Shuter's Hill and the West End (Historical Marker)

Here follows the inscription written on this roadside historical marker:

Shuter's Hill and the West End
— Old Town —

Early Uses
The West End was a rough and rowdy area just outside Alexandria's city limits. Stockyards, rail tracks, a tavern, and small shops catered to the farmers and drovers supplying the city's markets in the years before the Civil War. Two of the country's largest slave trading operations were also located here.

The area's highest point, Shuter's Hill, was likely named after an early settler in the 1740s. Archaeological evidence indicates Native Americans inhabited the area 5000 years ago. A plantation mansion, owned over the years by the Mills, Lee, and Dulany families, occupied Shuter's Hill from 1781 to 1842. The Union Army's Fort Dahlgren and Fort Ellsworth commanded this strategic high point during the Civil War.

Beer and the West End
Shooter's Hill Brewery, established in 1838 by Alexander Strausz and John Klein on Duke Street near present-day Dulany Street, was the first brewery in Virginia to produce lager beer. The brewery, also known over the years as Shuter's Hill, Klein's, and the West End Brewery, survived the Civil War and, in 1872, was bought by Henry Englehardt, an immigrant from Austria. Englehardt operated his brewery for 20 years until debts forced him to sell it. It burned down in 1893.

20th Century Development
By the early 20th century, Shuter's Hill was envisioned as a park honoring George Washington, and the new neighborhoods of Rosemont and George Washington Park were planned around it. A street car line on Washington (later Commonwealth) Avenue and a new passenger rail station, built in 1905 at King Street and Callahan Drive, served the area. In 1909, crowds gathered on Shuter's Hill to watch the Wright brothers fly an airplane round trip from nearby Ft. Myer in a speed test for an Army airplane contract. By 1915, Shuter's Hill and the West End were incorporated into the city.

The park idea evolved into the much grander George Washington Masonic National Memorial. Supported by the Masons, a fraternal organization, construction began in 1922 and the building was dedicated ten years later. Its design was inspired by the Lighthouse of Alexandria in ancient Egypt. The Memorial is open to the public for guided tours and includes a museum of Masonic artifacts owned by Washington, a brother Mason, and an observation deck overlooking the city.

[Captions:]
The camp of the New York 44th Infantry on Shuter's Hill, photographed in 1861, became Fort Ellsworth later that year. View is looking from Shuter's Hill toward King Street.

Close-up of a map showing Shuter's Hill and businesses in the West End including the Drovers Hotel and the brewery, 1879. At the time, Duke Street was still known as Little River Turnpike.

Masons march along upper King Street toward the dedication ceremony for the newly completed George Washington Masonic National Memorial, 1932.

A postcard, ca. 1910, promotes Alexandria's train station, which was completed in 1905.

Aerial view of the George Washington Masonic National Memorial looking northeast, ca. 1945. The neighborhoods of George Washington Park and Rosemont are just north of the memorial with other development beyond. Water storage facilities are visible in the foreground; the Alexandria Water Company built the first reservoir providing safe drinking water to the city on Shuter's Hill in 1851-1852.

Erected by City of Alexandria, Virginia.