Franconia Museum

The Franconia Museum is a local history museum focused on the Alexandria neighborhoods south of the Capital Beltway. The museum is open for visitors from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Saturdays each week.

Looking across six lanes of traffic on Franconia Road, it is difficult to imagine that it was once a rural "rolling road" for Virginia tobacco on its way to the port city of Alexandria. Before it was a bedroom community, Franconia was the birthplace of the first Virginia governor from Northern Virginia, witness to a Mosby raid, and a thriving Afro-American community called Carrolltown.

We at the Franconia Museum believe that you must know where you came from to know where you are going. Our goals are to identify, codify, and protect the history of the Franconia area; to promote the heritage for the Franconia are; to provide educational opportunities for students and the greater community; and to highlight and enhance the Spirit of Franconia

Our mission at the Franconia Museum is to preserve the past, present, and future of the Franconia area in pictures, artifacts, and stories. The Franconia Museum reaches out by educating, enriching, and bringing together the greater community. We are a 501 (c) (3) organization led and run entirely by volunteers.

The Museum also does exhibits at local libraries, and other community meeting places throughout the year.
The best way to get to know the Franconia Museum is to come to one of our events. We host story-swaps two or three times a year and the Franconia History Day in the fall. Please check our website at www.FranconiaMuseum.org often for event and exhibit announcements. If you would like to be on our event mailing list please send us an email. If you have a story to tell or a picture, artifact, or map to contribute please let us know. We are here to tell YOUR story!


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Here follows an article excerpted from the "Franconia Legacies" newsletter as published by the Franconia Museum in 2004 and written by Sue Patterson, the museum's first president:

FRANCONIA: HOT PLACE TO LIVE
In 2003, Franconia was picked as one of the "hottest places to live" in Money Magazine's December 2003 issue. The rest of the world now knows what the long-time residents of Franconia have always known. Before the beginning of the housing boom in Fairfax County in the 1960's, people from all over the area came to Franconia for church social activities, dances at the Franconia School, the Volunteer Fire Department Parades, etc. Now Franconia has evolved from a farming community into an urban community with a mix of residential/commercial uses and a transportation system that allows convenient access to/from anyplace in the Washington, D.C. area via highway, train, bus, and three metro stations.

As a result, the Franconia area has changed rapidly in the last fifty years with the landmarks of former days razed and no longer visible. The history of Franconia has not had as much recognition as some of the more famous areas of Fairfax County. Due to its location, ten miles from Washington, and practically next door to Mount Vernon, Franconia's original farms and roads were traversed by the founding fathers and their relatives. Remnants of the occupation by Union troops during the Civil War are still visible in the area if you know where to look. As with many communities, Franconia had its start with the coming of the railroad after the Civil War in the 1870's. The derivation of the name "Franconia" has caused almost as much speculation as defining the boundaries of Franconia.

In 1859, the wealthy Alexandria businessman, William Fowle of English descent, purchased 191 acres from Joseph Broders of Oak Grove Farm (location of Sunrise Assisted Living across from Springfield Mall today). Mr. Fowle was President of the Alexandria Canal Co. and President of the Bank of the Old Dominion. This property was located generally between Fleet Drive and Beulah Street today. His son, Robert Rollins Fowle, lived on the property prior to the Civil War. In the father's will written in 1857, Rollins was described as follows: "My son Robert R. Fowle is now absent abroad (Australia). During his early life he has caused me much solitude and anxiety in regard to his future." His father was afraid that Rollins would "squander his property in idleness and dissipation." William Fowle died in 1860. Rollins served in the Civil War on the Confederate side, which may be why he did not receive the 191 acres as his share of his father's estate until 1865. Rollins died in 1873, but his wife was still living on his property until at least 1906.

After the Civil War, his farm was known as the "Frankhonia" Farm. Robert Rollins Fowle sold 18 acres to the Alexandria and Fredericksburg Railroad Company in 1871 for a station, which was named after the farm. Initially, the Franconia Station was situated south of Franconia Road near present day Fleet Drive. The Station was relocated after a fire in 1903 to the north side of Franconia Road. The Franconia Station was an important stop between Washington and Quantico. Regular service was discontinued about 1953.

From the 1870's to the 1950's, the boundaries of Franconia extended well beyond the original "Frankhonia" Farm to become a thriving farming community centered on the local Franconia School, Volunteer Fire Department and numerous churches found along Franconia Road and Beulah Road (now Beulah Street). However, in the 1960's, the landscape began to change with the addition of many new housing developments, bringing an influx of new residents overwhelming the older community with traffic, new buildings, increased land values, and new ways of doing things. Today, not many of the old farms are left in the area, but descendants of the early residents are still in the area or still retained connections to the area. The Franconia School is still in existence and the Volunteer Fire Department is still a viable organization. A new Franconia community has been built based on the foundation of the old one.