Old Town Herndon Historic District

Old Town Herndon Historic District
Name	Old Town Herndon Historic District
Nrhp type	hd
Caption	Main Street in Herndon
Location	Herndon, Fairfax County, Virginia
Built	late 19th–early 20th century
Architecture	Victorian, Italianate, Queen Anne, Commercial Style
Added	1983
Refnum	83003309

Old Town Herndon Historic District is a historic commercial and residential core in Herndon, Fairfax County, Virginia, reflecting late 19th- and early 20th-century development tied to rail and market agriculture. The district includes commercial buildings, dwellings, a depot, and community institutions that illustrate connections to regional transportation, commerce, and civic life. It has attracted preservation attention from federal, state, and local bodies and figures involved in architectural conservation.

History

The district's growth began after the arrival of the Alexandria, Loudoun and Hampshire Railroad and later the Richmond and Danville Railroad connections, which linked Herndon to Alexandria, Virginia, Washington, D.C., and the Piedmont region. Prominent landowners and entrepreneurs such as members associated with the Herndon family and local merchants established main street commerce by the 1880s, contemporaneous with rail-driven towns like Leesburg, Virginia and Vienna, Virginia. The community weathered events including the economic shifts following the Panic of 1893, World War I mobilization influences from Fort Myer, and the transportation changes tied to the rise of the Automobile in the United States and the development of U.S. Route 50. Civic leaders worked with organizations modeled on the Daughters of the American Revolution and the Herndon Woman's Club to foster local institutions. The railroad depot served passengers and freight until mid-20th-century declines associated with the expansion of Interstate 66 and regional suburbanization led by agencies such as the Northern Virginia Regional Commission.

Architecture and Notable Structures

Architectural styles in the district reflect vernacular interpretations of Victorian architecture including Italianate architecture, Queen Anne architecture, and early 20th-century Commercial Style influences seen across similar districts in Arlington County, Virginia and Alexandria, Virginia. Notable structures include the depot associated with the Washington and Old Dominion Railroad Regional Park corridor, brick commercial blocks reminiscent of those in Fredericksburg, Virginia, and frame dwellings comparable to examples in Manassas, Virginia. Religious and civic buildings echo typologies found at Truro Church, St. James Church (Alexandria, Virginia), and neighborhood schools influenced by standards from the Virginia State Board of Education. Residential examples show features like bracketed cornices, decorative shingles, and wraparound porches akin to houses in Delaplane, Virginia and Middleburg, Virginia.

Preservation and Historic Designation

Preservation efforts engaged actors from federal programs such as the National Register of Historic Places and state-level entities like the Virginia Department of Historic Resources. The district's listing invoked criteria used in other registered districts like Old Town Alexandria and City of Fairfax Historic Districts. Local government bodies including the Town of Herndon council collaborated with preservation advocates and planners influenced by guidelines from the National Trust for Historic Preservation and the American Planning Association. Funding and rehabilitation projects have intersected with tax incentive programs patterned after the Federal Historic Preservation Tax Incentives and case studies from the Virginia Main Street Program. Advocacy drew on precedents set in preservation battles at sites such as Morven Park and Gunston Hall.

Cultural and Community Significance

The district has functioned as a social and commercial hub hosting festivals, markets, and civic gatherings tied to traditions similar to those celebrated in Alexandria's George Washington Birthday Parade and county fairs associated with Virginia Agricultural Fairs. Institutions within the district have included fraternal organizations and community groups modeled on the Lions Clubs International and Rotary International, and cultural programming often partners with regional arts groups like the Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts and museums such as the Fairfax Museum and Visitor Center. Local culinary and retail histories connect with agricultural supply networks supplying the Eastern Market and marketplaces in Washington, D.C.. Oral histories and genealogical research conducted via the Fairfax County Public Library and the Herndon Historical Society document family narratives and commercial lineages.

Geography and Boundaries

Geographically situated in western Fairfax County, Virginia, the district occupies a compact area centered on Park Avenue and portions of Herndon Parkway and Elden Street. Its boundaries reference transportation corridors historically tied to the Washington and Old Dominion Railroad, and nearby jurisdictions include Reston, Virginia and Sterling, Virginia. The topography and parcel patterns comply with platting practices recorded in the Fairfax County Circuit Court land records and reflect land-use transitions similar to those in Chantilly, Virginia during the suburban expansion of the Washington metropolitan area.

Notable Events and Development Timeline

Key events include the establishment of the rail depot in the late 19th century, commercial building booms in the 1890s and 1910s reflecting wider patterns seen after the Spanish–American War and before World War I, and mid-20th-century declines in passenger rail service paralleling national trends documented by the Interstate Commerce Commission. Preservation listing in the 1980s aligned with a broader wave of community designation activity following programs advanced by the Historic American Buildings Survey and the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966. Recent revitalization projects involved collaboration with planners using models from the National Main Street Center and transportation planners coordinating with the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority.

Category:Historic districts in Fairfax County, Virginia