The Origin of Arlington’s Name: From Earl to Lee’s Estate

Arlington House (Library of Congress)

Arlington is the epicenter of recent college graduates working as paralegals, consultants or in information technology. They fill the high-rise apartments or group homes lining Wilson Blvd., Fairfax Dr. and the Orange Line from Rosslyn out to Ballston.

Every Thursday night, the 20-somethings descend upon Clarendon, living the dream of being out of college and having enough money to blow on too much booze (and maybe run into neighbors Ryan Zimmerman or Alex Ovechkin). Then, every Friday and Saturday night will be a mass migration to Buffalo Billiards, Adams Morgan or the edgier Bloomingdale for a little taste of the District.

Arlington County has one of the highest percentages of college graduates in America and the greater share of them are from somewhere else (i.e., it’s fully of some seriously educated peeps). They all seem to have attended Penn State, Michigan State, Duke, Virginia Tech, Ohio State, Carnegie Mellon, or the one that seems to dominate every bar, JMU.

What is slightly depressing is that approximately 95% of these graduates wouldn’t be able to explain why it’s named Arlington County — even though 43% of them love going to Monday trivia night.

Lucky for them, after this post, they will be prepped for tonight’s shenanigans in Clarendon and be able to impress their non-@GhostsofDC following friends.

So, let’s start from the beginning … way back when the original G-Dub was around.

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Murders Committed, Trains Held Up, and Helpless Women Robbed, But Officers Do Nothing to Check Outlawry, for the “Crimes” Are in Moving Pictures.

Fort Myer in Arlington, VA (1917)

Murders Committed, Trains Held Up, and Helpless Women Robbed, But Officers Do Nothing to Check Outlawry, for the “Crimes” Are in Moving Pictures.

Fort Myer in Arlington, VA (1917)
Fort Myer in Arlington, VA (1917)

This was the headline on the front page of the Washington Times on Thursday, November 16th, 1911. Back in the early 20th century, Fort Myer, in Arlington, was being used as a movie set for silent films. Here’s the text of the article:

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