Drew-Smith Elementary School

Here follows a history of the school as published on the Fairfax County Public Schools website:

Drew-Smith Elementary School opened during the 1952-53 school year, and was closed in June 1965. The majority of Drew-Smith students were integrated into Bucknell, Gunston, Hollin Hall, Hollin Meadows, Hybla Valley, and Mount Vernon Woods elementary schools. Drew-Smith was converted into a special education center and became a pilot site for the “Culturally Disadvantaged Program” (the forerunner of the Head Start program). The building currently houses the Gum Springs Community Center and the Gum Springs Museum.

Land Records:
Research in progress.

Construction Records:
Designed by architect Robert A. Willgoos
Built by Eugene Simpson & Brother Construction of Alexandria, Virginia
School Board Meeting Contract Award: February 12, 1952
Contract Amount: $248,972

Educators:
The following persons once taught at Drew-Smith Elementary School:
Sylvia Jennings Alexander
Ruth S. Branch
Mary Mann Brown
Deloise H. Corbin
Margaret Beckwith Faucette
Naomi B. Gray
Geneva Walker Jones
Augustus L. Lacey
Mary Laura McPhail (Librarian)
Saunders B. Moon (Principal)
Annabel M. Patterson
Earl L. Pulley (Principal)
Barbara A. Ridley (Librarian)
Mabel M. Roscoe
Eva P. Scott
Bernice G. Tate
Alice A. Williams

Gum Springs was founded by the patriarchal Freedman, West Ford, whose bones rest near George Washington's at Mount Vernon. It was named after a gum tree that once marked the marshy land, highly prized for farming in the past. Quietly nestled across the river on George Washington's side of the Potomac, Gum Springs was a place for blacks to prevail, assimilating runaways and freed slaves who migrated there by way of the nearby port of Alexandria. Many of its forbearers tended General Washington's estate at Mount Vernon before they were freed at the death of his wife, Martha. Freed slaves found assistance from Quakers in their struggle for economic survival. The skills and trades they learned as estate slaves added to their growth towards independence. Today, Gum Springs has more than 2,500 residents and as many as 500 are descendants of the original families.