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Westcott Nursery (Site)

Westcott Nursery (Site)
Closest Address: 6917 Kenfig Drive, Falls Church, VA 22042

Westcott Nursery (Site)

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

Why is our school named Westlawn?
The land where Westlawn Elementary stands was formerly part of a farm owned by William Ball during the 19th century. In 1922, Walter Thomas Westcott, an English immigrant and his son Milton Westcott, purchased the 146 acre Ball family farm to expand Westcott Nursery, their family's landscape gardening company based in Falls Church. The Westcott Nursery was widely known in the Washington D.C. area for the quality of its flowers, trees, and landscaping services. Following World War II, rapid growth of the federal government brought an influx of workers and returning veterans to Northern Virginia. Area real estate developers seeking to profit on the ever-increasing demand for affordable housing purchased large tracts of land in Fairfax County and turned farmland and forests into new housing subdivisions. One such developer was Merwin Ardeen Mace. His firm, Mace Properties built more than 4,000 homes and 1,000 apartment units in the Washington, D.C. area from the mid 1930s through the early 1960s. In 1949, Mace broke ground on a neighborhood he named West-Lawn located on part of the former Westcott Nursery property. Early sales ads indicate that the name of the neighborhood was originally hyphenated. At first glance one might think Westcott nursery inspired the name West-Lawn. This is further evidenced by many of the neighborhood streets having the word West in their names including one specifically named Westcott Road. However, that supposition may only be partially correct. This list is just a small sample of the properties that Mace developed in our area. When naming his neighborhoods, Merwin Mace tended to favor words such as hills, lawn, park, and west. Developments located west of Washington, D.C. often had west in their name, so it is difficult to say with certainty the true inspiration for the name West-Lawn. In 1949 and 1950, the West-Lawn neighborhood proved exceedingly popular and homes sold at a brisk pace due in large part to their affordability, as the price for a 3-bedroom home was only $9,900. Children in the community originally attended school in the town of Falls Church, and as more and more families moved into West-Lawn and other nearby developments, overcrowding became a major concern in December 1950. Milton Westcott and his wife Dorothy donated 8.7 acres of land from the Westcott Nursery to the Fairfax County School Board for a school site. Westlawn Elementary School opened 21 months later.

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Nathaniel Lee

c/o Franconia Museum

6121 Franconia Road

Alexandria, VA 22310

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