Lord Fairfax House

Here follows an excerpt from "Out of the Attic" written by Amy Biertsch:

The Lord Fairfax House at 607 Cameron St. is one of the city’s most treasured. The Fairfax family was one of the great land-owning families of Virginia, and at one time their holdings comprised one-fifth of the state’s. Fairfax County is named in honor of Thomas, the sixth Lord Fairfax, or Baron Cameron, who inherited land-holdings of more than 40,000 acres in that region of Northern Virginia. William Yeaton, on land originally leased from Charles Alexander, built the Cameron Street house in 1816. Yeaton, a New Hampshire ship merchant and architect, had come to Alexandria around 1800 and was well known as the designer of George Washington’s tomb at Mount Vernon. The home was later acquired by Bryan Fairfax, an ordained clergyman who served briefly as a rector of Christ Church until he succeeded to the title as the eight Lord Fairfax. His son, Thomas Lord Fairfax, became the ninth Baron Cameron and used the house as a winter residence, summering at the family estate “Mount Eagle” about two miles southwest of Alexandria. Upon his death in 1846, the title passed to his son, Orlando Fairfax, a successful physician in Alexandria, and he owned it until Union forces seized it during the Civil War. Architecturally, the house is a superb example of a three-story townhouse with a rectangular plan. The entrance is comprised of a deep vestibule, with curved ends, arched ceiling and a doorway surrounded by arched fanlight and sidelights in the Adams style. Interior woodwork, mantels and doors are ornamented with applied gesso to provide a highly delicate and elegant effect that relies heavily on the use of shadow. A magnificent spiral staircase at the core of the house rises underneath a skylight to provide maximum natural illumination. This early 20th century view of the house also documents the streetscape of turn-of-the-century Alexandria. Note the cobbled street with embedded bluestone pathways for pedestrians, overhead electric lines and a cast-iron letterbox on the corner.


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Here follows an interesting excerpt about the ninth Lord Fairfax:

"Thomas, by descent ninth Lord of Fairfax ... was a devout follower of the eighteenth-century Swedish philosopher, scientist, and Christian mystic Emanuel Swedenborg. Fairfax, due to his religious beliefs, was the first Virginian to manumit his slaves. Thereafter, he taught each freed slave a trade and sent those who were self-sufficient to Liberia." -- Gaillynn M. Bowman, Constance Cary Harrison, Rufugitta of Richmond, MA Thesis, Marshall University, 2003.


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Here follows an excerpt from the "Jaybird's Jottings" blog in 2010 as written by Jay Roberts:

Old Town Alexandria Commemorative Plaques:
Home of Thomas, Ninth Lord Fairfax
607 Prince

Fairfax and his father dined with George Washington on Saturday, December 7, 1799, at Mount Eagle, near the southern fringe of Alexandria. Four days later, they attended a dinner party with Washington at Mount Vernon. Three days later, Washington developed a cold and sore throat, what was then known as quinsy. The next morning, he passed away.


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Here follows an excerpt from the "Civil War Washington D.C." blog written by local resident and history enthusiast Steven Berkowitz:

Sunday, July 31, 2011
Alexandria Confederate Veteran Invented Modern Railroad Coupler

Eli Hamilton Janney, the inventor of the modern railroad coupler, was born in Loudoun County, Virginia on November 12, 1831. He was descended from a prominent Quaker family that had moved to Virginia from Bucks County Pennsylvania, however he was not a practicing Quaker. Prior to the Civil War, Janney was a small-time farmer, ran a small shop in Loudoun County and also served as the local postmaster. When war broke out, he enlisted in the Confederate Army. He rose to the rank of major and served as an Issuing Quartermaster on General Robert E. Lee's staff.

After being paroled in Winchester on April 22, 1865, Janney settled in Alexandria, Virginia where he worked as a clerk in a dry goods shop. He soon started to devote spare time to developing a safer and more efficient coupler system for railroad cars to replace the dangerous link and pin couplers then in use. Although he had never been involved in the railroad industry, Janney's interest in such a device was probably influenced by the large railroad presence in Alexandria. Alexandria had developed into a key railroad center. In the 1850s, locomotives were manufactured and two railroads were constructed.. During the war, Alexandria was the hub of operations for the U.S. Military Railroad in Virginia including a large roundhouse and numerous workshops. Undoubtedly, Janney saw men around town who had been injured in horrific railroad accidents and was aware of the dangers associated with coupling railroad cars.

On April 21, 1868, Janney was awarded his first patent-- he would receive twenty related to railroad couplers in his lifetime-- for "constructing an automatically-working car coupling, in such a manner that the the coupling and uncoupling are performed without endangering the operator's life by going between the cars." Like hundreds of other designs for better couplers, Janney's initial design did not arouse any interest.

However, Janney continued to finesse his ideas about automatic railroad coupling. One day he hooked his fingers together and envisioned a safer coupler similar to the clasping of two hands in a vertical position with the knuckles bent, which forms a strong link, but can be easily unclasped. The Alexandria dry goods clerk reputedly spent many lunch breaks whittling a working wooden model. of such a coupler. Lacking mechanical drawing skills, Janney found a draftsman to produce a drawing for his patent application.

In 1873, the US Patent Office awarded Janney a patent for this coupler design. In his patent application, Janney extolled the benefits of his design: "the advantages of the described construction are numerous. It will couple readily under all circumstances if one of the hooks is open, but will not if both are closed. It is adapted for use upon cars of different heights. It has no lateral or longitudinal play, but moves freely vertically. It is impossible for it to become uncoupled unless the cars leave the track"

Janney, who was of modest means, received financial backing from several friends for the manufacture of four couplers to be tested on the Loudoun & Hampshire Railroad, a local short line whose right of way now serves as the W&OD Trail. Janney's coupler was commercially tested in 1874 on passenger cars on the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne and Chicago Railway. The results were positive and other railroads, including the Pennsylvania Railroad, adopted Janney's coupler. In 1878, Janney sold his patent rights to the McClonway & Torley Company of Pittsburgh. Nine years later, the Master Car Builder Association chose the Janney Coupler over 40 other proposals as the railroad industry standard. Before widespread adoption of the Janney coupler, nearly 40 percent of rail-yard injuries and deaths were caused by coupling accidents. By 1902, only 4 percent of railroad accidents were attributed to car coupling. Besides drastically reducing brakeman injuries, the Janney coupler also helped increase the efficiency of railroad switching operations. Incidentally, McClonway & Torley continues to be a leading producer of standard couplers.

After selling his patents, Janney used the proceeds to purchase a farm in Fairfax County, where he quietly spent most of his remaining years. However, he did not completely give up mechanical tinkering and received several additional patents into the early 1900s for improvements to the Janney coupler. He also was active in the R.E. Lee Camp of Confederate Veterans. Janney died at his home on 607 Cameron Street in Alexandria on June 16, 1912 and was buried at Ivy Hill Cemetery in Alexandria An inscription was placed on his gravestone stating "His work was a benefaction which in itself will constitute his worthiest memorial."

Although Eli H. Janney never became wealthy off of his coupler design, the old soldier certainly would be pleased that his design has withstood the test of time with only some minor changes over the years. Although his initial design was a flop, Janney, with no formal mechanical training or practical railroad experience, continued to tinker for several years until coming up with a design, which is still used nearly 150 years later.