I went back and looked at the initial messages. You asked about any
relationship that might have existed between the Battery Cove
retrocession to Virginia and the National Airport. No there was none.
The sender of the message to which you responded with oyur
retrocession question asked if Washington city was always coterminus
with the D. C. boundaries. I don't think the question was answereed
in the list of answers that followed. So here goes.
No - it wasn't. There existed Georgetown and Washington as city
corporations, before Georgetown was liquidated and merged into the
teritory of Washington. Outside of the city boundaries, there were
two counties within the diamond shaped territory.
Washington as a city name was abolished, I think early in the 20th
century - I can check the date. There is only now the District of
Columbia. Officially, there is no city with the name Wasington in the
District. We who work for the government are perpetually arguing the
proper titles of things - like the mayor. He's the mayor of the
District of Columbia. The City government is the District of
Columbia. Our letterheads have Government of the District of Columbia
on them, with a mail address "Washington D. C.", which means
the name Washington for this place exists at least for the post
office. There is no longer any pocket of county land or
other territory within the Boundaries that is not governed by the
Government of the District of Columbia. What is funny, though, is
that there is the concept of the "federal enclave", made up of
those pieces of land on which federal agencies sit, to which the
local government is in many ways subservient, and over which the local
government has no taxing authority. The National Park Service
maintains roads, etc., within the "enclave" -i.e., the Mall, etc. The
district government's reign over these areas is minimal if extant at
all. The wallmap in the building here showing the different
territorial authorities is really a jigsaw type of thing.
Regards
Len Nadybal
Washington DC
--- In BoundaryPoint@y..., "lnadybal" <lnadybal@h...> wrote:
> 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...