Hi.
What retrocession of territory could you be referring to? A
reattachment of some piece of land onto the District's territory that
it had earlier given back to Virginia, or a "further giving" of D.C.
land back to Virginia, in addition to that which Virigina got in 1847
and further in 1927 (Battery Cove)?
The D.C. airport is on Virigina territory... but which is land
over which Congress has taken some of Virginia's rights away.
(Virginia is only allowed to tax certain things there, like tobacco
products sold in airport concessions, but not the airport enterprise
itself, among other things.)
Regards
Len Nadybal
--- In BoundaryPoint@y..., "shocktm" <andrew@A...> wrote:
> I was going through my archive of messages and found this one which
> may be of interest to other. I found the section about annexation
> interesting. It does not talk about the retroceded territory that DC
> mad in the 1940s but its good anyway.
>
> A question I thought about, the territory that was retroceded back
in
> the 1940, was that a consiquence of building the Reagan/National
> Airport?
>
> -Andrew
>
> ------------------------------
>
> On Sat, 21 Jun 1997 18:50:09 -0400, rnewman@t... (Ron Newman)
> wrote:
> >Pardon me if this question has been discussed before or if I'm
> >in the wrong newsgroup, but I'm hoping that a local history buff
> >can help me.
> >
> >Until 1846, the District of Columbia included 30.75 square miles
> >on the Virginia side of the Potomac (source: Information Please
> >Almanac, 1994 edition, p 814).
> >
> >My questions:
> >
> > - Before this was returned to Virginia, was the District a
> > perfect square?
> >
> > - Did the District include all land that is now Arlington County?
> >
> > - Did the District include all or part of what is now
> > the city of Alexandria, Virginia?
> >
> > - Did what is now the boundary between Alexandria and Arlington
> > County change in any way in 1846?
> >
> > - Did the District ever include more than one municipality?
> >
> > - Was the city of Washington always coterminous with the
District?
> >
> > - Was Georgetown ever a separate city within the District?
> >
> >If you know the answers to these questions, or can refer me to
> >a relevant book, periodical, or Internet resource, I'd greatly
> >appreciate it. Thanks.
>
> Ron,
>
> In 1789, the Virginia General Assembly voted to cede a portion of
its
> territory up to ten square miles for the Federal District, the
> District of Columbia. President Washington directed a survey be made
> and it began at Jones' Point, at the mouth of Great Hunting Creek.
> This survey (1791) included the Town of Alexandria and the area that
> would eventually become Arlington County (approximately 34 square
> miles). It was officially ceded by Virginia to form part of D.C. in
> 1801. The Acts (28 February 1801 and 3 March 1801) by which Congress
> took jurisdiction directed that this area be called the county of
> Alexandria. It was retroceded to Virginia in 1846. In March 1847, it
> was organized as the County of Alexandria.
>
> Alexandria was, at the time, a town and became a city in 1852.
> Initially chartered in 1748, the Town of Alexandria consisted of 60
> acres. Alexandria was enlarged in 1762 and 1796, with minor changes
> from 1852 through 1871.
>
> In 1870, as a result of the new Virginia Constitution, Alexandria
> County and Alexandria City were independent of each other.
>
> In 1910, Alexandria attempted to annex portions of both Fairfax and
> Alexandria Counties. This went to court and the court ruled in favor
> of the counties. An appeal by Alexandria resulted in the Supreme
> Court overturning the ruling and annexing the area effective 1 April
> 1915. Although Alexandria got all the territory it has sought from
> Fairfax County, it only got some of what it had sought from
Alexandria
> County.
>
> In 1920, by an Act of the General Assembly, Alexandria County became
> Arlington County.
>
> Alexandria was not done and sought to annex more of Arlington in
1927.
> Once again, this went to court and was heard in May 1928 and a
ruling
> was issued in favor of Alexandria. This last portion was transferred
> to Alexandria effective 31 December 1929. This moved the boundaries
> for Alexandria north to Four Mile Run.
>
> Arlington, naturally, was outraged. As a result, in 1930, the
Virginia
> General Assembly passed legislation which forbid the annexation of
any
> land from a County smaller than 30 square miles. In addition, that
was
> the year the Country Manager Act was passed, which also protected
> Arlington from any further annexation unless the entire County were
> taken over and then only after a referendum.
>
> A good source for the above information is "Arlington County
Virginia:
> A History" by C.B. Rose, Jr. (1976, Port City Press, Inc.,
Baltimore,
> MD).
>
> I've strayed somewhat from your questions, so getting back to them,
> before Virginia's portion was receded, the District of Columbia was
a
> perfect square. It did include all land which is now Arlington
County
> and what is Alexandria, Virginia. For the boundary changes, see
above.
>
> Later,
> Jim
> jdsingleton@e...