Home of William and Nellie Broders (Site)

These coordinates mark the exact spot where the home once stood until it was torn down circa 1993 to make way for a new townhouse development. No visible remains exist.


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Here follows the recollections of Lillian Louise Simms Javins as excerpted from the Fall 2005 "Franconia Legacies" newsletter published by the Franconia Museum:

"Down on Franconia Road by the RF&P Railroad was a store owned by Mr. Will Broders. He lived across from the store with his wife, Nellie and daughters, Evelyn and Dorothy. They sold most everything and it was also the precinct where everyone had to go to vote. We voted on paper and dropped it into a box. It closed at 6:00 p.m. and it was always a very busy day. Evelyn married a neighborhood boy, Woodrow Smith, and they had one daughter, Mary Evelyn. Mary Evelyn remembers the store being torn down."


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Here follows an excerpt from the Spring 2016 edition of the "Franconia Legacies" newsletter published by the Franconia Museum:

There are few people currently associated with the Franconia Museum who have as deep roots to the area as Mary Smith, who recently joined the Board of Directors. Others such as Margaret Welch, Donald Walker and Marge Tharpe serve as senior advisors to help Mary give the rest of the board a history lesson when needed.

Mary’s father, Woodie, was the first paid fireman at the Franconia Volunteer Fire Department. Her mother, Mary Evelyn Broders Smith, was a teacher at Franconia Elementary School. Both of her parents’ families have deep roots in Franconia. Woodie’s ancestors once farmed at Clermont and lived at historic Ashland, which still stands today on Walhaven Drive. The Broders owned land near what is now Springfield Mall, and lived in the house that stood at Franconia Road and Commerce Street where the Sunrise Assisted Living facility is now located.

Mary Smith grew up in Franconia. She attended Franconia Elementary, and graduated from Lee High School in 1963, just a month before her father died. In those days, the Smiths lived in the first house on the left past the railroad tracks, going toward Springfield. Mary and her mother moved to Rose Hill in 1970, and Mary has been there ever since. Her mother died in 1985.

Members of the Museum Board who are friends with Mary have been pestering her to join them in guiding the day-to-day operations for some time. After retiring from her job on 15 November 2015, at what is now CVS in Springfield, she finally relented. She had worked there for 50 years. It was People’s Drug Store when Mary started back in the day. Like many familiar names of the past, People’s is long gone, but the store survived under new ownership. Although still working, Mary attended most all of the Museum events, and has been on each of the sixteen Civil War Both Sides Tours, as well as each History Day sponsored by the Museum.

The Franconia Volunteer Fire Department has a special place in Mary’s heart because of her father. Woodie worked as a mechanic for Holmes Bakery and volunteered at the firehouse for a number of years before Fairfax County decided to hire full-time firefighters to augment volunteers because of a growing population. As a youngster, Mary spent much of her time with her dad at the firehouse because Woodie shifted from the role of paid employee to volunteer when he wasn’t actually working.

In 1960, Mary was the Franconia Fire Department Popularity Queen for the annual parade and carnival celebration, raising more than $2,000 in contributions as residents voted by donating their spare change. Mary has seen Franconia and the firehouse grow tremendously during her lifetime. From the little two-bay firehouse where the government center stands today, to the huge facility around the corner on Beulah Street, the firehouse remains a focal point for the community. Volunteers paid for the buildings and equipment over the years, including most of the equipment in the new county-owned facility in Kingstowne. Volume VII of the Museum’s Franconia Remembers book series is about the history of the fire department, and it includes a chapter featuring Mary and her father.