Springfield Schoolhouse (Site)

These coordinates mark the exact spot where the school once stood. No visible remains exist. The school ceased operating in the early 1950's before the town of Springfield developed.


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

The Springfield School was a one-room schoolhouse located on Backlick Road. Alice Smith and her sister Virginia Smith taught there in the 1920s. Former pupil Lillian Javins wrote that the school had a well with a hand pump, a library, and a playground where children played baseball, marbles, and Farmer in the Dell.


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Here follows an excerpt from the Fall 2005 "Franconia Legacies" newsletter published by the Franconia Museum:

Former pupil Lilian Javins recalls:
I attended grades one through seven at the Springfield School, a one-room building on Backlick Road. Miss Virginia Smith was Principal. Mr. Milton Dulaney Hall was Superintendent of Fairfax County Schools. It took about ten minutes for me to walk to school. We had a dentist who took care of our teeth and a doctor who vaccinated us against smallpox. We had two nice outdoor “johns” for the boys and girls. They were well kept but it was some kind of cold in the winter. The school was heated by a big wood stove. We had a great well with a hand pump. It had a cement floor and a cover; also a pipe that ran underground to a water trough on the road side for the horses. It was very good cold water. We had a big library with a big window to study in and a boys and girls cloak closet to hang our clothes. We also had a big playground where baseball was played.

We played marbles, Farmer in the Dell, London Bridge breaking down, races and most games played at school. A big gravel pit was close to the school which was a great place to ice skate when the water froze.
We had great fun there until we were restricted due to the depth of the water and danger of the ice breaking. It became “Off Limits.”

My first teacher was Miss Virginia Smith. Miss Alice Smith, her sister, filled in for her. We had good teachers and neighbors after moving to Springfield. Mrs. Kassie Carter Smith was a teacher. She had two sons, Carter Lee and Claude. Her husband, Mr. Lee Smith, worked on a good job. He built a little store across from his house on Franconia Road. It became a neighborhood gathering place in the evenings.