP _Historical Highlights of Bull Run Regional Park_--Cooling _Huntley_--Wrenn _Indices to Selected Maps from Hopkins' Atlas, 1879_--McMillion _Maplewood_--Rafuse _Moorefield_--DiBacco _Mount Air_--Sprouse _Registrations of Free Blacks, Fairfax County, Virginia, 1822-1861_--ed. Sweig _Wakefield Chapel_--Evans * * * * * _Sully: The Biography of a House_--Gamble Book available from the Fairfax County Park Authority * * * * * Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 77-84441 TABLE OF CONTENTS ILLUSTRATIONS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS FOREWORD INTRODUCTION 1 I. FAIRFAX COUNTY'S EARLY COURTHOUSES: 1742-1800 3 II. THE PROVIDENCE COURTHOUSE AND ITS RELATED BUILDINGS: 1800-1860 12 III. THE COUNTY COURT AND ITS OFFICERS 18 IV. THE WAR YEARS: 1861-1865 33 V. THE YEARS OF REBUILDING: 1865-1903 42 VI. THE TWENTIETH CENTURY COURTHOUSE 50 VII. THE ARCHITECTURE OF THE COURTHOUSE AND ITS RELATED BUILDINGS 58 1. The Courthouse Complex 58 2. The Courthouse 73