Olde Creek Elementary School

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

Olde Creek Elementary School is a small neighborhood school in the heart of Fairfax serving 450 students in kindergarten through grade six. We are located in Region 5 and within the W.T. Woodson High School Pyramid.

The majority of our students feed into Robert Frost Middle and W.T. Woodson High School, but a small percentage do move on to Robinson Secondary School. We offer comprehensive special education programs, English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL), and School Age Child Care (SACC).

At Olde Creek we are proud of our talented and dedicated staff and our involved community. Every decision we make, every goal we set and every initiative we embrace is driven by what is best for our students.

The Early Years
Olde Creek Elementary School was built beginning in December 1965 at a cost of $587,987 by A. C. Minnix & Sons. Our school opened its doors to students for the first time on September 6, 1966. The first principal of Olde Creek was Arthurea Rubinowitz.

Did you know that in the fall of 1966, Olde Creek Elementary School was also home to the students and staff of Cardinal Forest Elementary School? The Cardinal Forest students were taught in a separate wing of our building until January 1967.

Olde Creek was designed by the architecture firm of Pickett and Siess.

A Look Back
In 1989, Olde Creek Elementary School was the subject of the FCPS cable television channel series “Profile.” The Red Apple 21 crew spent several days at Olde Creek, gathering interviews with teachers and classroom footage. The resulting 28-minute documentary provides a fascinating snapshot of Olde Creek in the late 1980s.

What's in a Name?
Olde Creek Elementary School was given its name by the Fairfax County School Board on February 24, 1966. Learn about the origin of our school's name in this video produced for Fairfax County Public Schools’ cable television channel Red Apple 21.

Olde Creek Elementary School opened in September 1966. The school was named for the Old Creek Estates residential neighborhood. Olde Creek Elementary School was built on land that was formerly part of Ravensworth, a large plantation once owned by the Fitzhugh family. In the late 1700s, the northern half of Ravensworth had been divided among the five youngest sons of Henry Fitzhugh. One of Henry’s sons, Richard Fitzhugh, inherited some 2,500 acres that encompassed the Long Branch watershed. Long Branch is the creek which flows southeast from Fairfax City into Accotink Creek near present day Lake Accotink. In 1816, Richard Fitzhugh sold 120 acres of land near the headwaters of Long Branch to Charles Noland. By the early 1960s, much of this property had been purchased by developers who transformed the landscape’s farmland and forests into residential neighborhoods. In 1964, one such developer, the firm of Wills and Van Metre, broke ground on a new neighborhood they named Old Creek Estates. The first section of Old Creek Estates was built on wooded, rolling hills along Long Branch. In advertisements, Wills and Van Metre used the iconic image of a water-powered grist mill, and described their neighborhood as an oasis of woodland and parkland. They chose the name Old Creek to appeal to people longing for a nostalgic, older, simpler way of life; people who would see their home as a refuge from the pressures of modern life amidst the pleasant countryside with its tranquil forest and trickling creek.