Fairview Elementary School

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

Historic Location
Fairview Elementary School is located in Fairfax County on Ox Road about four miles south of the Fairfax County Courthouse. It is within sight of the old St. Mary's Catholic Church where Clara Barton did her first nursing. In the churchyard are buried soldiers who died of wounds received in the Battle of Bull Run during the Civil War. George Mason University is located about two miles north of the school.

One of Oldest Elementary Schools
The Fairview School site is one of the oldest in Fairfax County, dating back to 1899. The old Fairview School, located on the site of the current Fairview Elementary School, was also known as the Swetnam School after the family who donated the land for the school property. The original frame one-room building was said to have been so drafty that a former teacher "frosted her feet while standing at the blackboard." A second room was added in 1912. According to one local historian, Fairview was served in 1928 by the first Fairfax County school bus, a market wagon drawn by two horses. From this humble beginning, the county bus fleet has grown the largest in the United States.

By 1932 the enrollment had increased sufficiently to warrant a 20 ft. x 25 ft. addition costing a total of $374.80. In 1939, the Public Works Agency replaced the original building with a four-room brick school with an auditorium and office space. In 1952, an addition consisting of a kitchen and cafeteria, a clinic, a teachers' lounge, a library and three new classrooms was completed on the back of the building.

A second addition, finished in 1965, consisted of a new library, an administrative suite, a special instruction room and five classrooms. This addition faces Ox Road and gives the impression that Fairview is a much newer building. Residents continued to be attracted to the Fairview area, making it necessary to add seven new classrooms, "relocatables," in 1977.

More Renovations
Although Fairview's appearance has changed continuously, the goal has always been to maintain the small school atmosphere in which students, parents and staff feel a strong sense of belonging and close relationships.

In 1979 the entire school was renovated. The cafeteria and library were enlarged and the gymnasium was built. City water was added and the old well and septic field were eliminated. The office, library, gymnasium and cafeteria were air-conditioned. An elevator was added so disabled persons could access the cafeteria, gymnasium and other parts of the school facility.

To accommodate the growth in the area, a 21-room addition was built in 1984, in place of the "relocatables," to house the expanded student body. During the 1998-1999 school year, Fairview began a brand new renovation to the entire facility. That renovation was completed in 2001.

Today
Fairview continues to grow. In 2011, renovations inside the building added new classrooms as the school welcomed more students.

Our students are continuing to blossom as 21st century learners, and our classrooms reflect that digital education with interactive whiteboards and computers in every classroom. Even though evidence of that original one room school house exists in our walls, our school reflects the winds of change as we move forward in the 21st century!

Fairview Elementary School takes its name from an old one-room schoolhouse that formally stood on the grounds of the present elementary school property. The one room Fairview school was also known at various times as the Sangster School, after the family who in 1914 donated the land for the school property. This aerial photograph taken in 1937 shows the Fairview schoolhouse after it had been expanded to three rooms. During the 1939-1940 school year, the Public Works Administration acting under President Roosevelt's New Deal program built a new four-room brick elementary school building on the schoolhouse lot. Portions of this structure are still visible today. The origin of the name Fairview is uncertain, but it may refer to a nearby estate formally owned by the Sangster family. Thomas Sangster, a blacksmith and farmer, purchased 356 acres of land from William Elsie in 1777. This property named in deed records as Fairview passed to Thomas's son Major James Sangster, a Fairfax County sheriff who fought in the war of 1812. Major Sangster, his wife Priscilla Ford, and two of their granddaughters are buried in a small family cemetery located along Chapel Road on land that was formerly part of Fairview. During the American Civil War, Federal soldiers are said to have taken tombstones from this cemetery to their encampment near Fairfax Station where they were used as fire hearth stones. Prior to and following the Civil War, the Fairview estate had been divided and sold several times to various owners. By the late 1860's, the name Fairview had fallen into disuse. Today, Fairview Elementary School's name is one of the few lasting reminders of this estate and of a historic Fairfax County public school of yesteryear.